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January 5, 2017
Basketball teams play annual Christmas tournament
Robin Dunn/photo
The ’Nettes with their second place trophy from the Christmas tournament.
The Boys and Girls Bas
ketball teams took place in
the annual Christmas Tourna
ment at Fannin County last
week and the Girls finished
2-1 and the runners-up, while
to boys went 1-2 in three
hard fought games.
The Nettes faced off
against the Fellowship Chris
tian Paladins in their first
game and started the game a
little slow allowing the Pal
adins to gain the first quarter
lead 19-14. The led though
would be short lived as the
Nettes would come storming
back in the second behind
Torrie Williams who mad six
3 pointers in the contest for a
team high 18 points. The
Nettes were able to take the
lead 27-25 at the half and
would not look back. The
second half saw the Nettes
continue their assault and
build a 12 point lead 51-39 at
the end of the third quarter.
They finished off the Pal
adins 63-52 with the help on
Mykenzie Weaver who had
12 points and Mackenzie
Hampton who added 8 and
15 rebounds.
In the second game the
Nettes went against the Gor
don Lee Trojans who man
aged a good start defensively
holding the Nettes to just six
points in the first quarter for
a 13-6 lead. Again the sec
ond quarter would prove to
be the turnaround for the
Nettes who took the lead and
led 22-19 at halftime, a lead
that they would not relin
quish. The third quarter saw
them advance slightly finish
ing at 37-32, but the fourth
quarter was when the Nettes
really took off. Led by
Mykenzie Weaver, who had a
team high 17 points and six
steals and Ashley Nelson
who added 13 points, the
Nettes finished off the Tro
jans 62-55 and advanced to
the Championship game.
In the decisive final game
the Nettes faced off against
the Roswell Hornets, a 7A
school from Metro Atlanta.
Both teams won their first
two games and appeared
evenly matched throughout
the game, The Hornets took
an early lead 12-8 at the end
on the first but the Nettes
fought their way back and
went into the half up by two
20-18. A hard fought third
quarter ended with both
teams tied at 36 and with
their eyes on the champi
onship. The Hornets eventu
ally prevailed 49-45 in a
great game. The Nettes were
led by Autumn young who
scored 13 points, while
Mykenzie Weaver added 10
and Ashley Nelson had 8.
The Nettes had three mem
bers make the All-Tourna
ment team, Taylor
Wigington, Torrie Williams,
and Autumn Young.
The Dragons started the
tournament off against the
Coahulla Creek Colts, who
charged their way to an early
lead 13-10 at the end of one
quarter. In the second the
Colts extended their lead to
double digits outscoring the
Dragons by nine in the sec
ond to take a 32-20 halftime
lead. The Dragons would not
give up and fought back in
the third cutting the lead to
just seven with one quarter to
play. Unfortunately their
comeback would fall just
short as the Colts would go
on to win 52-41. The Drag
ons were led in scoring by
Joseph Gossett who had nine
points while Chase Simmons
and Keniyuan Hooks each
had eight.
In the next game the Drag
ons faced off against the
Adairsville Tigers, both
teams looked good early as
the first quarter ended with
the Tigers leading 14-12.
The Tigers thought were able
to separate some in the sec
ond increasing their lead to
10 at the half 30-20. The
third quarter belong to the
Damon Howell/photo
#21 Seth Bishop led the Dragons with 14 points in
their tournament win over Oak Grove.
Tigers as well who at the end
found themselves up 18 49-
31 entering the fourth. The
Dragons did manage to close
the gap some but it was too
little too late as the Tigers
went on to win 58-47. Seth
Bishop had a big game scor
ing a season high 24 points
and grabbing 14 rebounds for
his first double-double of the
season.
In the finally the Dragons
took on the Oak Grove
Tigers. The game started off
fairly even as Oak Grove
took an early lead 13-12 at
the end of the first quarter.
The Dragons began to heat
up in the second and would
never look back, they
outscored the Tigers by seven
in the second to take a six
point lead into the half 33-27.
In the second half they were
able to build off of it and
went into the fourth quarter
with a comfortable 13 point
lead 50-37. The Dragons
didn’t slow down in the
fourth eventually finishing
off the Tigers 73-54 to get the
win. The Dragons had five
players finish the game with
double digit points, they were
led by Seth Bishop who had
14, Joseph Gossett who with
13 and Blake Gort, Hunter
Jordan and Hunter Hermann
all had 10.
PHS Varsity Cheer captain back from London parade
Ariel Pritchett, center, spent her New Year on the other side of the pond cheering
as an All-Star in London, England.
Pickens High School sen
ior Ariel Pritchett,
school’s varsity cheer cap
tain, was chosen as an All-
Star cheerleader and was
eligible to cheer in the Lon
don New Year's Day Parade
with hundreds of other All-
Star cheerleaders from the
“What I liked most about
my trip was the fact that
everything was so different
from food and clothes to
buildings and cars,” Pritchett
said. “I couldn't ever forget
this trip and the opportunity
to cheer in the London New
Years Day parade with mil
lions of people around the
world watching. Even the
food was an unexplainable
and unforgettable experience.
I must say I'm blessed and
have made lifelong friend
ships, and I would love to go
back again!!”
All-Americans are se
lected to try out based on su
perior cheerleading, dancing
and leadership skills at camps
across the country. Only the
top 10% of the more than
325,000 cheerleaders and
dancers who attend the 5,000
Varsity summer camp ses
sions earn the chance to
march in the holiday spectac
ular.
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the USA.
Jasper man leaves on bike ride
around the United States - literally
Mike McGhee leaving on “Clara” for a ride around the country. Follow his
progress at his blog, Singing Cyclist Circles the States, web address at end of ar
ticle.
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
It was raining lightly on
January 1 when Jasper’s
Mike McGhee got on Clara,
his faithful recumbent bicy
cle, loaded down with all
kinds of bulging bags plus a
guitar strapped to the back.
I mentioned something
about the poor cycling
weather, McGhee replied
that if he were worried about
a little rain, he wouldn’t be
doing this at all.
The morning was foggy
so McGhee decided to switch
that day’s route from Burnt
Mountain Road to Cove
Road. I mentioned some
thing about all the Sunday
morning traffic on Cove.
McGhee replied that if he
were worried about traffic he
wouldn’t be leaving at all.
January 1 marked the first
day of the longtime Jasper
veterinarian’s (and former
owner of Wayside Animal
Clinic) plans to ride around
the United States.
To make it clear, McGhee
is not using the general term
“ride around” to describe a
vague trip.
The long-distance cyclist,
who has already completed a
ride across the United States
coast to coast and quite a few
other multi-day trips, has his
sights set on a literal ride
around the United States.
Starting from his house on
Fox Rim Lane, he will ride to
Charleston where his daugh
ter lives, then down the East
Coast to Florida, cutting over
from the Atlantic to the Gulf
Continued on 2B
By Tommy Gartrell
Columnist
Changing of the Guard
Aside from the CFP National
Championship Game scheduled for
Monday, the college football bowl sea
son is over, and what did we learn
from a torrid three week overload of
games?
It seems that none of the games
gained as much interest in terms of at
tendance and television viewership as
the playoff games. The final day of
football or the grand finale of games
included the Outback, Cotton, Rose
and Sugar Bowls, and most people
watched simply because they were
football games. Lovers of the sport
feasted on one last day-long deluge,
but the games meant little in the na
tional landscape created by the playoff
formate.
However, pride and conference
bragging rights made the game's mar
ginally important, and we witnessed a
changing of the guard. For the first
time since 2011-12, the Southeastern
Conference failed to claim the top
winning percentage and most wins in
bowls. In fact, the SEC finished be
hind the Atlantic Coast Conference
and regardless of the outcome between
Clemson and Alabama, it will not
change.
The ACC mustered an 8-3 mark
while the SEC is 6-6. The Big 12 is 4-
2 which also tops the SEC winning
percentage. The PAC-12 is 3-3 which
equals the SEC and would surpass the
mighty south if Clemson wins on
Monday night. As for the much bally-
hooed Big Ten with venerated Michi
gan, Ohio State and Penn State who
See Gartrell on Page 2B