High School Tournament Coverage: Dan River girls ground Gretna in Dogwood District

By MATT FUCHS
Register & Bee sports writer
Published: February 19, 2008

RINGGOLD - Leave it to Gretna coach Herb Daniels to find a bright spot on a night like Monday.

Opening the first round of the Dogwood District tournament at No. 2 Dan River, Daniels’ No. 7 Hawks took a beating - falling 91-48. Dan River’s Lakeisha Stone led all scorers with 24 points, and the Wildcats had four other players score in double digits. Gretna countered with a pair of 10-point efforts from Amanda Polan and Kim Adams, but was overwhelmed from the start by Dan River.

Yet, the perpetually optimistic Daniels saw a silver lining anyway.

“What this teaches you, it helped reinforce the strong character traits that you have,” Daniels said. “What it showed me was that my girls had a little bit of heart and a lot of spirit. They went out there and said, ‘They’re not going to score 100 points on us.’”

Not quite 100, but close.

The Wildcats (14-9, 10-3 Dogwood) showed no mercy from the get-go, jumping out to a 25-5 lead after the first quarter thanks to an 18-0 run that put the Hawks (0-21, 0-11 Dogwood) in a hole they could never get out of.

“My girls just ran the plays like I told them to do,” Dan River coach Deauti Giggetts said. “We were really just working on our defense.”

And yet, that defense always seemed to translate into an outpouring of offense for the Wildcats, who outscored Gretna 25-8 in the second quarter on 13-2 and 12-0 runs to crush any hope of a Hawks comeback.

Said Giggetts, who wanted to get her team focused for Wednesday’s second round despite the ongoing rout: “We’re not going to slack up on anybody.”

Nor did the Wildcats, though Gretna eventually managed to come around on offense in the second half.

Dan River took a 67-30 lead into the fourth quarter, and kept the pressure on the Hawks with a press in the final period, as points continued to pile up for the Wildcats.

Unable to do much but watch and motivate his players the best he could from the sideline, Daniels eventually challenged his team to keep Dan River under the century mark - trying to salvage some pride from the shellacking.

“I understand they want to get a certain amount of momentum going (into the second round of the tournament),” Daniels said of the Wildcats. “But it’s like buying a car. The car salesman can make money off of me, but don’t make all of your money off of me.”

Whether or not the Wildcats made all of their momentum off of the Hawks remains to be seen, as Dan River moves on to host No. 3 William Campbell on Wednesday.

“I just tell my girls to take it each day at a time,” Giggetts said. “Win this one and go on to the next one.”

The Wildcats can only hope to be as successful as they were on Monday night.

Contact Matt Fuchs at or (434) 791-7997.

Dan River 91, Gretna 48

Gretna (0-21, 0-11 Dogwood) - Meeks 2 3-4 7, Harris 0 0-1 0, Polan 3 3-5 10, Butts 1 0-0 2, Younger 2 0-0 4, Crews 3 1-2 8, G. Davis 1 0-6 2, Adams 3 4-6 10, Monroe 2 0-0 5. Totals 17 11-24 48.

Dan River (14-9, 10-3 Dogwood) - Milam 4 0-0 12, Jones 3 1-1 7, Majied 1 1-5 3, Walker 2 2-2 7, Stone 10 3-3 24, Garrett 1 0-0 2, Morris 6 0-0 12, Lea 0 2-2 2, Chappel 5 1-2 12, Venable 4 2-7 10. Totals 36 12-22 91.

Gretna 5 8 17 18 - 48

Dan River 25 25 17 24 - 91

3-point goals: Gretna 3 (Polan, Crews, Monroe), Dan River 7 (Milam 4, Walker, Stone, Chappel).