The 2005-2006 basketball season for the Landmark Christian Lady War Eagles and the Sandy Creek Lady Patriots is over. Both teams were eliminated from the sweet 16 in their respective classifications on Thursday.

Landmark Christian (21-9) took on the Jefferson Lady Dragons at Georgia Highlands College in Rome in the Class A playoffs and lost 53-43. The Lady War Eagles have to be pleased with what they accomplished this year, winning the region 5-A title and making the state playoffs with a chance to make the state quarterfinals, all in Coach Jim Waller's first year with the program. The team also accomplished these feats with only nine girls coming out for the basketball program. They will be shooting for another region title and trip to the state playoffs next year, as they hope to grow the program.

Sandy Creek's Lady Patriots (23-7) ended last season in the state playoffs and soon found out that their coach, Waller, would be heading up the girls program at Landmark Christian. Coach Tara Ware came in from Rome High School and got the girls back to the region championship game and advanced them to the sweet 16 of the Class AAAA playoffs. The team dealt with injuries this season but remained a force to be reckoned with throughout.

On Thursday night, the Lady Patriots faced the Jones County Lady Greyhounds and lost 66-43. Jones County has only lost one game this year and that loss was only by one point. They went on a big run in the first half of Thursday night's game and coasted to the win. Morganne Campbell led the Lady Patriots in scoring with 15 points.

Both teams should be competitive in their regions and classifications next year. Landmark Christian returns the bulk of their players, including leading scorer Christian Hunnicutt, and hope to get more students to come out for the team as well. Campbell will graduate from the Sandy Creek program this year, which will drop down to Class AAA in the fall, as will Vanessa Simon, but the rest of the squad is expected to return.

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