After crushing the visiting Newnan Lady Cougars on Tuesday, the Lady Grangers are 3-0, with all three wins coming at home.
Brittany Tatum, who led the team with 24 points, made two 3-pointers in the first quarter as LaGrange went up 19-11, and the lead grew to 28-19 by the half.
Newnan fought hard in the first half, closing the gap on occasion, but in the second half LaGrange created some distance between itself and the Lady Cougars.
The Lady Grangers were up by as many as 27 points in the second half before head coach Jan Jones sat her starters.
LaGrange pivot player KaBrenna Smith, at 6-feet-1, had one of the taller tasks of the night.
She was charged with guarding and trying to score of Newnan’s Tiara Calloway, a 6-feet-6-inch senior.
Smith outleaped Calloway on the opening tip and managed to put up 13 points while holding Calloway to six in the game before leaving at the 4:29 mark in the fourth quarter with cramps in her left calve.
Smith said she had a plan to stop and score on Calloway from the outset.
“I was just going to play hard defense and try to be big and strong and not let her bat me down in the paint,” Smith said afterward. “I’m used to playing like straight up defense. I just had to make myself big and stop her from getting the ball period, then I wouldn’t have to worry about it. I fronted her and tried my best to keep her from getting the ball.”
Not only did LaGrange settle down to play a steadier game in the second half, it also got some help when Calloway picked up her fourth foul in the third quarter and was forced to sit while the Lady Grangers continued to pile up points.
“We tried to take advantage of them when they took their big girl out,” Jones said. “We felt like we could take advantage of that and put some points on the board in the paint which was big for us. We had to adjust some things. Again, that girl was 6-6. You can’t take the ball to the basket like your normally do, so you just gotta let your offense work for you.”
After Calloway was forced to the bench with foul trouble, LaGrange built a 17 -point lead with 3:40 to play in the third quarter and Newnan never really was in the game after that.
The Lady Grangers got a huge lift from senior Steara Mitchell with time expiring in the third quarter.
Mitchell just crossed mid-court with the clock ticking down and hoisted a shot that found nothing but net, giving her a 3-pointer and LaGrange its biggest lead of the night at 50-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
LaGrange extended that lead going up by 27 when senior point guard Brittany Tatum scored on a fastbreak layup and being fouled on the play.
Tatum converted the free throw to make it 55-28 early in the fourth.
While Tatum led the team in scoring with her 24 points, Mitchell had 13 points, and Smith 11.
The Grangers will travel to East Coweta on Friday night for their first road game of the season.
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