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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 .. m ■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 B