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♦ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008
8A
Northside girls win nail-biter over Warner Robins
By MA TTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
It was a game lacking in points
but not excitement and enthusi
asm when two city rivals in girls
basketball met Saturday at Warner
Robins High School. In the end,
one Tai Brown free throw was all
Northside High needed to edge out
the Demonettes 38-37 and end a
little two-game slide from the Lady
Eagles.
The final minute of regulation
didn’t come without some items of
dispute, such as what appeared to
the Warner Robins bench to be a
backcourt violation on Northside
with the score still knotted at 37
apiece. With the crowd noise flow
ing through the gym anticipat
ing a Demonette game-winner, the
officials whistle for a travel wasn’t
heard and the clock ran out (only
to get one more second, which
didn’t change the outcome).
Perry boys beat Southwest but fall to Mary Persons; Lady Panthers drop two
From staff reports
Perry’s boys basketball team had to settle
for mixed results from this weekend, while
its girls suffered back-to-back setbacks.
On Friday, the Panthers beat Southwest
53-32 but on Saturday Mary Persons edged
HORNETS
From page 6A
Macon for non-region basketball action.
The Westfield girls dropped to 12-8
overall as the Lady Cavaliers won 34-33
in a game where the Lady Hornets had
a turnover total in the 20s. But, accord
ing to Jeff Eubanks, it came down to
a block call against his team with less
than two seconds to play that allowed
MDS to take the win.
In addition to the turnover problems,
the coach said Westfield gave up 16
offensive rebounds. Mallory Eubanks
had nine points and Erin Willie eight,
Jones pulled down eight rebounds.
Walls’ Hornets went from a slim 22-
19 halftime lead to a convincing 60-47
win over the Cavaliers to improve to
13-7 overall. Westfield’s boys had a run
in the second half, stretching over two
quarters, of 22-5 with all 11 players
making contributions one way or the
other.
The Hornets shot 25-of-37 at the line
on Saturday with most of the attempts
coming in the fourth.
SWEEP
From page 6A
for his defensive ability.
Donte Williams was the same
thing.
“If we don’t come out play
ing with a lot of intensity,
we’re not going to win. We
started these guys for the
first time against Northside
(on Jan. 22), and that was
our most hard-fought game
of the year.”
When it conies to scoring,
Dean said this young team
doesn’t have that one "hero"
who is going to step forward
every night. Instead, the
Bears, in the Colquitt game,
shared the ball and looked for
the hot scorer. In the fourth,
Brandon Davey scored eight
of his 12 points.
Geo Stotts, the leading
scorer for the season, only
had seven points, but had an
excellent game running the
press offense with at least
three assists. Jarrid Nunn
contributed 12 points and
RALLY
From page 6A
The Warner Robins press
gave Northside lots of prob
lems in the second quar
ter. The Eagles mounted a
mini comeback with Major
Lynwood scoring in transi
tion and Ward converting a
steal of an inbound pass. But
the Demons were all over
the offensive boards with K.
Fluellen and Sanders scor
ing. Northside missed an
opportunity to score on a
Lynwood steal, so. Stephen
Edwards of Warner Robins
found a wide-open basket
and put his team up 32-17 at
the break.
The Demons actually led
by 16 at one point of the
third quarter as K. Fluellen
fed Sanders for a baseline
cut (38-22).
Northside made its come
back on takeaways and pen
etration, all adding up to a
The fourth
quarter action
alone made up for
what was lacklus
ter play on both
sides leading to a
low overall score,
24-21 in the Lady
Eagles’ favor,
going into that
last period.
The whole game
started out like it would be a great
shooting night for Warner Robins
as Danielle Gazaway hit three 3-
pointers from the same spot in
a span of two minutes (with two
assists going to Symone Wilkerson
and another to Tiandra Billings).
Billings would call glass on anoth
er Demonette trey with Quinshay
Williams getting the assist, and at
the end of the quarter the hosts
led 13-4.
Warner Robins never saw that
kind of outside success (Gazaway
Perry 49-46. For the girls, Perry lost 63-31
to Southwest while Mary Persons beat them
83-43 Saturday.
Against Southwest, Perry’s boys were led
by Roderick Jones, who had 17. Kameron
Felder also had 12 - nine of those were
■ ~ ' -
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ENI Gary Harmon
Lady Hornet Haley Way drives to the basket.
Vince Stewart nine.
Williams nailed two of his
jumpers to go with a Scott
3-pointer in a game-opening
9-2 run for Houston. Stewart
hit from 3-point land in the
first quarter while Stotts
stole the ball underneath the
Colquitt basket to score. The
quarter ended with the Bears
up 16-10.
The Packers showed some
dominance on the boards in
the second period and got
within two, 16-14, on a third
chance hoop. Stotts, against
the Colquitt press, showed
great vision to find Scott on
the run. With a steal and
score by Stewart, Houston
was back up by six, 24-18.
The third period belonged
mainly to Colquitt starting
with three long jumpers in
a row and a six-point lead
at 39-33. Stotts found Scott
for another fast-break bas
ket, which helped the Bears
get even again at 41-all, but
Colquitt responded with con
secutive offensive rebound
scores. Phillips, who blocked
22-2 run. Dejuan Mitchell
knocked the ball away allow
ing Demario Black to score
on the run. Pierre Solomon’s
basket off of K.J. Morton’s
penetration brought the vis
itors within 10.
Solomon was also a factor
on defense as his blocked
shot set up a transition score
for Mitchell. Solomon did
more in the third as he took
a Ward penetration pass in
for two and slammed in his
own steal.
Hagan ended the quar
ter with a second slam for
Northside that tied the game
40-40. He would also block
a shot early in the fourth.
Sanders finally ended Warner
Robins’ drought with a put
back, but Northside was well
in control as Morton found
Ward on the weakside, and
the ensuing three-point play
made it 47-44.
With less than three min
utes remaining, the Demons
got back within two, 52-50,
missing her next three attempts)
until deep in the fourth. Northside
seized momentum in the second
quarter with a 7-0 run highlighted
by Leah Daniley feeding Ladarria
Clark on the run. Brown had four
quick points and charged up visit
ing fans with a pair of blocks.
But the Demonettes stayed
ahead as a Wilkerson floater at
2:05 made it a 17-13 game. The
half ended with a lot of back-and
forth action that did nothing for
the scoreboard, though Wilkerson
drew a foul in the last second to
make it 19-14 at the break.
Clark’s lay-up on a takeaway
tied the game 19-19 ... at 4:25 of
the third period. It took about two
minutes for Brown’s pro-range 3-
pointer to give Northside its first
lead, 22-19, since 2-0. Shanerika
Parks’ stick-back at 1:04 was the
only points for the Demonettes in
the third.
Northside led by as much as
• Northside
girls 38, Warner
Robins 37
four shots in the game, had
two in the last eight seconds
on the quarter only to see the
Packers retain the ball and
put it through to lead 48-44
with eight minutes left.
Davey’s hot hand in the
fourth put in back-to-back
baskets. With Scott pen
etrating the lane to score
the Bears were ahead for
good 51-50. Nunn, who had
been quiet the entire sec
ond half, suddenly erupted
for five straight points (63-
54). When Colquitt put back
one more offensive board to
get within six, 63-57, Roger
Stanton came back with his
one and only basket of the
game. The Bears would miss
12 foul shots in the game.
The win upped the Houston
boys to 3-5 in the region,
ahead of only 0-9 Colquitt
in the seven-team league
standings. Warner Robins
and Lowndes were even after
Friday’s action at 3-4.
LADY BEARS WIN
A winning streak would be
on a pair of stick-back from
Sanders and Ricky Ritter.
But in the last two minutes
Warner Robins would have
five turnovers (two steals
from Lynwood), and the
Eagles padded the lead from
the foul line.
REGION WRAPUPS
The Warner Robins
Demons fell into a tie with
Lowndes in Region 1-AAAAA
at 3-4 after losing to the
Vikings Friday in Valdosta
66-61 in overtime. Lowndes
had a game-winning basket
in regulation taken away
on a charging foul. Kenny
Fluellen scored 24 points
while Jared Fluellen had 14.
The Northside boys also
went into overtime Friday
at Baldwin High, and the
end result was a 54-46 loss
to the Braves. Smith said
the Eagles had two shots at
the end of regulation, but
couldn’t get one through.
Smith said they tried to
SPORTS
courtesy of three 3-pointers. Saturday, Casey
Hayward led the Panthers. He had 10, while
Trey Smith and Michael Walker each had 9.
For the Lady Panthers against Southwest,
Kim Burgess led the squad with 8. Kenisha
Wilson and Shay Newberry each had 6, but
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a good thing for the Houston
County girls going down
the stretch, and by beat
ing Colquitt County for the
second time the Lady Bears
earned win No. 3 in a row.
Sid Baxley’s crew jumped to
3-5 in 1-AAAAA, which puts
them ahead of Colquitt’s 3-6
for fifth place and, for the
time being, out of the play
in.
In Friday’s game, Houston
only trailed the Lady Packers
one time, and that was early
in the third quarter (19-18)
when the home team gave
up four points off of turn
overs. The Lady Bears had
just three more giveaways.
“We moved the ball a lot
better in the second half,”
said Baxley. “There were
times when all five girls
touched the ball. That’s what
we want to do.”
Houston went back ahead
for good in the third peri
od as Tonia Williams made
an assist pass against the
Lady Packer press to Janesa
Johnson. Sophomore for-
stall in overtime, but missed
their first shot and would up
sending Baldwin to the line
for 10 made free throws. For
the game, Northside was 6-
for-17 at the line.
Ward had 14 points, but
none from the fourth quar
ter on.
BAILEY COMMITS
Warner Robins High offen
sive tackle Robbie Bailey has
verbally committed to play
college football at Virginia
Military Institute. Bailey,
a member of the Demons
basketball team, was con
sidering an appointment to
. the U.S. Military Academy
at West Point (Army).
Bailey said he is not look
ing for a career in the mili
tary, but that he likes the
academic programs at VMI
and is considering study
ing engineering. In football,
VMI plays in the Big South
Conference with Coastal
Carolina.
nine, 30-21, in the fourth thanks
to inside moves from Josie Tolliver
and Chan Fann. That got Warner
Robins back in the game as
Wilkerson scored four in a row. But
the Lady Eagles answered with a
Fann steal and assist to Tolliver
(32-25).
Wilkerson’s put-back brought
Warner Robins within four, 34-30.
At 2:30 to go, the home team final
ly hit from outside with Deanna
LeShoure making a 3-pointer.
LeShoure followed that make with
a long 2, and Wilkerson found
Parks inside for the tying basket,
37-37, at 56.1 seconds.
There were six seconds to play
when Brown took a hard foul going
to the basket. She was slow to get
back up, but made it to the line.
She missed the first attempt, but
the second went through.
Clark, with a pair of key bas
kets in the fourth, led all scorers
with 14 points after being shut
ward Kourtney Thomas fol
lowed with a put-back basket
and a give-and-go assist to
Williams, who scored cutting
down the lane.
With a Williams three-point
play, Houston ended the third
quarter on a 7-0 run to lead
34-26. On one of those occa
sions where all five players
on the court handled the bas
ketball, it was Thomas who
finished off the press break
in the fourth period. She
came back to earn another
assist to Williams in the post
(38-29).
Alexis Hewitt and Williams
completed a decisive 9-0 run
with consecutive stick-backs.
Baxley wanted to press
in this game on made bas
kets early and push the ball
on Lady Packer misses. It
resulted in an opening 9-0
run. T
Colquitt scored on a turn
over to get within four, 11-
7, at the end of the period.
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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
out of the scorebook the night
before at Baldwin. Brown had 12.
For Warner Robins, Wilkerson
and Gaza way each scored 10 and
Billings seven.
REGION WRAPUPS
Lowndes High defeated the
Warner Robins High girls in
Valdosta Friday 42-37. It was a
game where the Demonettes led
6-3 after the first quarter, but
Lowndes took over with a 6-0 run
in the second. Wilkerson had 21
points. As a team Warner Robins
missed eight foul shots.
The Northside High girls fell
behind Baldwin 12-5 in the first
quarter and never caught up in a
62-43 loss Friday in Milledgeville.
Fann had 12 points and Brown 10.
It was the second loss for the Lady
Eagles to Baldwin this season and
dropped them to 6-3 in the 4-AAAA
south sub-region.
none could come close to the Lady Raiders’
Parrisha Simmons. She had 25.
On Saturday, Newberry was close (to
Simmons’ total) with 16.8ut Mary Persons
had 11 players score at least one (point), the
best of those Bree Shannon, who had 12.
The visitors would overcome
their own turnover problems
and tie the game 11-all at
5:45 of the second. On anoth
er turnover by Houston, the
board showed another tied
score 15-15.
It was sophomore guard
Natalia Stevens who provid
ed some key minutes late
in the half off the bench.
She ran down three loose
balls and sank two foul shots,
which gave her team the 18-
15 halftime lead.
Williams ended the
game with 21 points, nine
rebounds, five assists (could
have been nine), six steals
and five blocks. Hewitt scored
10 points with five rebounds
while Thomas had eight
points with five boards.
• The Houston County
High non-region basket
ball doubleheader against
Westside-Macon scheduled
for Feb. 2 at home has been
moved to Wednesday, Feb. 6.
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Westfield's
Keenan
Malone
goes in
for a layup
as he is
fouled by a
Southland
player.
ENI/Gary
Harmon
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