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Published Wednesday, November 18, 2009 in Sports

Banks goes on offensive to open season

By Chris Goltermann

The Times-Herald

High school basketball teams may be prone to slow starts offensively, and respective openers on Tuesday produced more than a few instances for area lineups.

Northgate's Brianna Banks and Lydia Powell of The Heritage School were not among them, however.

While Northgate's girls may have had a tough time settling in on the court, Banks -- last year's Times-Herald All County Player of the Year -- began her junior season with a career-high 26-point effort in a 53-44 victory over Region 5A-AAAA rival Whitewater in Fayetteville.

The Lady Vikings (1-0), however, had to rally from a 9-0 deficit to open the game, before Banks began to take over before halftime. The 5-10 guard scored 13 points in the third quarter and wrapped up her effort from the free-throw line in the final period after the Lady Wildcats struggled to stop Banks from driving through the lane to the basket.

"Brianna had an awesome game," said Northgate head coach Matt Trucks. "Defensively we played ok. We ran out of gas at the end. We just struggled on offense. In the first quarter, we were just standing around."

Both senior Jocelyn McGarrah and freshman Ana Anderson had seven points to pace the win. Anderson finished with 11 rebounds and Lindsey Knox added nine boards.

Senior Alyse Lewis, who will be signing a national letter-of-intent today to play basketball at South Carolina State, finished with six points and a whopping six blocks.

Northgate is off through the Thanksgiving break before returning to play on Dec. 1 at home against Alexander.

In other prep basketball action on Tuesday:

HERITAGE SCHOOL GIRLS 40, OAK MOUNTAIN 33: At home, Powell put together a monster performance to help pace an otherwise offensive struggle for the Lady Hawks (1-0). Powell helped break a 15-15 tie at halftime, leading a 14-point outburst from Heritage in the third period and finishing with 21 points, 15 rebounds and 8 steals in the victory.

Leading 29-25 after three quarters, Heritage was able to hold on while outscoring the Lady Warriors 11-8 in the final period.

Senior Maggie Ginn added 10 points in the victory. Heritage returns to play on Friday, hosting Atlanta Girls School.

OAK MOUNTAIN BOYS 68, HERITAGE SCHOOL 37: At home, the Hawks got off to a tough start in what was a one-point game after the first quarter. But the Warriors outscored Heritage 21-6 in the second period, including a 7-0 run that pushed a 14-point halftime lead.

"We hit three three-pointers, but I know we had to have shot at least twenty," said Heritage coach Phillip Miles. "We created turnovers and defense wasn't a problem. We just couldn't generate offense."

Seth Bonner led the Hawks with 11 points.

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