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Sports

Blue Devils Ground Hawks: Norcross Girls and Boys Sweep Mill Creek

The girls won 50-37; the boys won 66-38.

It was a solid performance from both the Norcross girls and boys basketball teams last night.

In the girls game, Norcross sophomore guard Diamond DeShields, the daughter of former Montreal Expos second baseman Delino DeShields, scored 11 points to lead the Lady Blue Devils to a 50-37 victory.

 Norcross hit the ground running and jumped out to a 13-4 lead by the end of the first quarter with DeShields and junior center Patrice Butler doing most of the scoring.  The Lady Blue Devils extended their lead in the second quarter as Mill Creek struggled to make the baskets.  DeShields hit a shot at the first-half buzzer to send both teams into their locker rooms with Norcross leading 29-11 at the half.

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The Lady Hawks went on a 4-0 run to start the second half but the Blue Devils ultimately reasserted their dominance and  pushed the lead back up to 20 points.  

 Mill Creek had strong run in the fourth quarter, cutting the Norcross lead down to 10 at one time.  Mill Creek junior forward Tamarr Williams made that run possible with her outside shooting.  Williams knocked down three shots from beyond the arc as part of her 12 points to lead the Lady Hawks in scoring.

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However, the Lady Blue Devils were able to hang on, improving the defending Class AAAAA State Champions' record to 19-2 over all and 10-1 in Region 7 AAAAA play.  

The Lady Bue Devils got scoring from several different players.  In addition to Diamond DeShiedls and Patrice Butler, who had 11 and 8 points respectively, senior forward Dearica Hamby scored 8 points, junior center Jasmine Kemp had 6 and sophomore small forward Shayla Cooper chipped in 7 points.

In the boys game, Norcross dominated from the start. Junior  guard Chris Bolden led all scorers with 22 points for the night. Bolden was red hot from beyond the arc, hitting 6 three-pointers on the night.

The Hawks tried to keep the game within reach as senior point guard Brandon Hayman did most of the scoring, leading the Hawks with 12 points on the night.  The Hawks went into the locker room at halftime trailing 30-18.

However, Blue Devils increased their lead by as much as 22 points in the second half, winning 66-38. 

"I thought that it was one of our better performances of the year.  We played very focused on offense and defense.  That's something we've been preaching in practice," said Norcross coach Jesse McMillan.  "Managing the ball game and getting high percentage shots was something we did well tonight," McMillan said. 

Norcross also got point production from senior small forward E. Victor Nickerson, who scored 8 points for the night, including a break away dunk in the first half.  Junior small forward Jason Croom came off the bench and provided solid inside play while scoring 6 points. 

The Blue Devils also accomplished what they wanted to do on the defensive end of the court.  "I was thinking defense and I wanted to keep my team under 45 points, and I think we did a good job tonight," said Norcross senior guard Josiah Moore. 

With the win, Norcross improves to 14-9 on the season and 9-3 in Region 7 AAAAA play.  Norcross travels to Meadowcreek to take on the Mustangs Friday night.  The girls tip off at 6 p.m. followed by the boys at 7:30 p.m.

(Schedules and team records obtained from www.gasports.com)

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