Hawthorne girls basketball team defeats GHS

The defending state Class 1A girls basketball champions Hawthorne Hornets used a stingy defense to close out their regular season Thursday with a 47-30 win over the Gainesville Hurricanes at the Purple Palace. 

Hawthorne trailed 9-8 after the opening quarter, but the Hornets turned up the defense in the second period, shutting out the Hurricanes 15-0 and carrying a 23-9 lead into the halftime break. 

"Our defense was excellent tonight," Hawthorne coach Cornelius Ingram said. "We were talking and communicating well on defense and that was the way we need to play."

Gainesville tried to get back in the game in the second half by getting the Hornets in foul trouble. 

But only sophomore Leyah Houston could get to the line, going 5-for-6 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. Houston, averaging about 21 points a game, led Gainesville with 11 points. But only four of those points came in the first three quarters. And the closest Gainesville could get in the second half was 12 points. 

Hawthorne stayed ahead behind a career-high 14 points from Eighth-grader Jhalea Jackson and 11 points from senior Jayla Williams. Sophomore Kentavia Hagins added nine points, included 4-of-4 free throws in the final period. 

"We got a big game from our Eighth-grader (Jhalea) tonight," Ingram said. "This game proves once again it can be a different scorer any given night with this team."

Sophomore Jaz'lyn Jackson added eight points for the Hornets and, while senior Mya McGraw, who averages 11 points a game, scored only three against Gainesville, she still had a big impact. 

"Mya (McGraw) is a great passer even if she isn't scoring," Ingram said. "And Jazz (Jackson) gives us big-time rebounding to go along with scoring. Our team is a bit different from last year's team because it's a bigger team."

Hawthorne finishes the regular season 15-4 and start defense of their state title next week in the District 7 tournament at Bronson. Ingram says this has been a challenging regular season.

"We wanted to schedule harder this year and we did that," Ingram said. "We played (Jacksonville) Raines, (Jacksonville) Bishop Kenny, (Orlando) Timber Creek, (Winter Garden) West Orange, and beat a 7A school in (Orange Park) Oakleaf, so we feel like we are ready for the postseason."

Gainesville, which finishes the regular season 4-8, honored seniors Shanya Coleman and Caroline Pizzurro before the game. The Hurricanes open play in the District 2-6A tournament Tuesday at home against Tallahassee Chiles.