About The Sylvania times. (Sylvania, Ga.) 2022-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2024)
Page 4 - Wednesday, February 21, 2024 The Sylvania Times thesy lvaniatimes .com LADY GAMECOCKS TAKE THIRD IN THE REGION TOURNAMENT After blowing a big halftime lead to Metter in the tournament semifinal the night before, the SCHS Lady Gamecock basketball team of Stephanie Davis came back on Friday to win the consolation contest by a 60-34 margin over Savannah Fligh. The semifinals and finals of the 3-A D1 tournament were held in Metter. Their third place finish sends them to Region 2-A D1 mnner-up East Laurens this Wednesday evening. This marks the second consecutive third place tournament finish for the Red and White after a region title in 2021-22. SCF1S made short work of the Lady Blue Jackets on Friday afternoon as they ran up a 22-7 first quarter lead and, unlike the previous night, never looked back in their 26-point win. Freshman Jaliah Roberts had 28 and was the only player in double figures. She and Alailah Scott each had nine rebounds with Rayven Tyler having eight. Near double figure points were Scott (9), Olivia Jackson (8), and Tyler (8). Leading 29-14 at intermission in their Thursday night semifinal, the Lady Gamecocks appeared headed to the region championship contest. But for the second season in a row the team suffered a horrible come-from ahead loss sending them to Friday’s consolation final and the battle for third place. Homestanding Metter came out and scored the first 19 points of the third quarter to send their home crowd into a frenzy. MHS led 37-36 after three. The last lead for SCHS was at 38-37 but the handwriting was on the wall - the home team had momentum and the visitors did not. Roberts had 18 and no one else hit for double figures. A box and one defense held leading scorer Scott to four points. No other stats were available. While the Lady Gamecocks started slowly against Claxton in their tournament opener at the Harold Lee Scott Gymnasium, leading but 14-6 after the opening period, things took off from there. By night’s end 10 of the 12 players on the roster had points and all 12 had some sort of positive stat. Six different players hit three-pointers and the team was 16-33 from beyond the arch. Four players finished in double figures with Scott at 21, Roberts at 15, Tyler at 11, and Jackson at 10. All had at least one trey while Skyler Jordan and Anna Smith also hit from long range. Scott and Avan Mingle had four rebounds each and Scott also recorde six steals. While the Lady Gamecocks finished the tournament at 20-7, East Laurens finished its tournament at 17-7. ELHS finished second to Swainsboro in the regular season, splitting games with the Lady Tigers (winning 45-44 and losing 62-43). They lost the region title game 54-27. SCHS and ELHS had one common opponent during the season, other than winless Jefferson County, was Johnson County, and each defeated the Lady Trojans handily. Left: One of just three seniors on the SCHS roster is Skyler Jordan (photo by Francina Sanders ttperfectshotphotography) Bottom: Lady Gamecock junior Jamya Dockery and Johnson County's SaNoriya Norris (photo by Francina Sanders kperfectshotphotography) Freshman Caroline Boswell is playing number two singles for the Lady Gamecocks. She is currently 2-2 (photo by Dana Doss) Freshman JD Hall is playing number two singles for the Gamecocks. He is currently 2-2 (photo by Dana Doss) TENNIS HAS TOUGH WEEK AGAINST STRONG COMPETITION Heading to Tattnall County on February 16 after a rough Valentine’s Day visit from Savannah Country Day, the SCHS tennis teams of Kyle Reynolds split matches last week with the Gamecocks downing Tattnall 4-1 and the Lady Gamecocks losing their second 3-2 match of the season. After hosting AAAA SEB yesterday the teams will not be in action again until Monday when they will travel to Vidalia for a make up of the postponed contest from February 1. Today the boys go back to Savannah and Bacon Park for an encounter with Benedictine. The Gamecocks had a tough time with Tattnall but managed to win a pair of third set tiebreakers for the win. Just a week ago against South Effingham the team dropped a third set tiebreaker and three third sets. On Friday it was third singles Noah Boykin (6-3, 2-6, 12-10) and one doubles Tucker Thomas/Josh Patel (3-6, 6-4, 10-6) winning in three. Also winning were John Boswell (6-0, 6-1) and JD Hall (6-4, 7-6(5)). Falling was number two doubles Bo Doss/Kade Chandler (3-6, 1-6). For the Lady Gamecocks the loss was the opposite of their loss to South Effingham. Then they won doubles but lost all the singles. In Tattnall the team won its top two singles but lost below. At the top Lyla Johnson (6-4, 6-1) and Caroline Boswell (6-3, 6-2) won but then it was Emma Rose Griner (2-6, 0-6), Garyn Howard/Kerrigan Bogart (5-7, 6-3, 5-10), and Jayla Lovett/ Ryland Reynolds (3-6, 4-6) falling. Both matches on Valentine’s Day with Savannah Country Day at the SCHS courts resulted in 5-0 losses but several of the matches were closer than the score indicates as coaches emphasized that there were lots of good points and deuce games that went SCD’s way. For the Lady Gamecocks the lineup was Johnson (4-6, 5-7), Boswell (3- 6, 4-6), Griner (1-6, 2-6), Howard/Bogart (3-6, 3-6), and Lovett/ Reynolds (3-6, 1-6). For the Gamecocks the lineup saw Boswell (1-6, 1-6), Hall (2-6, 5-7), Patel (2-6, 0-6), Boykin/Whit Morgan (5-7, 0-6), and Thomas/ Michael Weaver (1-6, 2-6). BASEBALL DROPS A PAIR OF ONE- RUN GAMES TO OPEN SEASON GAMECOCK CAGERS ADVANCE TO STATE AFTER WIN OVER METTER Playing up in class in their first two games, the SCHS baseball Gamecocks of Josh Sheley took a pair of tough one-run losses in their opening pair of contests in the 2024 campaign. After 6-5 and 5-4 losses to AAAA Southeast Bulloch and AAAAAA South Effingham respectively, the Roosters traveled to Burke County on Monday and Johnson County on Tuesday before the Swainsboro Diamond Day happens this Saturday when they will face host Swainsboro and then ECI beginning at 10 am. On February 27 SCHS will go to Jenkins County before finally coming home again on February 28 as they host South Effingham. The season lidlifter turned out to be at home after the opener, scheduled for February 12 at SEHS was rained out and moved to Valentine’s Day. Visiting SEB took a 4-1 lead with four runs in the fourth gained primarily on BB/HBP but SCHS came back with four of their own in the home fifth. After back to back strikeouts to open the inning there were singles by Slate Thompson, Greyson Garvin, Gatlin Scott, and Brayton Knight as well as a Jacket error and the Gamecocks went up 5-4. SEB scored twice in the sixth while the Roosters had but one more baserunner. Garvin and Scott had two hits with Scott also recording three rbi as well as being the starting pitcher. Rylan Robbins and Holland Zipperer also took the mound. Zipperer took the loss. At South Effingham the Mustangs used strong pitching to take a 2-0 lead into the seventh. One of seven pitchers employed by SEHS on the night, Collin Harvey walked five SCHS batters in the seventh enabling the Roosters to tie the game. For the next two innings SCHS pitcher Robbins held the home team at bay until the Gamecocks scored twice in the top of the ninth when Garvin’s sac fly plated Robbins (who had singled) and Jeremiah White’s steal of home gave SCHS a 4-2 lead heading into the home ninth. The Gamecocks recorded no outs in that ninth and fell 5-4. The inning opened with an infield error and it was all downhill. On the night there were just three SCHS hits. Garvin was the starter and pitched into the fifth. Robbins finished up and took the loss. In the case of both losses it was a case of just not quite enough in several key categories needed to get the win. For the pitchers there were just five earned runs in 16 innings but against SEB it was control that proved the team’s downfall. Offensively there were just 10 hits in the same 16 innings with 23 strikeouts. In each game the Red and White had late inning leads but could not hold on. Still the opponents were much larger schools. For the next four games that will even out. Upsetting visiting Metter 46-43 in the region tourney’s first round to lock up back to back state playoff appearances for the first time in better than 30 years, the SCHS basketball Gamecocks of Nick Clifton fell to Woodville-Tompkins and Bryan County in their next two games on Thursday and Friday in Metter. The Roosters will now travel to Region 2-A D1 champion Swainsboro this Wednesday evening in the state’s first round. SCHS is the fourth seed from Region 3-A D1. After an abundance of close losses throughout the season, the Gamecocks went out and won one at just the right time on February 13. Hosting Metter, which proved a huge advantage, the first round tournament game was close from start to finish. The Tigers led throughout much of the first three quarters though the Gamecocks led at 21-20 in the second quarter and 32-30 in the third. The visitors led 16-13 after one, 25-21 at intermission, and 34-32 after three. Trailing 40-35 in the middle of the fourth, the Gamecocks crept back to 42-42 on an RJ Beckwith basket before falling behind 43-42 with :35 remaining. A Brandon Smith put back gave SCHS a 44-43 lead with :20 seconds remaining before two Kashard Prescott free throws with :04.1 left created the final score of 46-43. Prescott led the scoring with 13 while Beckwith had 14 rebounds and Jase Hughes ten. The going got a little tougher in the semifinals and finals in Metter on Thursday and Friday. While holding the contest tight throughout the 32 minutes, SCHS fell to WTHS 55-48 and then Bryan County 64-47. The consolation game started out extremely close, trailing just 13-12 at the halfway point of the second stanza. By half the count had risen to 34-16 and, unlike the Woodville-Tompkins contest the night before, was never close again. Having the biggest back-to-back nights of his two year career, sophomore Prescott had 20 in the WTHS game and 18 in the BCHS contest. Beckwith scored 10 against Woodville and Jordan Gresham had nine against Bryan. The Wolverine's height killed the Gamecocks on the board with Beckwith leading the way with just three rebounds while Hughes had seven and Prescott and Deven Oliver six each against Bryan. Swainsboro, now with a 10-13 overall record, came into their region tournament at 4-4 in region play with a third seed. After upsetting Bleckley County they stunned 20-4 (8-0 in region) East Laurens 49-47 Friday for the region title. This came after 66-50 and 60-55 losses to the Falcons during the regular season. The lone common opponent was Jefferson County and both SCHS and SHS swept the Warriors. The Gamecocks head to state at 6-19. SCMS SPRING OPEN Fighting rain early in the week, the SCMS baseball Gamecocks and soccer Lady Gamecocks began play later. Baseball tied host South Effingham 3-3 while soccer fell to Toombs County 1-0. Baseball will next be in action on February 27 when they host a doubleheader against Ebenzer while soccer hosts SEB at Kelly Memorial Stadium this afternoon and Claxton next Tuesday. Called after five innings because, for whatever reason. South Effingham has no lights, SCMS got good pitching from Rhett Robbins, Cody Grovenstein, and Luke Stockwell while Grovenstein had three hits. Despite playing an outstanding game, soccer fell but defenders Elle Gentry, Piper Black, Stella McBride, and Dalishia Washington had big matches. SCRD SPRING REGISTRATION Registration for spring sports will be held February 1-23 at screvenrec.com and at the SCRD office. ^Baseball (ages 7-17) Cost: $50 *Softball (ages 7-17) Cost: $50 *T-Ball (ages 4-5) & Coach Pitch (age 6) Cost: $40 Age control date to determine league: age on 9/1/2024 Tryouts will be held February 27-29. JVJ 7-\ j/ if ^ F" Proud Supporter of The #1 Jenkins County Times!
