Newspaper Page Text
thesylvaniatimes.com The Sylvania Times Wednesday, March 6, 2024 - Page 3
LADY GAMECOCK
NETTERS DOWN
VIDALIA AND ST
VINCENT’S
Lady Gamecock number three singles player senior Emma
Rose Griner (photo by Dana Doss)
Getting in but three of
what was supposed to be
six matches last week, the
SCHS Lady Gamecocks of
Kyle Reynolds took a pair of
3-2 road wins, one over AA
Vidalia and another over AAA
St. Vincent’s before losing
3-2 to AAAAAA Effingham
County. Standing at 4-5, the
three time defending region
champions began 3-A D1
play yesterday by going to
Claxton and will continue
region play by hosting
Metter on March 12. There
will be nonregion matches at
Burke County tomorrow and
at Johnson County on March
13. On March 2 the team was
to have played SEB, Bulloch
Academy, and Johnson
County in the Mill Creek
Round Robin in Statesboro
but all were postponed due to
weather and will possibly not
be made up.
Lady Gamecock tennis
began what was supposed to
be the marathon week with a
3-2 win over homestanding
Vidalia on February 26. It
was their second consecutive
victory that saw the three wins
come from the three singles
positions (SCPS on February
21). Lyla Johnson (6-1, 6-3),
Caroline Boswell (6-1, 6-0),
and Emma Rose Griner (6-1,
6-1) recorded the three wins
while at doubles it was Garyn
Howard/ Jayla Lovett (3-6,
2-6) and Kerrigan Bogart/
Ryland Reynolds (4-6, 0-6).
Following their win in
Vidalia the girls picked up
their third consecutive 3-2
win in Savannah’s Bacon
Park on February 28 at the
expense of St. Vincent’s.
This time all of the wins did not come from singles. Johnson (6-4, 6-4) and Boswell (6-2, 6-1)
got two of the wins but the third came from the doubles team of Howard/ Lovett (4-6, 6-4, 10-
5). Both Griner (3-6, 2-6) and the team of Bogart/ Reynolds (4-6, 4-6) lost.
What was supposed to have been the halfway point of a six match week turned out to
be the final match of the week last Thursday. It was another 3-2 final, but on Leap Day it
was AAAAAA Effingham County picking up the win. This time there was really no pivotal
individual match. Three-set wins came from Boswell 1-6, 6-3, 10-5 and number two doubles
Bogart/Reynolds 4-6, 6-1, 10-6. Johnson (1-6, 4-6), Griner (1-6, 2-6), and Howard/Lovett (2-
6, 4-6) fell in straight sets.
At roughly the season’s halfway point individual records have senior Johnson at 5-4 at
number one, freshman Boswell 6-3 at number two, and senior Griner 3-6 at number three. The
quartet of seniors Howard and Lovett, junior Bogart, and freshman Reynolds have played all of
the doubles matches in various combinations with a combined record of 3-6.
Freshman Caroline Boswell has accumulated a 6-3 record
thus far at number two singles (photo by Dana Doss)
TENNIS GAMECOCKS
END WEEK ON A
ROUGH NOTE
'•'resimian Noah Boykin has become the regular number
hree singles for the Gamecocks (photo by Dana Doss)
rnr
Hoping to have three
Saturday matches to push a
trio of earlier week losses
to much larger schools into
the background, the SCHS
Gamecock netters of Kyle
Reynolds lost matches to
the weather that would have
been against SEB, Bulloch
Academy, and Johnson
County on Saturday in the
Mill Creek Round Robin.
Ending last week at 4-5
overall the Roosters began
region play yesterday by by
going to Claxton and will
continue next Tuesday when
Metter comes here. There
are also nonregion matches
at Burke County tomorrow
and at Johnson County next
Wednesday.
One of the busiest
scheduled weeks in tennis
history began in Vidalia on
Monday with a 3-2 loss that
could have easily gone the
way of the Gamecock. A
single position in the lineup
did not feature at least one
set with a tiebreaker with
third singles featuring a
third-set tiebreaker. Wins
came at two and three singles
by JD Hall (7-6(4), 6-1) and
Noah Boykin (6-2, 4-6,
12-10) while losses were
John Boswell (6-7(4), 2-6),
Josh Patel/Tucker Thomas
(3-6, 6-7(3)), and Michael
Weaver/Whit Morgan (2-6,
0-6).
Following their
tough loss to Vidalia, the
team went to Bacon Park
on February 28 to face
powerhouse and AAAA
Benedictine, falling 4-1.
Missing number two singles
Hall due to illness, that
The team of seniors Josh Patel (serving) and Tucker Thomas
is one of seven different combinations employed by Kyle
Reynolds this season (photo by Dana Doss)
portion of the lineup was a little different and saw Boswell (1-6, 2-6), Boykin (3-6, 3-6),
and Patel (6-2, 0-6, 2-10) fall. The win came from the combination of Thomas/Morgan with
a 6-4, 6-3 outcome. At two Bo Doss/Weaver fell 3-6, 0-6. Those combinations of doubles
were the sixth and seventh employed during the season by Reynolds.
Leap Day proved forgettable for the Gamecocks with Boswell, Boykin, Thomas/Patel, and
Doss/Weaver each being shut while freshman Rece Chandler fell 3-6, 2-6 at third singles.
SCHS was without a pair of starters, each out sick.
Through nine matches individual records for the Roosters show senior Boswell 4-5
at number one, freshman Hall at 5-2 at number two, freshman Boykin, now the regular
number three, at 4-2 overall, senior Patel at 1-4 mostly at number three, and freshman Rece
Chandler 0-1 at number three. In doubles Reynolds has used seven different players in seven
different combinations who have accumulated an overall record (as teams) of 7-11. The
seven are seniors Thomas, Doss, Chandler and Patel, junior Weaver, and freshmen Boykin
and Morgan.
The 2024 SCHS tennis teams are : Front row:
Nicole Zheng, Lauryn Herrington, Caroline
Boswell, and Ryland Reynolds. Second row:
Akeyiyanna Blount, Emma Rose Griner, Kerrigan
Bogart, Garyn Howard, Reese Chandler, Josh
Patel, Kade Chandler, Lyla Johnson, and Aaron
Snow. Third row: Jayla Lovett, John Boswell,
Noah Boykin, Michael Weaver, Tucker Thomas,
Bo Doss, Lance Daniell, JD Hall, and Whit
Morgan, (photo by Dana Doss)
AROUND.
the ham
GHSA BASKETBALL
FINALS, BACK TO
1989, CAREER POINTS
RECORDS, AND THE ABA
Burton Kemp
Unless otherwise noted all
articles in Sports are written
by Burton Kemp, Sports Editor
The finals of GHSA basketball are this week and the
teams vying for the titles are known. In our own A D1
the boys teams are Paideia versus Mt. Vernon while the
girls have Galloway versus St. Francis. The quartet are
from the all- private school Region 6. Next year they
get to compete in the playoffs against all private schools
up to Class AAA. Apples to apples for them, no unfair
advantages. Overall our region did not fare so well. We
and Savannah High won first boys round games. The Blue
Jackets went to the semifinals before losing to Paideia.
Only Bryan County won on the girls side. They made it to
the quarterfinals.
Here I go again. I learned a new school when checking
on the A D2 brackets: Greenforest Christian. Its proper
name is Greenforest-McCalep Christian Academic Center.
They are playing for the state championship in boys and
girls. The boys are playing Manchester while the girls are
playing Montgomery County. Greenforest’s boys won
their first four playoff games by an average of 36 points
while their girls won by an average of 21 points. The real
FTE for Greenforest is only 140. There are 14 boys on
their roster (10% of the school) and 11 girls on the roster
(8% of the school). Based on scheduling in Maxpreps, I
don’t think they play another sport. And private schools
say they don’t recruit. Next year their playoffs will also
include all privates up to AAA, each of whom can also
recruit internationally.
Multiple folks commented on my column from last
week relative to the 1989 state playoff run. All had very
fond memories of that trip to ABAC and remembered
the disappointment of Macon. At the end of that season
I thought that Harold Lee “Great” Scott was about to do
for us what he had done at Nahunta (Brantley County),
Cherokee County, and Savannah High. However, the next
year, with all five starters from the Macon Coliseum gone,
the boys’ record slipped to 10-14 and we didn’t get back
to the state tournament until March of 1995. That season
everything started in Macon. As Region 2AA runners-up
we lost to Region 3AA champion Dodge County 69-51.
There was not another trip to the state tournament for
the boys until more than a decade passed. The 1988-
89 season became, and continues to be, an unfortunate
anomaly. With all of the youth on this year’s team, maybe
things will turn around and we can have multiple seasons
of that variety.
A couple of thoughts - Caitlin Clark was poised to, on
Sunday, pass Pistol Pete Maravich as the all time leading
scorer in NCAA Division 1 history man or woman. The
first thought, Clark is in her fourth year as a starter and
had 503 treys going into Sunday. When Maravich played,
there was no three point shot and freshmen were not
allowed to play varsity basketball. The second thought,
at some point last week Labron James, already the all-
time leading scorer in NBA history, passed the 40.000
career point mark. When James became the NBA’s all-
time leading scorer he surpassed the record of Kareern
Abdul-Jabbar (don’t call me Lew Alcindor). As of
Sunday James had 14,670 career baskets. Abdul-Jabbar
had 15,837 baskets. Some of Jabbar’s career was played
with no three-pointer and when it came around his career
numbers were 1-18. He played in the paint.
Talk of the three-point basket at the professional level
has to begin with the old American Basketball Association
(ABA). I love to talk about the AFL but do you remember
the ABA? There was that really cool red, white, and blue
basketball. There was Dr. J. And there was the three point
line. The ABA merged with the NBA for the 1979-80
season and the new, expanded, NBA adopted the three-
point shot. The NBA did not adopt the multi-colored
basketball. I never followed the ABA (unlike the AFL it
had no national tv contract) and I really did follow the
NBA, except for Wilt Chamberlain, so I don’t have a lot
of thoughts on the upstart. When the leagues merged only
four teams made the jump - the Denver Nuggets, Indiana
Pacers, New York Nets, and the San Antonio Spurs.
The Colonels of Kentucky and the Spirits of St. Louis
folded. By the way, if you are too young to have followed
Chamberlain, you should look him up. A single season
points per game average of better than 50 for the 1961-
62 season to go with better than 25 rebounds per game
that season makes it worth the look. Something I learned
while looking up info for this last paragraph - while the
NFL includes AFL stats into its record books, the NBA
refuses to recognize ABA stats into its record books.
