Hope wins NCSC girls’ basketball title
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, February 26, 2008
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Devin Douglas scored 50 points in two games to lead Hope Christian School to the National Christian Sports Conference girls’ basketball title Saturday at Samford University’s Siebert Hall.
Douglas unloaded 25 points and collected six steals Saturday to lead the Eagles past Evangel Family, 46-33, on their way to their third consecutive NCSC state title.
Metta Smith added 16 points in the championship game.
Douglas and Smith each posted double-doubles in Friday’s semifinal against Freedom Life Academy, which Hope won 50-29.
Douglas had 25 points and 10 rebounds, while Smith had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Hope (19-6) advances to the National Association of Christian Athletes’ National Tournament beginning today in Dayton, Tenn.
In other playoff action:
-Loganville (Ga.) 58, Evangel Christian 45: The Evangel Christian girls’ basketball team fell in the semifinal of the Independent Christian Schools of Georgia and Alabama (ICSGA) conference basketball tournament held last weekend at Columbus State University.
The Lightning led 28-27 at halftime, behind senior Hannah Letson’s 15 first-half points.
However, Loganville (19-1) employed a box-and-one defense against Letson in the second half, and the Evangel offense could never get in sync the rest of the way.
The Lions scored the first 10 points of the third quarter, and never looked back. Letson led the way for Evangel with 21 points and six rebounds, while Jonica Reaves added nine points and four assists for the Lightning.
Abby Letson also had nine rebounds for ECS.
Hannah Letson, one of three Letson sisters on the Evangel team, was named ICSGA Class AA All-State, and averaged 19.1 points per game.
The 5-foot-5 guard ended her four-year career with the Lightning as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,364 points. As a team, Evangel ended their season at 16-7.
In boys’ basketball action:
-Loganville (Ga.) 53, Evangel Christian 44: The Evangel Lightning trailed the Lions 24-12 at the half, and saw Loganville stretch its lead to nearly 20 points before making a run at the two-time defending champions at the end of the game. Evangel cut the Lions’ lead to seven points in the fourth quarter, with key three-point baskets coming from Micah Mularsky, Hunter Price and Matthew Watford down the stretch.
Price led a balanced Evangel scoring attack with 10 points, while Watford and Mularsky each added 9 points.
The ECS boys ended their season at 16-8