Westside rolls to 57-42 playoff win over Shaw with offense from Billue sisters

Maybe it was because they’re sisters.

That might have been the reason No. 8 Westside’s Domonique and Jorden Billue dominated the floor for the Seminoles in a playoff game Tuesday night, passing into the post and hitting jumpers with fluidity.

Then again, the rest of the Westside girls played just as well during an impressive 57-42 win over the No. 25 Shaw Raiders in the first round of the GHSA Class 2A state tournament in Macon.

Perhaps it was just because the Billue sisters were great teammates.

Domonique, a force for Westside all season and already a 1,000-point scorer as a sophomore, had her eyes down the floor all night looking for her big sister — pun intended — in the post. If Jorden was open, down the ball came. If she was covered up, Dominique or another Seminole would find a way to get a jumper.

When it was Domonique shooting, most of the attempts went in. She finished with a game-high 28 points in the playoff contest. Jordan followed with 18 points.

“Looking for my teammates down low in the post to score and attack,” Domonique said of what worked well. “To be on the same page is when we play better as a team. When we’re communicating that’s also better. … It’s real cool because it’s my last year with my sister. I’ll miss her, but it’s good finding her in the post.”

The rest of the Seminoles followed suit and passed with precision as a unit, overcoming a somewhat sluggish first quarter to eventually hack Shaw’s plan to press them. D’asja Harris also chipped in down low with 10 points to fuel a solid performance.

It was a much-needed win after Westside took an unexpected loss to Morgan County in the Region 2 championship game last week, a defeat head coach Candice Roberson said motivated the squad.

“There’s a silver lining in everything. Maybe that loss was what we needed — certainly not what we wanted, not the goal that we worked towards, but we needed to feel it,” Roberson said. “We were on a winning streak and haven’t ran across adversity like we did at Morgan (County) the other night. (It was good) being able to take the momentum of where we stopped in that last two minutes at Morgan.”

Westside also played relatively well defensively, never letting the Raiders get on too much of a run and often picking their pocket at halfcourt and in transition to snag easy points.

“Again, starting a little low, but we worked (the Raiders) down. We outlasted ‘em,” Roberson said.

As for the passing prowess? Roberson saw exactly what she wanted to see.

“It was the gameplan. We knew what they were gonna throw at us, but it was also (the players). I can’t pass it for ‘em,” Roberson said, smiling. “It was just infectious. Once one person does it, the next person does it. They just started clicking. I just give ‘em the paintbrush and the canvas and they go to work.”

The Raiders had their own scoring working at first — Shaw led the game 10-9 at the end of the first. But even with sharpshooters like senior Brooke Skipp, who finished with 21 points, it was tough to get good looks as Westside defended well at the perimeter and forced more and more wild shots. 

The second quarter was where things started to tilt in the Seminoles’ favor, as they outscored Shaw 20-13 in the period using tricky steals and solid shooting from Domonique, who had 13 of those 20 points. 

One sequence where the younger Billue sister hit a 3-pointer, stole a Shaw pass and sank an elbow jumper with ease provided a particular spark as the Seminoles’ home crowd started to show some life. They took a 29-23 lead into halftime.

Westside was firmly in control from that point, building its lead as high as 15 points in the second half thanks again to efficient ball movement down the court. The Raiders got within 8 points early in the fourth, but the Seminoles’ defense recuperated to extinguish the run.

The win punched Westside’s ticket to the second round of the tournament Friday, when they will again play at home, this time against No. 9 Hart County after the Bulldogs defeated No. 24 North Murray 60-39.

“I feel like we’ll make it real far,” Billue said of Westside’s playoff hopes, “if we keep communicating with each other and being on the same page.”