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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2016
High School Basketball: Winder-Barrow
J * i
MOVING ON
Lexi Maddox (12), Jakayla Sullivan (24) and the Winder-Barrow girls
basketball team will play tonight in the semifinals of the Crescom Bank
Holiday Invitational at Myrtle Beach. Photo by Scott Thompson
Lady Doggs in Myrtle Beach semis
By Scott Thompson
Sports Editor
The Winder-Barrow girls basket
ball team’s goal heading into this week’s
Crescom Bank Holiday Invitational at Myr-
de Beach was to hold its own against a slate
of tough competition.
Through two days, it’s doing more than
that.
Olivia Nelson-Ododa scored a game-high
27 points Tuesday as the Lady Bulldogs
rallied past Wesleyan of Norcross 65-60 to
advance to the semifinals of the tournament,
handing the Wolves (9-1) their first loss of
the season
Winder-Barrow (7-3), which also defeat
ed Dreher High School of Columbia. S.C.,
63-37 on Monday, will face South Shore
High School of Brooklyn tonight at 8:30
p.m. in the second semifinal.
The Vikings have won their first two
games handily, 61-15 over Socastee, S.C.
and 49-31 over Ferguson, Fla.
“The kids are just out there making plays
and that’s what this is all about,” Wind
er-Barrow coach Brandon Thomas said
Tuesday night of his team, which has now
won six straight games after a 1-3 start com
ing off last season’s GHSA Class AAAAA
runner-up campaign. “We seem to be turn
ing from a team that can be good into a team
that’s actually playing well.
“And we have to have that mindset. Win
or lose from here on out, I think we’ve made
some great progress down here.”
With the game against Wesleyan tied
at 26 at the half, the Wolves got hot in the
second half, opening up a 39-31 advantage
before the Lady Bulldoggs responded with
a 9-0 ran to take the lead.
Chellia Watson’s long-range 3-pointer
later in the half put the Lady Bulldoggs up
for good and sparked a 7-0 run that made
it 56-49.
Wesleyan got to within three points at
63-60 with just seconds remaining but
missed a wide-open three that would have
tied it.
Lexi Maddox secured the rebound for
Winder-Barrow and was fouled before sink
ing both free throws to ice the game.
The game against Dreher on Monday was
never in doubt as the Lady Bulldoggs trailed
for just 18 seconds early on and led by as
many as 26 points, which wound up being
the final margin of victory.
Watson led the way with 22 points on
7-of-l 1 field goal shooting, including a 3-of-
4 performance from beyond the arc.
Nelson-Ododa added 19 points and 8
rebounds while Lattice Perkins chipped in
with 15 points, 7 assists and 6 steals.
“Both those schools we played were
undefeated coming in and had major college
signees,” Thomas said.
“We played lights out all the way around.
It was good for us to gain some confidence,”
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High School Basketball: Apalachee
Wildcat teams swept at Baldwin
By Scott Thompson
Sports Editor
Apalachee boys basket
ball coach Kevin Morris
didn’t mince words Tues
day night when describing
his disappointment over
his team’s performance the
past week.
The GHSA Class
AAAAAA Wildcats
dropped their third straight
game Tuesday night, 52-35
against Class AAAA Bald
win in a non-region contest
in Milledgeville to fall to
5-5 on the year.
The loss followed
a 68-53 defeat at Cedar
Shoals in Athens on Sat
urday and 57-51 loss at
Monroe Area on Friday.
“We’ve got to get tough
er,” Morris said. “The last
two games, we’ve played
against very tough oppo
nents and we did not match
their physicality. That’s
something we’re going to
fix and we’re either going
to do with the guys we
have playing now or we’re
going to find different
people — one way or the
other.
“Something we real
ly pride ourselves on is
being tough and giving a
great effort, and that hasn’t
been there the last couple
games.”
Rashad Eberhart led
the way for the Wildcats
on Tuesday with 7 points
while four other players
posted 6 apiece. Apalachee
was without its leading
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scorer in point guard Omer
Ahmed, who missed the
game due to an illness.
“That hurt us a little bit
depth-wise and in terms
of scoring ability,” Mor
ris said. “Overall, we just
didn’t do a good job over
all with the long trip.”
The Wildcats will return
to action today at 6:30 p.m.
when they host Class AAA
Banks County.
Morris expects the Leop
ards and the teams the
Wildcats will see in next
week’s holiday tournament
at Discovery High School
to be tough competition.
“We want to play tough
quality opponents,” he
said. “Hopefully this
stretch of the schedule will
help prepare us for region
play.”
Lady Wildcats
fall to Baldwin
Meanwhile, the Lady
Wildcats also lost at Bald
win on Tuesday, 67-36, to
drop to 4-5 on the season.
Shania Thomas led
Apalachee with 15 points
while Nakia Hooks had 12.
Baldwin led 12-10 after
a quarter before stretching
the lead to 32-15 at half
time.
“We played a better
game the last two quarters,
but they were able to hit
some shots that normally
don’t fall,” Lady Wildcat
coach Gary Compton said.
“Every time we made a
run. they answered. But the
overall effort was a lot bet
ter, which is encouraging.”
The Lady Wildcats will
also host Banks County
today with tip-off set for
5 p.m. They will then join
the boys at the tournament
at Discovery Dec. 27-29.
The holiday tournament
will be the final tune-up
for both teams before
they open up Region
8-AAAAAA play at cross
town rival Winder-Barrow
on Jan. 6.
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Say THANK YOU to the following
sponsors who helped support our 2016 season
Nationwide Insurance-Jim DuBose
Sundek Creative Concrete
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Reynolds Realty-Lori Bramlett
Georgia Spiritwear
Total Lawn Care TLC, LLC
Allied Paving Contractors
Partee Gas Station
Ann’s Flower Shop
IVIaster’s Table
Watkins Automotive Service Center
Forge Cross Fit-Winder
Kaye & Porter, LLP
Northeast Georgia Psychological Services
GordonProTreeServices.com
Big Foot Services Irrigation
Lakeside Car Wash
Georgia Farm Bureau-Barrow County
Bentley Photography
Elder’s Cleaners
Miller Chiropractic
Hometown Rhythms, LLC
Community Partners Realty-Tim Hill
Nelson Sanders
Dairy Queen
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Hill’s Ace Hardware
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