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The LaGrange girls basketball team is in the win column. The Grangers beat South Atlanta 49-37 at home on Tuesday to notch their first victory of the season.

“Well, the girls have done a much better job of working together. We played an opponent that was very similar with us, which allowed us both to work on things that with a similar level of competition, and allowed us to have chances to succeed doing some things that we’ve been working on, and the kids did do those things, things like attack the rim, both offensively and defensively,” said a satisfied Mike Pauley, the LaGrange head coach. “They showed a lot of tenacity tonight and are starting to really take pride in the little things.”

The Grangers used some suffocating defense early in the game which allowed them to take a 10-3 lead after the opening quarter.

“We didn’t have any girls foul out tonight, we had a few unnecessary fouls, but not many and that was key,” Pauley said. “We had a ton of deflections and that’s because the kids are really learning how to jump to the ball and help each other on defense.”

LaGrange also rode the steady offense of Peyton Swint, who finished with a game-high 17 points. It was truly a reliable showing from Swint in all four quarters as she finished with at least three points in every quarter on Tuesday.

“She was aggressive, but the one thing she has to work on is finishing,” Pauley said. “We’ve been challenging her to be more in control when attacking and she did a good job of that tonight. The other girls were really looking ahead for her tonight.”

South Atlanta’s offense could not be contained at the same level they were in the first quarter, but the Granger defense was more than enough in the following three quarters. LaGrange was able to take a 25-14 lead into halftime. 

While Swint was the steady hand, the Grangers would never have been able to build that first half lead without Ashley Brooks. She knocked down three 3-pointers in the first half and created massive problems for the South Atlanta defense.

After a scoreless first half, Madisyn Booker sparked to life in the second half and finished with eight points. Kelis Atkinson chipped in with seven points. 

The third quarter featured a stalemate with both teams notching 11 points. It was the only quarter that the Grangers did not outscore their opponents as they put 13 points on the board in the fourth to just 12 points for South Atlanta.

The win moved LaGrange to 1-5 on the season. The Grangers will tip off region play on Thursday with a trip to Sandy Creek. 

“Honestly, there will be some teams that we can’t match up with this season, we don’t have any seniors,” Pauley said. “We won five games last year, but I can see us winning 8-10 this season.”