Blue Devils Dominate in Round One

The Norcross High School basketball girls’ and boys’ basketball teams began the AAAAA state playoffs Saturday with the girls taking on Walton High School from region 5–AAAAA and the boys squaring off with Lassiter High School also from region 5–AAAAA at Norcross.

The girls tipped off first and immediately showed why the 24–3 Lady Blue Devils are one of the top teams in the state. Norcross utilized its rebounding skills to get on fast breaks, resulting in easy lay ups.

“We worked on it a lot,” Head Coach Angie Hembree said. “If it’s there we try to run and keep the pace aggressive.”

Walton was able to keep up with the Blue Devils during the first quarter, but as half time approached, Norcross began to pull away. When the half came to an end, the home squad was on top 32–16.

The Lady Blue Devils continued to out run Walton on both ends of the floor and created opportunities down low for their post players. Sophomore Diamond DeShields led the Norcross offensive attack with 23 points.

Walton could never claw its way back into the game and with the Blue Devils unrelenting style of play, Norcross walked away with the easy 61–39 victory.

After the game, DeShields was presented with a plaque commemorating her gold medal performance with the under-18 USA national girls basketball team and was given the game ball from Norcross’s game against Duluth on February 18 when she scored her 1,000th career point.

“She’s an incredible athlete,” Hembree said. “She’s one of the best players in the country at her age. She’s growing emotionally and mentally, as well as physically. She puts it all out there on the line every time we play.”

The boys’ team came into its game against Lassiter looking to stretch its win streak to 13 games, which would prove to be an easy task for the Blue Devils. The tone was set early on, as Norcross bared down on the defensive end of the floor.

A three-pointer from Josiah Moore got the Blue Devils into an offensive rhythm as Norcross took a 19–6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

With one minute gone in the second quarter, Norcross was up by 20 points, leading Lassiter 26–6 with help from long-range shooting by Nate Sims.

But despite the team’s ability to score, Head Coach Jesse McMillan said he was happy with the pressure Norcross put on the Trojans, which gave his team the ability to capitalize on turnovers.

“We were very pleased by how our press was effective in getting them to turn it over and give us quick shots,” McMillan said. “It’s something we worked on all week but it’s something we can do depending on the situation.”

The half ended with an authoritative dunk by Jason Croom and Norcross was up 25 points at the break, 45–20.

With the large lead, McMillan was able to put in his reserves early in the second half. Though he said he would have liked to see his second unit play a bit better, he was pleased with how Sims played off the bench, hitting three three-pointers.

After four dominant quarters, Norcross earned the 74–48 victory and its 13th consecutive win.

“We’re playing with a lot of confidence and the guys are having fun every day at practice so that’s carrying over to the floor.”