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♦ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2006 2B RALLIES From page iB sustained during practice. “He got elbowed in the ribs during one of our drills,” Hardy said. “Give Casey some credit. He’s in some pain.” With Hayward handling the ball and dishing it to the open man. Perry started its comeback. As in the first two quar ters, the Panthers started strong with a 6-2 run for a 32-31 lead. In the first five minutes of the third quar ter, the lead changed five times until Perry’s Kameron Felder hit a trey to give the Panthers the lead for good 38-36. Perry’s Roderick Jones followed immediately with another 3-pointer to extend the lead to 41-36. “Felder made some impor tant baskets for us,” Hardy said. Perry finished the third w msm WfKK" BTk TOP: Panther and Hiram play ers battle for a loose ball during their Chick fil-A Bear Brawl game Thursday at Houston County. RIGHT: A Panther makes a pass. ENI Clary Harmon - ENI Gary Harmon Perry’s Lay Rountree prepares to shoot in the Lady Panthers’ Chick-fit-A Bear Brawl game against Campbell Thursday at Houston County. DEMONS From page iB Willis and Fluellen worked to get the first five Warner Robins points ROUTS From page iB Six of the Lady Bears eight points came from the free throw line, but they were only down by three going into the second quarter. North Clayton’s defense held Houston County score less in that frame, as the Lady Bears went zero for quarter with a 45-38 lead. “We didn’t keep (Perry) off the boards in the second half,” Hood said. “Our phi losophy is there should be only one shot, and it should be contested. Unfortunately, we were giving them two and three shots.” In the second quarter, dur ing Hiram’s comeback, Perry managed only two offensive boards. In the third quarter, they grabbed five and scored six points off the put backs. Hiram pulled to with in three, 51-48, midway through the fourth quarter, but couldn’t make up the deficit. “They were doing a great job of penetrating and kick ing the ball back,” Hood said. “We didn't do a good job of leveling them so that they couldn’t get open shots.” Perry was outscored 14-16 in the final frame but when Hiram was again within three points, 57-54, with 11 seconds left in the game, the of the game, including a 3-pointer by Willis after Fluellen rebounded a miss and kicked it out to the sharp-shooting guard. But Westside followed with an 8-0 run as the Seminoles broke seven attempts from the field, 0-2 from the line and turned the ball over six times. “Fatigue,” was Houston County head coach Sid Baxley’s response to his teams shooting woes. “They just played 18 hours ago. We didn’t shoot very well.” North Clayton’s Latia Williams scored 16 of her Hornets resorted to fouling to get the ball back. Perry made sure the hall reached the hands of its best foul shooter, Felder, but in his first trip to the line, he missed the front end of a one-and-one. Perry's Antonio Hubbard snared the rebound and got it back to Felder who was again fouled with eight sec onds left. He hit both free throws to effectively stifle any of Hiram’s hopes for last second heroics. “I told the guys after the game that was a good bas ketball team we just beat,” Hardy said. “They were tall, fast and athletic and well-coached. That’s a tough combination to beat.” Stewart Clark led Hiram with a game-high 16 points. Mario Rolland scored 12 and Nuckles added 10 points. For Perry, Felder led with 12 points, Hubbard and Jared Fluellen scored 11 points each. a strong press and took an 11-5 lead. Warner Robins reeled off the last six of the period as both of •Jackson’s assists went to Wright. The game was tied 11-all after the game-high 26 points in the first half, including anoth er trey as the Lady Eagles extended their lead to 23-8 at the half. “Our outside shots fell in today,” Turner said. Turner’s Lady Eagles lost to Houston County in the final of last year’s Bear Brawl. “Last time it was a close SPORTS ENI/Gary Harmon Chris Willis shoots from the field . p'^jj y'i^i §& . ' < ' v' HMH[ -g. i ■■’9 *■ wKBKm _ jw> JBii ENI Gary Harmon Casey Hayward watches a loose ball. DOMINATES From page iB Ragin had four points in the third quarter while ' ENI/Gary Harmon A Lady Panther battles for a rebound. game. I came with fresh men.” he said. “This time I had the upper hand with experience because we got a lot of back door (baskets).” North Clayton continued its onslaught in the third quarter, scoring 16 points to Houston County’s six. Sometimes it just isn’t worth playing the fourth quarter, but GHSA rules Burgess converted on a third-shot opportunity for two of her 11 points. But with the score 61-28 Campbell, the fourth quar- first. But for the Demons, it was a five-point second quarter with all of that coming early. C.J. Jackson hit a 3-pointer that led to a 16-15 lead. Westside could only score eight, require it, and North Clayton added nine more points to Houston County’s eight. “After the game, I tried to stress to the girls that we were tired,” Baxley said. “We played 13 girls tonight and 10 last night. I told them it wasn’t time to panic, but we have to play better.” Tiffany Barton also scored in double figures for North THE HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL ter lasted just six minutes. Perry’s Brown scored the first points of that final peri od and Burgess had another stickback at the end. but it was enough to go up by three at the break. For the game, Miller and Willis each had 10 points. C.J. Jackson tallied nine while Fluellen and Wright each scored eight. Clayton while Tonia Williams led Houston County with nine points. Houston County’s record is 6-3, and North Clayton extended its winning streak to five for a 5-3 record. Tonight at 7 p.m. in the Bear Brawl girls’ champion ship, North Clayton plays the winner of Friday’s Warner Robins/Campbell game.