Wednesday, December 5, 2001
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Wednesday, December 5, 2001 |
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Basketball season is underway
Sandy Creek's girls basketball team is off to slow start. They are 0-2 and have committed 66 turnovers in those two games; 30 against Fayette County in a 52-48 loss and 36 to Creekside in a 54-28 loss. "We have a lot of young players and a lack of experience," said Coach Jim Waller. "We're not advancing as fast as I thought we would. We just don't understand winning yet. We'll try to learn on the run." In the Lady Patriots first game they faced the Fayette County Lady Tigers. Maya Hughes had 12 ponts and Tiffany Paschall chipped in 11 points. Both girls had eight rebounds. Paschall lead the team in scoring in the loss to Creekside with 14 points. The girls then split games over the weekend, defeating Rockdale, 42-31 and then losing to Westminster, 52-23. The Lady Patriots are now 1-1 in the region. They were scheduled to face Woodward Academy last night. Coach Waller was the coach at Woodward for a number of years and is familiar with their players and staff. The Sandy Creek boys team is off to a better start. The Patriots placed second in the Arrowhead Thanksgiving tournament and defeated Creekside on Tuesday night, 61-48. Sandy Creek faced Forest Park in the first game of the tournament and won 58-51. William Belton scored 20 points and Corey Adams scored 15. Their next game was against Pope and the Patriots won in double overtime. Belton scored 21 points, while Richard Lott added 12 points and Adams contributed 11 points. In the final game of the torunament, Sandy Creek lost to Morrow, 57-50. Cornelius Brown lead the team in scoring with nine points. "Belton and Adams are back doing a good job for us this year, as is Richard Lott who is playing phenomenal basketball in the post" said Coach Rick Francis. "Lott leads the team in rebounds and blocks and is a defensive presence for us. Everybody is picking it up for us so far." The Patriots are always looking to work hard and improve, but their focus is not just to make the state tournament again but to win the title. The Patriots are certainly in the mix to win the region as they knocked off Creekside, which is a contender every year. Over the weekend, the Patriots defeated Rockdale, 71-46 with Samuel Young, Kevin Craig and Adams each scoring 10 points. They also got a 51-23 win over Westminster with Adams netting 16, Belton adding 12 and Lott contributing eight points. The Patriots hosted Woodward last night. Starr's Mill's girls survived a wild one last Tuesday night as they defeated Eagle's Landing, 62-60 in overtime. The Lady Panthers were down by six points with 1:27 to go. Thanks to Eagle's landing missing free throws and Ashley Marine sinking hers, Starr's Mill sent the game to overtime, where they outscored their opponents 11-9. Erin Ricker lead the team in scoring with 21 points. She was six of seven from the free throw line, had 11 rebounds and five steals. Jenny Norman added 16 points in the win. Starr's Mill opened the season with three straight losses in the Morrow tournament, two of which were to top 15 teams; Griffin and Northeast Macon. The other loss in the tournament was to Mays. The Starr's Mill boys fell to Eagle's Landing, 62-56, after leading until midway through the third quarter. Eagle's Landing went on a big run in the third and fourth quarter and though the Panthers stayed close they couldn't break through at the end. Che Brewer lead the team in scoring with 15 points, while Gary Kubik scored nine and Aubry Kidd and Micah Fletcher added eight points. Starr's Mill faced Riverdale last Thursday and hosted Fayette County last night. The McIntosh Chief boys basketball team started off their regular season play with consecutive wins on Friday and Saturday. First came a convincing victory over the Newnan Cougars, 70-42, followed by a win over cross county rival Fayette County, 79-66, made more intense this year, after last year's leading scorer for the Chiefs, Josh Burr, left the Peachtree City team and headed for Fayetteville. Friday's game for McIntosh showcased a well balanced attack on both offense and defense. At the end of the first quarter, the Chiefs held an 18-9 lead over Newnan. Defense was strong, as McIntosh held the Cougars to just 13 points in the first half, while heading into the locker room with 37. Scoring for McIntosh was lead by Dexter Manley with 18, followed by Scott Prah and Drew Hartley with 11 each. Aaron Haight and Ian Hardy each had eight points, while Markuiz Griffith tossed in seven. Saturday's game with Fayetteville was a battle as the two rivals met for the first time this season. Burr scored 24 points for the Tigers but it wasn't enough to overtake a fired up Chiefs team lead by Dexter Manley and Markuiz Griffith on offense. Manley also dominated the boards. A sizable amount of Burr's points were at the foul line, while Griffith caught fire with three pointers. After several lead changes, the first quarter ended with the Tigers in the lead 17-15. The McIntosh offense exploded in the next period, giving them a 41-32 margin over Fayette County going into the half. The lead was extended to 14, with the Chiefs ahead 60-46 at the end of the third period. Solid defense by Aaron Haight and Drew Hartley kept the Tigers offense on it's heels, along with McIntosh guards Ben Allen, Markuiz Griffith and Scott Prah denying Burr his three point threat. Scoring for McIntosh was once again lead by Manley with 25, followed by Griffith coming off the bench to rack up 24. Hartley threw in 10 points and Haight added seven. McIntosh is now 4-1 overall after taking two out of three games at the Mt.Zion Thanksgiving Tournament with wins over Paidea and S. Cobb. McIntosh played at Jonesboro last night. On Friday night, the Fayette County Lady Tigers (3-1) defeated Morrow, 44-43. Alison Horne lead the team in scoring with 18 points. The Fayette County boys (1-4) lost to Morrow, 78-62. Morrow's stifling defense helped them build a 43-29 lead at the half.
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