The North Cobb Warriors and Lady Warriors played stingy team defense and had their talented players shine on offense as the two squads defeated the Woodstock Wolverines at home on Saturday.

The fourth-ranked Lady Warriors tipped off first against Makenzie Block and the Lady Wolverines. The first quarter saw back-and-forth action, uncommon for the talented Warriors. Woodstock was getting open looks and knocking them down while North Cobb forward Kira Gordon drove the lane sinking spectacular lay-ups under the basket.

Carrying a mere five-point lead into the second quarter, the Lady Warriors picked up the pace on offense. Gordon, who finished with 20 points, scored three straight baskets early in the quarter.

“We went on a 16-0 run,” said North Cobb head coach Matt Williams. “That opened things up a bit.”

Block, who finished with 14 points, would make a trio of 3-pointers toward the end of the half, but North Cobb took a 43-25 lead into the locker room.

The second half was no different. Senior guard Jarae Savage, who had 11 first half points, kept rolling, scoring 9 more points in the second half and playing lights-out defense.

In the end, the Lady Warriors were too talented for Woodstock and they came away with a 64-49 Victory.

Trying to follow in the ladies footsteps, it was the boys' turn to take the court.

The Warriors had to figure out a way to guard Cedrick Bowen, Woodstock's skilled power forward. North Cobb center John Smith was assigned to Bowen in the first half. Smith boxed out well keeping Bowen from getting offensive rebounds and subsequently taking over the game. Although Bowen finished with 18 points, he took and missed a lot of contested shots and was basically a non-factor on the offensive glass.

“It was a team effort,” said Warrior head coach Terry Gorsuch about containing Bowen. “We’ve got some good post players ourselves and we got some help from our perimeter guys.”

In the second half, North Cobb’s post players stepped up their offense. Smith obtained rebounds on both sides of the court and distributed the ball to perimeter shooters Jalen Clark and speedy Wayne Brown who often passed up contested shots to drive to the hoop for easy buckets.

“We were more patient on offense in the second half,” Gorsuch proclaimed. “We did a pretty good job in the second half defensively. They’ve got a good post player and good perimeter shooters so they keep you honest.”

A combination of sound defense, good rebounding, and smart decisions gave the Warriors a solid team win by the score of 57-48.