Groves Girls Win Birmingham Rivalry Basketball Game 61-38 Over Seaholm

BIRMINGHAM – The girls varsity basketball team went into halftime Monday night sensing it had rival on the ropes. 

Up 28-18, Groves quickly landed a knockout punch in the third quarter with a 12-0 run right out of the gate.

The Falcons extended their 10-point halftime lead to 22 in less than four minutes and went on to win 68-31.

“The kids count this as one of their best rivalry games, their emotion was there and the energy was there,” Groves coach Amos Thompson said.

Jordan Blackwell started the third quarter with a put back off an offensive rebound. Lucy Mailing had steals on back-to-back plays and converted the Maples’ mistakes into points with layups.

“They play the game faster than we are used to,” Seaholm coach Steve Hasler said. “We’re working on our ball-handling, but sometimes they force you to turn it over and that’s what happened.”

After another Seaholm turnover, Jessica Turner went to Blackwell in the post. Blackwell backed down her defender and scored in the paint with a little hook shot to make it 36-18 with 5:44 left in the quarter. 

Turner scored her first points of the half off another offensive rebound and then on the ensuing play she gave Groves (5-6; 5-6 Oakland Activities Association White) its biggest lead of the game, 40-18, hitting a nice floater on the baseline.

“One of the best (runs) we’ve had,” Thompson said. “We’ve been struggling of late (offensively) so it’s good to see them have that kind of performance.  And everybody contributed, so that’s what we’ve been looking for.” 

Turner was one of three Falcons’ players to finish with game-high 12 points. Mailing and Nicole Prentice also had 12. Groves had nine different players get in the scorebook. 

Seaholm (3-11; 3-9 OAA Blue) didn’t have a single player in double-digits and struggled all night to get in a rhythm offensively.

The Maples didn’t shoot the ball well and the Falcons used a full-court press to disrupt their rival’s game plan. Hasler said even when his girls broke the press and had open looks, their shots weren’t on target.

Emily Potter led Seaholm with nine points. Lisa White added eight.

Groves' Thompson hopes the strong effort will give his team some much needed momentum going into the second half of division play.

“This (OAA White) is a tough conference,” Thompson said. “This was a good break for us in between, I think we have six or seven straight in the league, so it’s something to build on.”