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Houston 3Dat4j djmmtal
THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 8, 2007
WF girls hold off Southland
Clinch no worse than
No. 3 seed in playoffs
By MA TTHE W BRO WN
Journal Sports Writer
Not many high school basketball
teams can get away with not scor
ing a field goal for a whole quarter
and still win. Hut Westfield’s girls
pulled the feat off Tuesday at home
by defeating Southland Academy
35-30 with a one-point opening
period.
The win clinches no worse than
the No. 3 seed for the GISA Region
3-AAA tournament. Coach Jeff
Eubanks knows his team’s next
two games are against Sherwood
Christian, including Friday’s regu
lar-season finale in Albany.
The two teams will meet again on
Feb. 13 in the No. 2 vs. No. 3 seed
game when the tournament begins
at Georgia Southwestern State in
Americus, and Friday’s outcome
will determine the seedings.
In order to complete a regu
lar-season sweep of Southland on
Tuesday, the Lady Hornets needed
to overcome the one-point output
in the second quarter.
But the Lady Raiders of Americus
had just a 7-1 lead with eight min
utes gone.
“They were in a defense we were
not prepared for,” said Eubanks
about the slow start. “They put a
little 1-2-2 out on us, and being so
young we got tight.”
Westfield more than made up for
things in the second quarter with a
weapon not used much this season,
the 3-point shot. The Lady Hornets
had four in the period, starting
with Hanna Jones. Point guard
Mason Moreland first converted a
steal for two points, then, at 4:33,
sank a 3-ball for her team’s first
lead at 11-10.
Moreland threw in a second trey,
and the fourth came from Carly
Albritton. Southland, with four
seconds before halftime, hit a trey
"They were in a
defense we were not
prepared for."
- Westfield girls head basketball coach
Jeff Eubanks, on a slow start for the
Lady Hornets >
Raiders pull away from Hornets
By MA TTHE W BR () WN
Journal Sports Writer
With 10 third-quarter points
from German exchange student
Nick Goeller, Southland Academy
pulled away from the Westfield
Hornets Tuesday in a key GISA
Region 3-AAA boys basketball con
test held in Perry. The Raiders won
57-46 to put Westfield at 1-4 in the
league with one game remaining
Friday in Albany against Sherwood
Christian.
Three Hornets scored in double
figures, John Peake topping the list
with 12 points. Matt Amrit had 11
points and Nash Murph 10.
Westfield had to fight out of an
11-2 hole in the first quarter, but
finished the period outscoring the
Raiders 8-1. Peake and Murph each
scored on offensive rebounds, and
the Hornets missed a 3-pointer at
the buzzer after a Keenan Malone
steal.
Southland’s 12-10 lead went away
early in the second as Amrit found
Murph in the post for two. With
Amrit hitting a baseline jumper,
the Hornets led by four, 16-12.
But when the Raiders broke
their field-goal drought, it was the
start of three baskets in a row.
Wade Tillman, following two miss
es on a fast break, got the Hornets
back even at 18-all, but Westfield
wouldn’t see the lead again.
Steven Peake’s baseline jumper
made it 23-22, but Southland’s
lead at the half was 27-24.
With a 6-0 run to start the third
quarter, Goeller and the Raiders
were ahead by no less than five
the rest of the way. It was a five
point game, 39-34, when Amrit
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Westfield’s Caroline Pfhol shoots from the field in the Lady Hornets’
win over Southland Tuesday at home.
of its own, but Westfield main
tained the lead at 17-15.
There wasn’t much offense to
speak of in the third quarter except
two more 3-pointers. The first Lady
Hornet shot attempt came from
Sheldon Hiley, and it rolled around
the rim before going through.
The home team didn’t score again
until there was 12 seconds to play,
and it was a trey by Jones.
Southland still stayed within two,
23-21, as the fourth began. It was
the Westfield strategy to spread
hit a 3-pointer with 1:26 left, but
Southland answered with a trey at
the last second to take a 44-34 lead
ENI (Jury Harmon
Westfield's Nash Murph posts up in the Hornets’ loss to Southland.
Sports
the floor in the second half, and
Eubanks said Southland played
them hard away from the basket,
resulting in turnovers that almost
cost his club.
But Moreland was 4-for-4 at the
line, and Haley Way made 3-of-4
plus a basket on a Hiley assist.
Moreland had 12 points and four
steals while Jones had 11 points
and eight rebounds. With the 2-3
region record, Westfield’s girls are
10-16 overall, one win away from
matching last season’s total.
into the fourth.
From there, it was a matter of
both teams trading baskets.
Demons blast Bears
By JOE SERSEY
Journal Correspondent
It was senior night at Houston
County’s Bears Den, but the
upper classmen had little to
cheer about as Warner Robins
defeated Houston County 82-59
in Region 1-AAAAA boy’s bas
ketball Tuesday night.
“We were out-coached, out
hustled, out-played, out-every
thing,” said Bears head coach
Greg Nix. “They came ready to
play. We weren’t ready to play.”
The Demons’ Pierre Miller
was certainly ready. He scored
a game-high 22 points and was
joined in double figures by three
other Demons.
Kenny Willis was second with
19 points, C.J. Jackson finished
with 14 and Xavier Jackson had
10.
“It’s tough to beat us when we
shoot the ball well,” said Demons
head coach Chip Malone. “We
had steals and transition bas
kets. It’s hard to beat us when
we do that.”
The teams played even until
late in the first quarter.
With two minutes, 21 seconds
left in the opening quarter, the
Demons sent a message to the
Bears on what the rest of the
game would be like. They went
on an 11-2 run to take a 22-13
lead.
The Bears’ (13-10, 6-5 in 1-
AAAAA) only scores in that time
came from Eric O’Neal’s two
foul shoots with six seconds left.
Houston County never got
closer than eight points the rest
of the game and trailed 49-35 at
the half.
“Our defense stepped up.
WR girls edge HoCo
By JOE SERSEY
Journal Correspondent
Warner Robins defeated
Houston County 56-51 at the
Bears Den Tuesday night to take
sole possession of second place
in 1-AAAAA and wrap up a first
round bye in the region playoffs.
Warner Robins has an 8-3
region record and is 18-5 overall.
Houston County falls to 7-4 in
the region, 14-9 overall.
The win also avenged an early
season loss to the Lady Bears.
“That mattered a little bit,”
said Demonettes head coach Tom
Mobley, “but the game had big
ger implications. The vengeance
factor was over ridden by the
importance of the game.”
Warner Robins goes to Coffee
County Friday but with the
win over Houston County, the
Demonettes locked up second
place.
The first quarter looked like a
horse race with both teams jockey
ing for the lead. The Demonettes’
Tiandra Billings kept her team in
the game, hitting two 3-pointers,
but the Lady Bears held on for a
12-11 lead at the end of the open
ing frame.
Billings’ two-for-three bombs
from beyond the arc harbingered
things to come.
The Demonettes knocked down
six treys in the first half. Their
first four baskets in the second
quarter came from three-point
range. Billings’ last trey tied
the game at 23-23, and then the
Demonettes closed out the half
with an 11-0 run to take a 31-23
lead at the half.
“Our outside shooting in the
first half was huge,” Mobley said.
Panthers fall in overtime; Wests 21
paces Perry girls in win over Central
From staff reports
Despite a 29-14 lead at the half,
Perry’s boys were unable to hold
off host Central Tuesday, falling
to the Chargers of Macon 71-66
in overtime. The two teams were
tied at the end of regulation 59-
all.
Top scorer for the Panthers,
who fell to 17-7 overall (9-4 in
Region 48-AAA), was Roderick
Jones who had 16.
SECTION
B
"We were out
coached, out-hustled,
out-played, out
everything. They
came ready to play.
We weren't ready to
play."
- Houston County boys bead basket
ball coach Greg Nix
We just turned it up a notch,”
Malone said. “It’s the time of the
season to start playing big.
“It’s the time of the year to
dive into the stands, get hit on
the nose. We came out with a lot
of intensity.”
Warner Robins (14-9, 8-5)
outscored Houston County in
every quarter and did something
unusual for them. They scored
most of their points in the paint.
“We’re not really an inside
team,” Malone said. “Anything
inside is a plus for us.”
The Demons scored 14 fast
break points off of Bears turn
overs, and 23 points from
rebounds, including nine from
second-chance shots.
Defensive rebounds keyed an
8-0 run in the third quarter that
put the Demons up 67-49, and
although subbing liberally in the
fourth quarter, the Demons still
added 14 points to the Bears 10
for the 23-point victory, 82-59.
Three Bears finished the game
with 10 points each: Javoris
Neal, Jon Nolton and Dexter
Holman.
“Our transition game in the sec
ond half was big.”
What was equally important
was shutting down Houston
County’s Tonia Williams.
“She scored 28 points and had
20 rebounds against us in the first
game,” Mobley said. “Shutting
that down by 10 was big.”
Williams finished the night
with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
“When they shot the four 3-
pointers that hit the backboard
and went in, that gave us trou
ble,” said Lady Bears head coach
Sid Baxley.
Warner Robins extended its
lead to 42-32 in the third quarter,
but Houston County attempted
to battle back in the fourth, out
scoring Warner Robins 19-13 in
the fourth, including a 5-0 run to
close out the game, but couldn’t
make up the difference.
“We didn’t shoot really well,”
Baxley said. “We had a couple of
spurts, but we didn’t shoot well.”
In the first three quarters, the
Lady Bears shot 37 percent from
the field but in the final eight
minutes, they hit eight of 14
shots. Warner Robins was living
off its lead and did just enough to
keep the lead.
“We wanted to push the ball
on the fast break,” Mobley said.
“Symone (Wilkerson) pushed the
ball on offense. Tiandra Billings
did a good job.”
Billings finished the night with
14 points, 11 in the first half, nine
points courtesy of three treys.
Cherie White led the Demonettes
with 18 points. Williams finished
with 18 points to lead the Lady
Bears and Brittany Torain scored
15, nine from 3-pointers.
Meanwhile, the Lady Panthers
beat their Central counterpart
55-43. They have now won
three out of their last four and
improved to 4-14 overall and 1-5
in Region 48-AAA - this report
edly being their first win in the
division.
Leading them in scoring was
Ashley West who had 21, Kim
Burgess with 12 and Ashley
Roberts with 10.