In the absence of a true post player, South Forsyth’s girls basketball team plays a full-court, guard-oriented game—and the Lady War Eagles do it well.

South overwhelmed Lambert with its prying hands and three-point shooting. Keith Gravitt’s team forced 12 first-quarter turnovers and 28 in total, and Sarah Myers (19 points) and Mari Jonassen (12 points) combined for eight three-pointers, as the Lady War Eagles rolled past Lambert, 62-37, on Friday evening.

"I think our girls enjoy playing that up-and-down style," Gravitt said. "It’s a fun way to play. That’s what we want to try to do."

Myers hit five 3s and was lifted from the game with less than a minute to play in the third quarter. Senior Shelby Threlkeld, who played her first two seasons at Lanier before transferring to South, finished with 11 and scored her 1,000th career point on a free throw late in the second quarter.

The Lady War Eagles (1-0, 1-0 Region 6-AAAAAA) built a 14-point halftime lead, and a 15-5 spurt to open the third quarter, capped by back-to-back Myers triples, pushed the South lead to 48-24.

"We were fortunate to hit some early shots and then got into a rhythm late in the first half and early in the second half," Gravitt said. "It was fun to get to see our girls play so well in this kind of environment."

Ashley Johnson led the Lady Longhorns (0-1, 0-1) with eight points; Kylee Beecher and Leah Cote added six points apiece. Lambert out-rebounded South, an issue Gravitt said won’t necessarily be a simple fix.

"We’ve got to compensate on rebounds," he said. "They beat us on the boards. When you don’t have someone like Ashley Hannan in the paint, who you know is going to get 10 or 12 rebounds every night, you kind of have to search for what’s going to fit us best."

South will get a chance to work out their kinks on the glass as Cherokee, Dutchtown and Mill Creek visit Cumming for the War Eagle Classic this week.