Gainesville, Walker Among Holy Innocents MLK Classic Winners

On Monday, the Holy Innocents Golden Bears girls and boys basketball programs hosted their fifth annual MLK Classic featuring teams from across Georgia including the Lowndes Lady Vikings making the furthest trip as they traveled up from Valdosta to take on Norcross, in a match-up in which the Blue Devils picked up the 55-41 win for their ninth straight win.

Both the Golden Bears boys and girls teams were also in action in the only region match-ups to take place at the annual classic as they took on the Southwest Dekalb Panthers, with the boys falling 39-37 and dropping two games back of the region leading Panthers. Meanwhile on the girls side, Holy Innocents would pick up a 77-52 win over Southwest Dekalb creating a two way tie for second in the standings as both teams now sit at 6-1 in the standings and trail region leader Westminster by one game. The Golden Bears win was also historic for senior Olivia Hutcherson as she reached 1,000 career points in the victory.

Early action on the day included the Gainesville Red Elephants holding off the Galloway Scots 73-70 to bounce back after having their seven game win streak snapped on Saturday and the Walker Wolverines boys and Riverwood Raiders girls kickoff the classic with wins as Riverwood defeated Pace Academy 48-42 to end a two game skid, while Walker needed overtime to pick up a 60-56 win over Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy ending their two game losing streak. “Just calm down,” Walker head coach Bryce Brickhouse said following the win as he spoke on his conversation with his players late in the game.

“We got a little erratic and played to their tempo because they were down so they had to play a little faster, so we were just slowing our mind down and executing,” Brickhouse said of his team’s performance in the overtime period, something they got away from in the fourth quarter. With the win, the Wolverines improved to 10-7 (5-5 in region play) on the season and will face North Cobb Christian, who is currently in a three way tie for first in the region standings, on Tuesday.