Gilmer Girls, Tatum Boys Hand Out Losses, Advance

WINONA -- Gilmer's game plan was not difficult to figure out.

Stopping, it on the other hand, proved complicated.

The Lady Buckeyes found plenty of success in the post Tuesday night, as they defeated Henderson, 56-32 in the 4A Region 2 regional quarterfinal. It is the fourth season in a row Gilmer has advanced to the regional semifinals.

Kyla Grant was the beneficiary of coach Mandi Simpson's plan. Her teammates looked to feed her and fellow post mate Haylee Jordan each possession. Grant finished with a double-double of 19 points and 15 rebounds. Jordan added four points and seven boards.

"We were running our offense that we like to feed our posts," Simpson said. "We were handling the pressure outside and looking in. ur post player was sick, so it took her a while to get going. Once we got going, we know that's our bread and butter and it was working for us."

The game was within reach at the end of the first quarter. Gilmer led only 17-15. It opened the second quarter on a 15-0 run to distance itself. The Lady Buckeyes held Henderson to just one point in the second, allowing them to distance themselves.

The Lady Lions never recovered.

"We had a good defensive plan," Simpson said. "Our kids bought into it and they stuck to it. Even when they got scored on, they kept doing the fundamental things we preach about every day. The biggest factor was feeding our post and scoring. We had to score."

Henderson's Alexis Calderon led the team in scoring with 10 points. She had previous outings of 19 and 25. Resha Hall had 13 rebounds for the Lady Lions.

Outside of the post, Deyton Edwards finished with 11 points, including three 3-pointers, for Gilmer. Shady Haley and Lele Morton had four steals apiece.

The Lady Buckeyes move on the face Argyle in the regional semifinals on Friday at Texas A&M Commerce. The time has yet to be set.

Simpson said it will be a tough game, but she isn't going to doubt her team.

"My message to my kids is, 'You have to get there to get a shot at San Antonio. You're gonna be a top six team, so go do it.'"

Tatum Boys Power Past Chapel Hill in Fourth

WINONA -- All Chapel Hill needed was a 3-pointer.

With one quarter to play in a bi-district playoff game against Tatum, the Bulldogs trailed by just three. It was Tatum that nailed the 3-pointer. In fact, it nailed two of them. Chapel Hill called timeout, but even out of that, Tatum scored six in a row.

The Eagles went on to earn the win, 60-42.

Tatum coach Brett Carr credited the win partly to the play of point guard Jakobe Mitchell in the fourth. Mitchell hit two 3-pointers in the quarter, and also played lockdown defense on Devin Taylor.

Although Taylor led the Bulldogs in scoring with 23 points, he was held to only five in the fourth quarter.

"(Mitchell) did a great job of making life difficult on (Taylor)," Carr said. "We forced a bunch of errors. You get in games like this and usually they come down to one quarter. I felt like we played hard until the very end. We hadn't done that all season. They beat us at their place by 14 earlier in the year. To win in the playoffs, you've got to get stops and I thought we made things tough on them."

Mitchell finished with 12 points to go with a couple of steals, while O.B. Jones led the Eagles with 15 points and eight rebounds. Teon Erwin finished one points shy of a double-double for Chapel Hill. He had nine points and 12 rebounds.

The Bulldogs were right behind Tatum up until the fourth quarter.

At halftime, a late surge allowed Chapel Hill to go into the locker room down only one. Erwin scored a basket to open the third quarter and Chapel Hill had a lead. Tatum, however, would quickly pull ahead again and though the teams traded buckets, the lead never wavered much after that.

Tatum will move on to the are round, where it will face Canton. The time, date and place have yet to be announced.

"The biggest deal for us is rest," Carr said. "We've got to get a little bit of rest and then give them the game plan. I think that was our 37th game. You get to that point in the season and you're really trying to just be fresh, know what you're doing, what your goals are and go do them."