Newspaper Page Text
Houston Batin
FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 22, 2006
The Home Journal’s
SANDLOT
! i i ii n. tox niFV
ON OECK
High school
basketball
Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl at
Houston County
Today
■ Warner Robins girls versus
winner Campbell versus Perry.
7 p.m.
■ Girls losers game 1 and 2
versus each other, 1 p.m.
■ Girls losers game 3 and 4
versus each other, 4 p.m.
■ Winner between Hiram ver
sus Perry boys versus winner
Westside versus Warner Robins.
5:30 p.m.
■ Hawkinsville boys versus
Houston County. 8:30 p.m.
■ Boys losers game 4 and 5
versus each other. 2:30 p.m.
Saturday
■ Girls final, teams to be deter
mined, 7 p.m.
■ Girls loser game 7 versus win
ner of game 5 (for third place),
4 p.m.
■ Girls loser game 5 versus
winner game 6 (for fifth place),
1 p.m.
■ Boys final, teams to be deter
mined. 8:30 p.m.
■ Boys game 11, teams to be
determined (for third place), 5:30
p.m.
■ Boys game 3 winner versus
game 6 winner (for fifth place).
2:30 p.m.
■ Boys game 3 loser versus
game 6 loser (for seventh place),
11:30 a.m.
IN BRIEF
YMCA has job opening for
fitness director
The Houston County YMCA
is now accepting resumes for
the position of full-time Fitness
Director. Qualified candidates
possessing a strong desire to
build a quality program, man
age their own department and
be part of the national and local
YMCA movement may submit
their resume to Jim Mercer, CEO
at jmercer@hocoymca.org.
Salary and benefits are com
mensurate with experience,
education, certification and a
proven track record. Resumes
will be accepted until Jan. 5,
2007 with the position start date
to be mid-to-late January.
Red Cross to hold
inagural bowling tourney
The Houston-Middle Georgia
Chapter of the American Red
Cross will hold its inaugural
"Roll into the New Year" Bowling
Tournament Jan. 20, 2007.
The tournament will be held at
the Gold Cup Bowling Center on
Russell Parkway and will start at
10 a m. and last until 1 p.m.
According to a release from
the American Red Cross,
“Everyone is encouraged to
participate regardless of bowl
ing experience, as this will be a
scratch tournament."
The entry fee is $l5O for
a six-person team. It includes
pizza and soda. Registration will
be available on the day of the
tournament. Visit www.middle
georgiaredcross.org for a regis
tration form or call 923-6332 to
sponsor the tournament.
Winter Players Pass
available for golfers
A Winter Players Pass is now
available for purchase at three
northern state park golf loca
tions.
It's valid for play at Arrowhead
Pointe at Lake Richard B.
Russell in Elberton, The Creek
at Hard Labor in Rutledge and
Highland Walk at Victoria Bryant
in Royston. The card provides
the holder with unlimited green
fees at the three courses for
three months and costs SIOO.
The pass is available in lim
ited quantities and for a limited
time. It’s valid from December
until February 2007.
The pass can be purchased at
any of the participating courses,
online at www.GeorgiaGolf.com
or by calling 1-800-982-3691.
*
* I* .1 -
t nr |Y j i
ENI/Gary Harmon
Houston County’s Tonia Williams gets airborn for a shot against Peach County, Wednesday
on the opening day of the Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl at Houston County.
HoCo girls stop Peach
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Tonia Williams had 22 points
and two clutch assists in the
fourth quarter as Houston
County High girls basketball
team opened its defense of
the Chick-Fil-A Bear Brawl
Wednesday with a 42-34 win
against the Lady Trojans of
Peach County High.
Peach County didn’t put a
point on the board until the
last minute of the first quar
ter.
Still, the Ft. Valley visitors
found themselves tied with the
hosts 26-26 late in the third
quarter. It was a steal and
an assist by Chanel Crosskey
that enabled the Lady Bears
to break the tie and take a
28-26 lead going into the final
period.
Williams, who was on the
bench with three fouls when
Peach County drew even,
returned to the floor for the
fourth and opened it up with
an offensive-rebound basket.
The Lady Trojans drew
no closer than the one-point
margin, and it was a scoring
Perry’s Greer signs with
South Georgia College
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Crystal Greer has a hard
time choosing between play
ing softball and soccer. So
she plays both, and plays
both quite well, for Perry
High School.
For the next two years
after high school graduation,
Greer won’t have to make
a choice either. She plans
to attend South Georgia
College in Douglas, and
while there play both soccer
and softball. Greer signed
the letter-of-intent papers
on Tuesday with her family,
her high school coaches Jeff
Sans and Courtney Herbert,
and her soon-to-be college
coach present.
“I like the coach,” said
Greer, the daughter of Steve
and Deborah Greer. “I met
all the girls, and it’s a real
friendly atmosphere. That
Sports
move down
the lane by
Williams that
again put her
team ahead
by three, 34-
31. She fol
lowed that
with an assist
to her fellow
post player,
freshman
Kourtney
Thomas.
With a scor
ing move in
SEAG.
Chick-fil-A
Bear Brawl
Houston County
girls 42, Peach
County 34
the paint and a second assist
to Thomas, this time on the
high-low set, Houston County
had the type of comfortable
lead, 40-34, it enjoyed in the
first half.
But their showing at the
foul line marred the Lady
Bears’ first-half performance.
The home team was l-for-9 at
the charity stripe in the sec
ond quarter alone.
However, Houston would
make the last four attempts of
the game.
Williams had the game’s
first field goal as she caught
suits me. I’m from a small
town. I want to go to a junior
college to get started, to get
used to it, and then try to
transfer to a bigger school in
two years.”
Greer added she plans to
study nursing while continu
ing her athletic career.
Rob Brunei is both the
soccer and softball coach at
South Georgia. This is his
first season in Douglas after
previous stints at Wesleyan
in Macon and Georgia
Military College. The col
lege soccer season just con
cluded, and he is waiting for
his first softball season at
South Georgia to begin in
the spring.
“This is a tremendous
sign,” said Brunei about
Greer. “She will provide
leadership and depth to
the (softball) program.
She’s a strong hitter and a
See SIGNS, page ill
a pass with authority from
Brittany Torain.
Peach County played a
deliberate pace in the open
ing quarter and had several
second-shot opportunities, but
the ball didn’t go through the
net until there were 49 sec
onds remaining.
Still, with Peach slowing
down the pace, the Lady Bear
lead was only 9-2.
Houston County led by as
much as 13, 15-2, on consecu
tive 3-pointers by Crosskey
and Torain to open the second
period.
Those were their only field
goals of the quarter, which
they ended by turning the
basketball over four straight
times. Peach had five points
from the floor off those take
aways, then hit two foul shots
to slice the lead down to three,
16-13, at halftime.
Peach did miss its first 11
free-throw attempts before
those two makes.
With turnovers still a prob
lem for Houston County
coming out of intermission,
See HOCO, page iB
t t ifliH® * * *«i
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■hpr ] j my f
9L •fv
Journal Matthew Brown
Perry High School’s Crystal Greer, seated center, takes a break after signing a scholar
ship to South Georgia College Tuesday. On hand are, seated from left, South Georgia
College coach Rob Brunei and her mother Deborah Greer. Standing, Perry High girls
soccer coach Courtney Herbert, father Steve Greer and Perry High softball coach Jeff
Sans.
Bears power
past Trojans
By MA TTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Peach County was going to need more than a half
court 3-pointer at the buzzer this time around.
In fact, when the Trojan basket
ball team faced Houston County
Wednesday in the opening round of
the Chick-Fil-A Bear Brawl at the
Bear Den, the game was actually
shortened by two minutes due to
the mercy rule. Houston County’s
boys denied Peach of a second
straight Brawl championship with
a convincing 69-30 victory.
It was last year when Peach’s
Antonio Henton sank a long 3-
pointer against Houston County
in the semifinals. This year, with
the Bears leading 53-19 after the
third quarter, regulation time for
the fourth period was only six min-
y
Chick-fil-A
Bear Brawl
Houston County
boys 69, Peach
County 30
utes.
Rashad Turner did all of his scoring in the first
half, but was still good enough to lead his team
with 14 points. Starting point guard Vic King and
reserve forward Craig Presley each scored 12. Rico
Anderson, Ryan Stallings and Dexter Holman all
scored seven each.
King was the player in charge of the court when
the Bears opened the game on a 9-0 run. He pen
etrated to the basket twice for field goals and had
a steal that led to a transition basket by Stallings.
The assist went to Josh Nelson.
King had a second steal later in the quarter, and
Turner used that possession to score off the offen
sive glass. The quarter ended with the Bears ahead
17-6.
Turner also started the game with a 3-point bas
ket. He would open the second quarter the same
way, which started a personal 7-0 run.
The Trojans got as close as 12, 24-12, with a
dominant stretch on the offensive glass.
See POWER, page zB
Northside's rally falls
short; Demonettes roll
By JOE SERSEY
Journal Correspondent
Taking advantage of their quickness, the
Hawkinsville Red Devils defeated the Northside
Eagles 57-51 in the first game of
the boys’ bracket of the Houston
County Bear Brawl Wednesday
night.
Hawkinsville jumped to a 16-6
lead in the first quarter, taking
advantage of Northside’s press.
“They were quicker than us,”
said Northside head coach Kevin
Smith. “We switched to a zone to
slow them down. They didn’t have
an outside shooter.”
Too true. Hawkinsville man
aged only one three pointer in nine
attempts.
By the half, the Eagles had pulled
to within four, 29-24.
“We got an early lead and
*4
Chick-fil-A
Bear Brawl
Hawkinsville boys
57, Northside
51; Warner
Robins girls 55,
Hawkinsville 28
just kind of settled,” said Hawkinsville head
coach Greg Ellison. “They went to a zone and
slowed us down. We had a six-one player in
See RALLY, page zB
SECTION
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