Woodland fell behind early but made a run right before halftime to surge into the lead on its way to whipping Walker 40-26 on Saturday.

The victory evened the Lady Wildcats' record to 1-1 on the season while the Lady Wolverines are 0-1.

The Lady Wolverines led Woodland most of the first half, but Woodland caught fire late in the second quarter and entered the break with a 3-point lead.

In the second half Woodland stepped up its intensity and pulled steadily away.

"We kind of played sloppy and got outhustled early," head coach Colman Roberts said. "We came out in the second half and played better.

"We talked about not playing with intensity and not boxing out at halftime, and we did much better most of the second half. We have a lot to improve on and to work on."

Olivia Rutledge led the Lady Wildcats with 14 points. Lyrica Solomon contributed 8 points, Ashley Watkins 5, and Jessie Michaels 4.

The Lady Wildcats will host North Paulding on Tuesday night.

Woodland 65, Walker 56

The Woodland Wildcats led the whole game but never by much as they outfought a determined Walker team 65-56 on Saturday.

"This was a typical Walker basketball team," Mike Tobin, Woodland head coach said. "They were a fundamentally sound, strong physical team and we just pulled away at the end."

He said it was the Wildcat defense that made that possible.

"We did some good things defensively. We got a hand up in their face and we did a good job boxing out," he said.

The Wildcats also did a good job offensively at crunch time.

"We led the whole game but it was somewhere between 4 and 8 points, but we were able to pull away at the end," he said.

Greg Murphy led Woodland, now 2-0 on the season, with 14 points while Chandler Royal contributed 13; Isaiah Niblet, 10; Daryel Morris, 10; Adam Tobin, 7; and Jacquez McKay, 5.

Walker is 0-1 for the season.

The Wildcats return to the hardwood on Tuesday night as they host North Paulding on alumni night.

Tobin said North Paulding is fresh off scoring 110 points during their scrimmage game and have some offensive guns.

"It should be a fun game to watch," he said.