The Lady Bobcats of Our Lady of Mercy High School defeated The Galloway School, Atlanta, 56-26 on Jan. 23. Junior center Alex Miles led the team with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks. Sophomore point guard Camille Thompson provided 13 points, 8 steals, and 7 rebounds and her counterpart Raven Moore had 12 points, 6 steals and 2 assists. Mixing up tough defensive schemes, Mercy went between a “three-quarter press” and a “full court man defense.” The defense presented Galloway with all kinds of problems getting the ball across half-court. Mercy took a 39-9 lead into the locker room at halftime. They outscored Galloway in the third quarter 14-3 to eventually go on and earn their 11th victory.

The OLM boys team also defeated The Galloway School 59-51. Senior guard Buck Caldwell led the way with 13 points, 4 assists and 2 steals. Mercy jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and by the end of the first period they held a 13-point advantage. Galloway rallied in the second period to cut Mercy’s lead to 5 points at halftime. Mercy got careless with the ball in the beginning of the second half, and with 4:21 left in the third period Galloway tied the game up at 34. With accurate jump shooting from sophomore guard Jake Lethbridge, particularly from outside the 3-point line, Mercy went on a 14-0 run. In the end Mercy was too much for Galloway, and the Bobcats pushed their record to 14-5.

Both teams split in their weekend games against Whitefield Academy, Mableton, Friday, Jan. 26, and W.D. Mohammed High School, Atlanta, Saturday, Jan. 27. The girls lost to Whitefield 44-26, but they defeated W.D. Mohammed 55-47. Junior forward Kelly Tolcher led the way with 16 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks in the latter game. With leading scorer forward Nnamdi Moh and center Nick Hood out for the game and reserves getting much of the playing time, the boys lost to Whitefield Academy 80-30. Buck Caldwell led the Bobcats with 14 points in the loss. Moh and Hood returned for the W.D. Mohammed game, and Mercy won 76-64. Sophomore guard Richie Obiora tied a school record with 30 points in the home victory. Mercy’s girls (11-8) and boys (15-6) go to Decatur to play Greenforest Christian Academy on Friday, Feb. 2.