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Lady Wildcats Headed to
Florida for NCAA Reqionals
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Lady Wildcats Head Coach Lonnie Bartley, center, holds the award for SIAC Coach
of the Year. With him are Assistant Coach Erica Henry and SIAC Commissioner Greg
Moore. Contributed
Alter winning the 2012
Southern Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference Women’s
Basketball Championship on
March 3, the Lady Wildcats of
Fort Valley State University have
earned a berth in the National
Collegiate Athletic Association
Division II Regional Playoffs.
As announced by the NCAA
on Sunday, March 4. the num¬
ber three seed I^ady Wildcats
will meet the number sis seed
Lady Blazers of Valdosta State
University on Friday, March 9
on the campus of host institu¬
tion Rollins University (Winter
Haven, Fla.) in the first round
of regional play.
Westfield Dedicating New Baseball Complex To
Its 2011 State Team
The Westfield School will
dedicate its new baseball
complex expansion to the 20 II
State Championship team
during a special ceremony at
its home opener Friday. March
9 at 7 p.m.
The expansion includes
Byron Baptist Church Upward Basketball Program
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Keith Patterson
By Claire Houser Dodd
Contributing Writer
Keith Patterson, Minister of
Music, Adult Coordinator (50
and over) and person in charge
of all sports at Byron Baptist
Church, has been sponsoring and
cosching the Upward Basketball
Program for eight years now.
Keith has been serving the con¬
gregation here for the last ll-'/j
years. Originally from Macon,
he moved to Irwinton, graduated
from Wilkinson County High
School, Georgia College and the
Southwestern Seminary. He has
a Masters Degree in Church
Music. He is married to Kathy
Conley (also of Macon) and has
two children, five grandchil¬
dren. three of whom (ages 7, 9
and 10 ) will be singing at the 6
p.m. service on Sunday, April. 6 .
In 2004. Keith Patterson was
introduced to a great church
organization from Spartanburg.
S. C.. Upward Basketball. As of
now. he has 172 girls and boys in
the program. They range from
four years old to kids through
the eighth grade. He teaches
God’s word through this sport
with a devotion at every prac¬
tice and one on Saturday, which
indudes the audience.
This is also a parent-friend¬
ly sport, only two hours per
week, one for practice during
the week and one for game time
on Saturday. The uniforms, blue
and gold, are free. You may
play on the blue team this week
and the gold the next week.
There are two games every hour
on Saturday and on the same
court. The little ones only use
half the court They play six
periods and every child gets to
MARCH 7, 2012
Friday’s game will be a repeat
of the 2010 regional match¬
up between the teams. VSIJ
won in 2010 by a 50-49 score.
This year's game will be played
in the Rollins' Warden Arena.
The Lady Wildcats will enter
the game with a 23-6 overall
mark while the Lady Blazers
begin regional play with a 20-7
record.
While tip-off time for the
game has not been set, live radio
and internet broadcast coverage
of the game can be heard on
WFVS I04.3FM in Fort Valley,
or at www.fvsu.edu. Once on
the FVSU website click on the
radio icon at the bottom of the
a covered seating area for
approximately 500 fans, as
well as a new press box and
improvements to the dugouts.
This project has been funded
by a group of generous donors
who wanted to contribute to
the enhancement of Westfield’s
play three of them. This strat¬
egy is all carefully worked out
in the handbook from Upward
Basketball, which was started
by Caz McCazdon, a youth
director in Spartanburg, about
15 or 20 years ago and may be
viewed on www.upward.org.
There are workshops offered all
over America during the year for
those interested in starting this
important Christian program in
their own churches or organiza¬
tions.
This method of coaching bas¬
ketball stresses “Every Child as
a Winner,” takes heavy competi¬
tion out and doesn’t keep scores
to make this team or that child
appear better than the other.
One way this is accomplished is
by the armband method. Say a
blue armband stands for a good
player. Then that player can only
guard another blue armband
player. Consequently, you are
only playing against your own
skill level. The younger, less
experienced players will not be
intimidated, nor will they be
likely to be injured. Although
the programs is Christian-based,
the children learn a lot about
basketball and sportsmanship.
LEGAL PROBLEMS???
GET ANSWERS. TAKE ACTION
n BECKY ATTORNEY WILCOX
Call to schedule your
FRFF CONSULTATION!
GENERAL TRIAL PRACTICE
Alt Family Law * Criminal Law * DU! * WiHs & Probate
Chril Litigation # Personal Injury * Sodai Security
Worker's Compensation
( 478 ) 237 - 6-100
577 Mulberry Street, Suite 110 - Downtown Macon I
home page.
For more information about
the Lady Wildcats in the NCAA
Playoffs, visit www.fvsusports.
com. While on the athletics
site, if you would like to make a
contribution to FVSU Athletics,
just click on the “Donate to
Athletics” icon on the left-hand
side of the page.
Contributed of Sports by
FVSU In formation Office
baseball program. These donors
will be recognized during the
dedication ceremony,
Westfield’s home opener is a
tournament. Westfield will play
Edmund Burke Academy at 5:15
p.m. and Greater Gwinnett at
7:30 p.m.
The armbands and the change
of colors seem confusing to out¬
siders, but Patterson says it is
not complicated to the coaches
and players, and in reality, sim¬
plifies things as every phase of
the game is well worked out in
the handbook. All coaches keep
their rosters exactly the same,
and know before each game
exactly whom will play when.
No guess work, and no child left
sitting on the bench.
Saturday was the last game
day of Upward Basketball this
season. It started at 9 a.m.
with the 4-5 year olds; first
and second graders at 10 , third
and fourth graders at II, fifth
and sixth graders at 12 , seventh
and eighth graders at l p.m.
Amazingly, it all works like
clockwork and the parents and
grandparents fill up and empty
the gym in an orderly and quick
fashion, keeping a full house for
all games.
Good spirits and Christian
fellowship were in abun¬
dance. Congratulation to Keith
Patterson for a job well done,
and to the boys and girls who
stands to gain so much in the
Christian spirit as well as in the
Lady Wildcats Win 2nd
Straight SIAC Crown
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The FVSU Lady Wildcats and staff, 2012 SIAC Basketball Champions. It’s their 2nd
straight conference title and 11th for the team and Head Coach Lonnie Bartley. Photo
by Oscar Daniel/Courtesy of FVSU Sports Information
The Fort Valley State
University l .ady Wildcats are the
2012 Southern Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference (SIAC)
Basketball Champions. After
defeating the Tigerettes
of Tuskcgee University in
the championship game on
Saturday, March 3, the Lady
Wildcats claimed their second
consecutive title 11 th in the
school’s history.
Trailing 30-25 at halftime,
in the second half the Lady
Wildcats resorted to the one
weapon that has worked repeat¬
edly throughout the regular
season: the press. Forcing only
II first-half turnovers, the Lady
Wildcats upped the pace of its
press in the second half and
forced a total of 23 Tigerette
miscues. Those turnovers
not only resulted in transition
baskets for Lady Wildcats; they
am nr
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Keith Patterson watches on of his Upward Basketball teams get ready for a game.
The team that wears gold in one game will wear blue in the next game. Players are
matched with opposing players of similar skill levels. Contributed photo
INVITATION REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
The Peach County Commissioners Office will be accepting RFP for the next two (2)
weeks pertaining to the following: 400 FT. TOWER
Specification Package is available in the Peach County Commissioners Office,
Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. -
5:00 p.m. at 213 Persons St, Fort Valley and/or call 478-825-2535.
The PEACH COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS is soliciting Request for
Proposals from qualified companies to provide a 400 foot tall steal guy tower for
the purpose of housing Peach County Public Safety, Emergency, and other
mission critical communications. Proposals will be received in the Peach County
Board of Commissioners Office, 213 Person Street Fort Valley, Georgia 31030,
until March 21,2012 local time 2:00 PM.
Any questions concerning the above contact Paul Schwindler @ (478) 825-8717, Jeff
Doies at (478) 825-3687,
Peach County reserves the right to reject any and all bids, to waive formalities, to
readvertise and/or to award the contract in the best interest of the County, and to
retain any and all Bids for a period of thirty (30) days after the bid opening.
Sealed RFP’s should be mailed to:
Peach County Commissioners Office
Attn: Sealed RFP #12-004
213 Persons SC, Fort Valley, GA 31030
Clarke Davis
Peach County Purchasing Manager
THE LEADER-TRIBUNE
also prevented the Tigerettes
from settling into a half court
offense that allowed them to
take advantage of their superior
size.
In addition to a better defen¬
sive second half, the Lady
Wildcats were also better from
the field in the final 20 minutes
of play. After a dismal 28%
shooting performance in half (7
of 25), the 1 -ady Wildcats shot
48% from floor after the inter¬
mission. FVSU outscored the
Tigerettes in the second half,
36-22, on their way to the con¬
ference tournament title.
Senior Yasheeka Jones led
the Lady Wildcats in scoring
with a game-high 16 points.
Dominique Collier finished
with 10. Nnenna Eze led the
Tigerettes with 13 points and
Eryn Gray added 10.
For the tournament, Jones
scored a total of 46 points and
averaged 15.3 points per game.
She also finished the tourna¬
ment with 13 assists and nine
steals. For her effort, Jones
was named to the SIAC All
Tournament Team and was
selected as the tournament's
Most Valuable Player.
With the regular season SIAC
title and conference tournament
title in tow, the Lady Wildcats
(23-6) will receive the automat¬
ic bid to the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA)
Regional Playoffs. Currently
ranked fifth in the NCAA
Division II South Region, the
Lady Wildcats will be making
their 19th appearance in the
NCAA Regionals.
Contributed by FVSU
Office of Sports
Information