Newspaper Page Text
December 19, 2002
Brawl Continued from Page IB
good for the kids to get to play
in a college arena and atmos
phere. But they canceled it late
in the year and we had to
scramble to find some where to
play. We decided it would be bet
ter to just do it ourselves.”
Both events will have a boys
and girls bracket.
The Bear Brawl tips off first
on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. with
tickets costing $5 per day.
Joining Houston County in
the field in both boys and girls
brackets will be Warner Robins,
Hawkinsville, Upson-Lee and
Starrs Mill with Central com
peting in the girls division and
Putnam County and
Timmonsville, S.C. competing
in the boys division.
“It’s a tough field in both the
boys and girls brackets,” Baxley
said. “We have a lot of diversity
this year.”
The four-day event runs
through Monday.
Local hoops fans will see a
BYE
Upson Lee
Upson Lee
Sat 5:30 G 4—
Stars Mill
Fri. 7:00 G 2
Warner Robins
Mon. 8:30 G 7
Champion
Hawkinsville
Hawkinsville
Sat. 8:30 G 5
Central
Thur 7:00 G l
Houston Co. __
Lra«rG4
Mon. 3:30 G 6 >
Third Place
LomtGs
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Sat 2:30 G 3
Loser G 2
Panthers Continued from Page IB
in Region 4AAA.
Shawn Taylor had an inter
esting night. He played just
under a minute and a half in
the first quarter.
During that time, Taylor
racked up two fouls, a goal
tending call and had one
attempt for no points.
Taylor reentered the game in
the third quarter, played for
about two minutes, scored four
points and while helping his
team get things under control
he racked up another goaltend
ing call.
Taylor entered the game for
the last time in the fourth
quarter, went down the court
one time and fouled out.
“Our game plan was to get
him in foul trouble which we
did,” said Dodge head coach
Adrian Greene.
The first year Indians coach
is the former head coach at
Westside and used to play for
the Panthers in high school.
The surprise player of the
evening turned out not to be
Taylor, however, but Barrett
Nolen. Nolen’s performance to
Perry Continued from Page IB
the Squaws. Dodge drops
however to 3-1 overall and 2-1
in the region.
Tassie Mitchell led the game
with 15 points and sank three
shots from outside the 3-point
line.
Mitchell also scored the
points that put Perry ahead for
good. Backing Mitchell up were
Shuntina and Moreemi Davis,
familiar face on the Starrs’ Mill
sidelines as former Perry boys
head coach Carl Thomas leads
his new group of Panthers back
to Houston County.
The opening contest has the
Demonettes facing Starrs Mill
on Thursday followed by the
Bears facing Central at 7 p.m. in
the boys bracket and the
defending champion Lady Bears
against Hawkinsville at 8:30
p.m.
“We were in the finals a num
ber of years before winning it
last year,” Baxley said. “It’s nice
to win your own tournament.”
Play resumes on Friday with
defending South Carolina Class
A State Champions
Timmonsville squaring off
against Putnam County at 5:30
p.m. in the girls bracket fol
lowed by the defending champi
on Demons meeting Starrs Mill
at 7 p.m. and Upson-Lee await
ing the Hawkinsville-Houston
County winner at 8:30 p.m. in
Bear Brawl Bays Bracket
date hasn’t screamed for much
attention but it’s the quiet
ones you have to watch out for.
Nolen filled Taylor’s shoes
admirably by coming down
with countless rebounds, scor
ing 14 points and sinking two
three point shots.
It is safe to say that Nolen
caught the Dodge coaching
staff completely off guard.
“I think I would have rather
went with the All-American,
Alabama signee than Nolen,”
said Greene, after Nolen had a
greater impact than Taylor.
“That kid lit us up.”
Jai Bowens ended the game
with his usual team high points
total of 22 points and three
shots made from outside the
three point line.
Dodge County had three
players come up with double
digit numbers. Jeremy Carr
had 15, Jonathan Burns had 14
and Sammy Young went home
with 10 points.
Perry also made 58 percent of
their shots from the line com
pared to the 48 percent made
by Dodge. In the previous five
each with nine points. Moreemi
attributed five points from the
free throw line.
Dodge County’s leading scor
er was Amanda Champion with
11 points. Dodge County sank
none of their three point shots.
With 3:46 left in the first half,
Tassie Mitchell was sent to the
line after being fouled.
Mitchell sank both free throw
tillje pCouston pt sxmt Jmtrttai
the girls division.
The Warner Robins boys will
be seeking a fourth straight
Bear Brawl championship.
“I just hope we play our best,”
Houston County boys head
coach Greh Nix said. “It would
be great to win it for the first
time.”
The tournament is an all day
affair on Saturday with game
start times beginning at 2:30
p.m. with the last game of the
day getting underway at 8:30
p.m.
After a Sunday off day, the
tournament picks back up on
Monday with the consolation
and championship games.
The girls finals tip off at 7
p.m. followed by the boys finale
at 8:30 p.m.
The girls fifth place contest
starts the day at 2:30 p.m. fol
lowed by the girls third place
game at 4 p.m. and the boys
third place game at 5;30 p.m.
The Brannen Ford Christmas
Tournament starts on Friday in
the Hornets Nest with Citizen
Christian facing George Walton
games Perry has not shot over
50 percent.
With 4:32 left in the fourth
quarter, Perry trailed Dodge
County 53-52.
Brandon Davis was fouled
and went one for two to tie the
game at 53 all.
Then at 4:08, Ashton
Stripling sank a field goal
amidst a barrage of Dodge
County players to take the
lead. Burns then dribbled down
the court and sunk a field goal
while simultaneously drawing
the foul.
Burns would miss his shot
from the line and the game
would remain tied with 3:37
left to play.
Tarvis Billings then copied
Burns by making a shot while
drawing a foul.
While Billings made his shot
from the line, Bowens and
Taylor reentered the game
with 3:12 left to play.
Taylor, who couldn’t get a
break the entire night it
seemed, blocked a shot and was
given his fifth foul of the night
after being in the game just
seven seconds. Carr who was
the recipient of
Taylor’s foul, sank just one
shots to break a 16-16 tie.
Moreemi Davis would be sent to
the line and would sink both
free throw shots to round out
the scoring, 20-19.
Consequently both teams
scored 13 points in the second
quarter.
Mitchell then scored two
three point shots in another 13-
point quarter as the second half
began. The Squaws scored just
seven points, as four came from
field goals and three from the
free throw line.
! £$ / • j
I I
Photo by James Tidwell
The Bears Den will host the Ninth Annual Bear Brawl this weekend in Warner Robins.
with the girls 4 p.m. and boys at
5:30 p.m. with the host school
playing North Cobb with the
girls at 7 p.m. and boys at 8:30
p.m.
“We have a really strong
field,” Hunter said. “It was
tough finding four teams on
such short notice, but we were
Timmonsville Bear Brawl Girls Bracket
Fri, 5:30 G 2 —. .
Putnam Co.
Sat. 7:00 G 4
Stars Mill
1 1
Thur, 5:30 G l —.- -■■■—
Warner Robins
Mon. 7:00 G 9
BYE Champion
Upson Lee
Upson Lee
Fri. 8:30 G 6
Hawkinsville
Thur. 8:30 G 3
Houston Co.
LowG4
M0n. 4:00 GB
Third Place
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• La** G 1
Sal. 4:00 G 5
Loser G 2
Mon. 2:30 G 7
Fifth Place
‘ L*»«rOT ~
shot to move Dodge within a
field goal of the tie at 58-56.
“They let (Taylor) play all
year and do the same stuff he
did tonight...We just want (the
officiating) to be cohsistent, I
just don’t think it was consis
tently called tonight,” said
Hardy.
Montay West took the ball
with 2:39 remaining and sank a
shot for another two points.
Carr answered back a minute
later with a field goal of his
own.
Davis was again fouled and
again made only one shot from
the line but stretched the lead
out to three points, 61-58.
Just 20 seconds later,
Stripling added two more
points with another field goal
and 1:05 remaining.
Dodge’s Keyell Turner was
sent to the line with 51 seconds
left in the game and tacked on
his only point of the night to
make the score 63-59.
Another 20 seconds elapsed
before Stripling, which gave
Stripling his fifth foul of the
night, fouled Carr. Carr would
narrow the lead back down to
two points.
Nolen, who entered for
The Lady Panthers then
outscored the Squaws 16-12 in
the fourth quarter. Of the 16
points scored, 10 came from foul
shots. Tracy Horne, Carla
Walker and Champion all scored
four points to even out Dodge’s
scoring in the final quarter.
As the game wound down,
Mitchell was fouled three times
but sank just three of her possi
ble six shots.
However, there was no pres
sure on Mitchell to make her
shots as the Lady Panthers held
able to do it. We didn’t want to
play North Cobb in the first
game, but they are in the same
region as George Walton and
didn’t want to play them in the
tournament.”
Tickets for the tournament is
$4.
The two-day tournament
Stripling, had been in the game
just four seconds when he
pleased the Perry crowd again
by sinking another field goal
off of a \rebound.
“We substituted a 6-4 and 6-2
and they played just as big as 6-
11 and that’s just what we
needed to do,” said Hardy.
Burns answered back by
adding on two more points with
20 seconds left.
Bowens was then fouled with
15 seconds remaining and
added one more point to
Perry’s total.
Burns took the ball on the
next possession and dunked it
for the third time of the night.
Bowens again found himself at
the line after another Dodge
foul and again, added one
point.
Carr was then fouled by
Perry with 2 seconds remain
ing but missed both of his
attempts from the line.
After Carr’s last attempt
from the line the clock simply
ran out before a desperation
shot could be attempted.
The Indians began the game
on a warpath by winning the
jump ball and scoring first.
By the end of the first quar
a comfortable 12-point
lead over the Squaws with
just 45 seconds remaining.
In-between Mitchell’s free
throws, Horne and Champion
scored the last four points for
Dodge as the game ended, 49-
38.
“They respond well, it’s obvi
ous that these girls have been
well coached in the past,” said
Chance.
Perry started out slow as they
led 7-6 at the end of the first
quarter. Mitchell, Shuntina and
resumes on Saturday with the
girls consolation game at noon
followed by the boys at 1:30
p.m.
The championship games get
underway at 3 p.m. with the
girls title contest and the boys
tipping off right after at 4:30
p.m.
ter, the Indians had outscored
the Panthers 14-8 and Burns
had dunked for the first time of
the night.
In the second quarter, Perry
began to take control of the
game and played their own
game.
Davis accounted for seven of
Perry’s points in the second
quarter while Bowens had five.
Burns, again, dunked midway
through the quarter. Perry
outscored Dodge 20-19 as the
half ended with a score of 28-33
with Dodge still leading.
The third quarter saw Taylor
reentered the game for Perry
and while he played only 2-3
minutes at best he still had a
large effect on the outcome of
the game.
While in the game, Taylor
stalled the Indians scoring
drive and added four points of
his own.
The 6-11 post player’s team
mates added on five points also
in a nine-point run that put
them with one point of a tie.
With Taylor’s help at getting
things back under wraps, the
Panthers took control of the
game and ended the third quar
ter in the lead 43-42.
Moreemi Davis, each had a field
goal in the first quarter.
Shuntina drew a foul from one
to add another point from the
foul line to her total. Champion
and Faith Williams accounted
for Dodge’s six first quarter
points.
“I don’t know if I’m going to
have to revamp my warm-up
program, maybe we’re not actu
ally getting warm...the whole
idea of (pregame warm-up) is to
get warmed up,” said Chance. “I
can fix that.”
PAGE 3B