Newspaper Page Text
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TUESDAY,
FEBRUARY 24, 2004
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High school basketball
GHSA AAAAA
tournament
(at Macon Coliseum)
Thursday
■ Houston County girls vs.
Riverdale, 4 p.m.
GHSA AAA
tournament (at Savannah
State)
Thursday
■ Perry boys vs. Monroe-
Albany, 8:30 p.m.
GISA AAA
tournament
■ Central Fellowship girls
TBD
WR Recto hold
diamond signups
The Warner Robins Recreation
Department will began baseball
and softball registration Saturday
and will continue until all leagues
are filled.
The age control date is Dec.
31, 2003, for softball and July 31
for baseball. A birth certificate
must be presented at the time of
signup, unless it is on file.
The cost is: $29 for city resi
dents, $59 for county residents
and slOl for those residing out
side of the county. Call 929-1916
for more information.
Perry Rotary Chib to
sponsor tourney
The Perry Rotary Club will
sponsor a charity bass tourna
ment and raffle March 13. The
cost is $125 per two-person
team. First prize is SI,OOO. Visit
www.rotarydistrict692o.net or call
987-8000 for more information.
YMCA looking for
veteran instructors
The Houston County YMCA is
currently hiring experienced gym
nastics, tumbling and aerobics
instructors. Apply in person at
the YMCA at 2954 Moody Road
in Warner Robins. Call them at
922-2566 for more information.
They also have fitness, cheer
leading, Rhythm Nation Dance
program, gymnastics and karate
course opportunities available.
MU Angels holding
basketball tryouts
The South Georgia Angels girls
AAU basketball team is currently
having ongoing tryouts in Tifton.
Tryout dates are Wednesday and
March 3.
The team is open to girls ages
13-14. Contact Carlos Howard at
(229) 388-8949 for more informa
tion.
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Fifteen U.S. presidents have
thrown out the first ball on Opening
Day. Which of these presidents was
not one of them? Richard Nixon,
Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton.
On this date-.
1894 Ottawa refused to travel
to Toronto to play in the first Stanely
Cup game. The Cup was awarded
to the Montreal AAA.
1956 Jackie Robinson signed
a contract to play for the Brooklyn
Dodgers.
Born on _.
Feb. 24,1874: Honus Wagner
Most experts consider him the
greatest shortstop of all time. The
Flying Dutchman, as he was called,
won eight batting titles in his 21
years of play.
Sourct Treasury ot Sport* ,
Anecdotes. Stories and Humor
He said 1t...
They say money talks, but the
only thing it ever said to me was
goodbye." •
Joe Louie
Coming...
Wednesday: Lady Mustangs
looking for volleyball players
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Panthers advance with OT win over WaCo
By Joe Sersey
HHJ Sports Writer
SANDERSVILLE The
Panthers are going to
Savannah, but it took a come
back and an
overtime period
to get past
Washington
County, 91-81.
For the Golden
Hawks, it was
their third over
time in four
post-game
appearances.
Earlier, they
defeated 3-AAA
number one seed
GHSAAAA
tourney
(at Washington
County)
■ Perry 91,
Washington
County 81
T. W. Josey.
It was a night for comebacks.
The Panthers trailed the
Golden Hawks by seven, 45-38
at the half but pulled ahead 74-
69 with less than a minute left
in the game before Washington
County’s Chris Boss tied it at 76
with six seconds left.
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■
HHJ/Don Moncrief
Houston County’s Lindsey Holmes drives to the basket in the Lady Bears’ AAAAA first-round playoff win
Saturday over host Tift County.
Houston County girls beat Tift County in state opener
By Don Moncrief
HHJ Sports Editor
TIFTON ln a 63-55 Georgia
High School Association AAAAA
first-round loss, host
Tift County finally
thought it had found
a way to crack the
armor of mighty
Houston County
with less than two
minutes to play.
Trailing by 11
they hadn’t been
within single digits
since early in the sec
ond half they
began to foul.
QHSA AAAAA
tourney
(at Tift County)
■ Houston
County 63, Tift
County 55
At first it worked. The Lady Bears
sent two girls to the line, each of
whom missed. The Lady Devils
Lowndes drops Warner Rollins
By Don Moncrief
HHJ Sports Editor
TIFTON
“They were just
too tall.” That
was Warner
Robins boys bas
ketball head
coach Chip
Malone’s initial
reaction follow
ing Georgia High
School
Association 65-
30 AAAAA state
QHBA AAAAA
tourney
(at TNI County)
■ Lowndes 55,
Warner Robins
30
playoff elimina
tion at the hands of Lowndes
Saturday at Tift County High
School.
Fbr a while, it hardly looked
Sports
“Our guys played with a lot of
heart,” Perry coach Brett
Hardy said. “It wasn’t me
changing defenses or me doing
the Xs and Os. It was these kids
believing they can win, and
they did.”
The thing about overtime is
that it’s like a brand new game
except everyone is tired.
Perry allowed only two field
goals in the four-minute frame.
The Panthers forced three
turnovers on three steals.
“We had crucial turnovers,”
said Golden Hawks coach Rufus
McDuffie. “We committed back
to-back turnovers in their end
of the court.”
But it was Montay West’s trey
nine seconds into the extra
frame that started the ball
bouncing the Panthers way.
West ended the game with 17
points.
Four Panthers scored in dou
ble figures in the game.
See ADVANCE, page 10A
Sweet 16
grabbed the rebound and converted
on the other end. The lead was cut
to seven.
Their mistake came on the third
and fourth tries. They fouled
Lindsey Holmes.
“I told Lindsey (during one of sev
eral Tift County timeouts down the
stretch) to just make sure she was
around the ball as much as possible
... to hold onto it as long as she
could.”
A stationary target? The Lady
Devils couldn’t resist that is until
after she had gone to the line three
times and hit five of the six.
That pushed Houston County’s
lead back out to a double figure and
for all intents and purposes ended
Tift County’s year.
The Lady Bears on the other hand
like it would matter. The
Demons, after falling behind 7-
0 to start, battled back. They
closed the gap to 14-10 on Mark
Wright’s long jumper at the
buzzer. Then with 50 seconds
left to go in the half, Nick
Butler put them up for the first
time 22-21. They went in lead
ing 23-22.
“Our schemes were working,”
Malone said. “We had control of
the inside. They were tired.
They even had to take their big
guys out (for foul trouble).
“But then (in the second
half),” he added, “they started
hitting the outside shot. That
made us change our schemes.”
See DROPS, page 10A
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HHJ Joe Sersey
Perry’s Tarvis Billings (22) and Demaurio Clark (45) put the heat on a Washington
County’s Marcus Ivey (1) during the Panthers’ AAAAA playoff win Saturday in
Sandersville.
qualified for the Sweet 16 for the
second straight year. They will play
Riverdale in the Macon Coliseum
Thursday at 4 p.m.
Houston County’s Cassi Stuart
came out and sank a 3-pointer to
put the Lady Bears on the score
board first in the opening quarter.
They struggled for a time after
that but not as much as Tift County,
which was held to seven points in
the initial eight minutes to Houston
County’s 15.
“When you start missing, your
nerves start to get to you,” Baxley
said. “It took us a while, but we set
tled down.”
Enough to lead 33-22 at the half.
By the time the fourth quarter
started, the Lady Bears’ lead was up
See SWEET, page 10A
HIM l>»n MoorrUf
Warner Robins' Pierre Miller makes a pass
Saturday at Tift County In the Demons'
AAAAA first-round loss to Lowndes.
8A
Penny's Davis
nominated in
All-American
competition
By Joe Sersey
HHJ Sports Writer
PERRY Senior
Moreemi Davis of Perry
High School was nominated
for the McDonald’s All -
American
High
School
Basketball
Girls
Team.
She is
one of
1,000 can
dida t e s
that will
be reduced
to 24 by
the end of
this month.
DAVIS
“I was really surprised,”
Davis said. “People who
make the team usually go to
the pros.”
When compared to the
number of girls who play
high school basketball, just
to be nominated for the
team signifies quite and
achievement says her coach
John Chance.
“Scouts saw her play,”
Chance said.
Davis has been recruited
by Clemson, Auburn and
Georgia and has verbally
committed to Clemson. She
plans to make her first visit
this weekend.
Moreemi averaged 16
points per game with 10
rebounds and three steals.
She has been playing for
seven years.
“One day I started having
good games,” Davis said. “I
don’t ever have to think
See DAVIS, page 10A
Wrestlers (all
short at state
By Joe Sersey
HHJ Sports Writer
MACON Houston
County’s Terry Hilton was
leading his match in the 275
division against Matt
Adkins of Centennial with
seconds left when he was
pinned and eliminated.
“It’s a tough tourna
ment,” said Northside coach
Dan Kelly. “He was in a
match with a pretty good
wrestler.”
It was a rough weekend
for local 2-AAAAA grap
plers. Only 10 wrestlers
qualified for the state indi
vidual tournament Friday
and Saturday at the Macon
Coliseum.
Houston County led with
six wrestlers and Northside
See SHORT, page 10A