Entries from February 2017

Basketball: Lady Bulldoggs fall to Mays in quarterfinals

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Administrator
Tuesday, February 28. 2017
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The Winder-Barrow girls basketball team came into Tuesday night’s GHSA Class AAAAAA quarterfinal matchup against Mays hoping to duplicate the result of last year's Class AAAAA semifinals, when Winder-Barrow defeated the Lady Raiders.
However, The Lady Raiders went on a 13-4 run late in the third quarter to take control of the game and earned a hard-fought 65-51 victory over Winder-Barrow.
Mays advances to take on either Lovejoy or Chatahoochee on Saturday in the semifinals at Fort Valley State University.
"I think we played a quality opponent,” Winder-Barrow coach Brandon Thomas said after the loss. "Mays’ record isn't exactly gaudy, but they traveled out west and played some quality teams over the holidays. They have an absolute star of a player in Kamiyah Street. She's their region player of the year. Everybody got to see how good she was.
“They play a brand of basketball that makes you make plays and forces you into decisions at a fast pace. We made some good ones. We made some plays and we made some turnovers."
The Lady Bulldoggs (24-6) had three players in double figures. Latrice Perkins led the way with 19 points. Chellia Watson had 15 points and Lexi Maddox chipped in 10.
For Mays (20-9), Street led all scorers with 33 points. Natoria Hill chipped in 13 points in the winning cause.
The Lady Bulldoggs went on an 8-2 run to start the game, capped off by a basket from Perkins. However, the Lady Raiders were able to get back in it with a basket and three-point play by Natoria Hill, cutting Winder-Barrow's lead to 8-6.
Mays tied the score with a basket by Street.
It was a back-and-forth affair for the remainder of the quarter, but with seconds left in the first quarter and Mays up 12-10, Street nailed a 3-pointer, giving the Lady Raiders a 15-10 lead at the end of the period.
However, the Lady Bulldoggs scored the first two baskets of the second quarter, cutting Mays' lead to 15-14. But Winder-Barrow then went through a dry spell as far as scoring, allowing the Lady Raiders to increase their lead to 19-14.
The Lady Bulldoggs struggled turning the ball over late in the first half, enabling Mays to maintain its lead. However, Maddox hit a 3-pointer to bring Winder-Barrow to within five at 22-17.
Mays responded right back, though, as Hill scored, was fouled and converted the three-point play, giving the Lady Raiders a 25-17 lead with less than two minutes left.
It was part of a 9-0 run by Mays to give the Lady Raiders a 31-17 lead. Chelia Watson hit a 3-pointer as time ran out, but Mays would go to the locker room at halftime with a 32-20 lead.
The Lady Bulldoggs got off to a good start in the second half as Watson hit another three to cut the deficit to nine. Then Perkins scored, cutting Mays' lead to 32-25 and prompting a time out by the Lady Raiders.
Winder-Barrow turned up the defensive intensity, which resulted in another basket by Perkins. It was part of an 8-0 run by Winder-Barrow to start the second half.
With 2:33 to go in the third quarter, Winder-Barrow trailed Mays 35-32. Then Brandi Heard nailed a three-pointer to give the Lady Raiders a 38-32 lead. That began a 13-4 run by the Lady Raiders to close out the third quarter with Mays up 48-36.
However, the Lady Bulldoggs began the fourth quarter with another basket by Perkins. Then Watson drove to the basket, scored and was fouled. Watson made the free throw, cutting Mays' lead to 48-41.
At that point, the Lady Raiders went on a 6-2 run, spearheaded by their best player, Street. However, with a little over two minutes left in the game, Perkins hit a three-pointer, cutting the Lady Raiders lead to 54-46.
Street was fouled at the other end, but missed both free throws. However, Mays was able to get the defensive rebound.
Street was fouled again and this time hit both free throws. That proved to be a key rebound by Mays in the game. The Lady Raiders would go on to salt away the victory, ending Winder-Barrow's hopes of making to the state finals two years in a row.
"I was really proud that our girls came out in the second half and made it a game,” Thomas said. "We made some big shots, got some rebounds, got some turnovers. They mainly hurt us with turnovers and rebounds and those are some of the fundamentals of the game.
“Our team has a saying: 'No rebounds, No rings.' That came from Pat Summit. I think if they go back and look at the stats, we'll see that we lost the battle on the boards. That's super important. It's hard to win games when other teams out-rebound you."

BASEBALL PHOTOS: Jackson Co. sweeps Fannin Co.

Posted by
Ben Munro
Saturday, February 25. 2017
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SOCCER PHOTOS: Jackson Co. vs. North Hall

Posted by
Ben Munro
Saturday, February 25. 2017
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TRACK AND FIELD PHOTOS: Jackson Co. and Commerce

Posted by
Ben Munro
Saturday, February 25. 2017
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Leopards fall to Josey in Sweet 16

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MainStreetNewsSports
Thursday, February 23. 2017
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A historic season for the Banks County boys’ basketball team came to an end Thursday night in the Sweet 16 round of the Class AA state playoffs against the Josey Eagles (Augusta) 77-68.
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TENNIS PHOTOS: Jefferson vs. East Jackson

Posted by
Ben Munro
Thursday, February 23. 2017
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Baseball: Wildcats pick up first win of season over South Gwinnett

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Administrator
Thursday, February 23. 2017
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After managing just two runs in its first two games, Apalachee got the bats going Monday night in big fashion.
Gunnar Wright led the way with four hits, a pair of doubles and six runs batted in as the Wildcats walloped South Gwinnett 14-8 on the road to pick up their first victory of the season — a nice rebound from 4-1 and 3-1 losses to Social Circle and Rockdale County, respectively, to open the season.
“It was a huge win for our program,” first-year Apalachee coach Allan Bailey said. “South Gwinnett has three (NCAA Division I) signees and our boys took it to them.”
Also contributing to the offensive onslaught for the Wildcats (1-2) was senior catcher Jacob Campbell, who had a double and three RBIs, and Hunter Linhart, who had three hits and knocked one in. Ryan Miller had an RBI double while DJ Smith recorded an RBI single.
Sophomore Alex Cook was the winning pitcher for the Wildcats, giving up just one run in three innings of work while striking out four without issuing any walks.
Apalachee returns to action Saturday when it hosts Elbert County in a doubleheader, which is set to begin at 1 p.m.
Saturday is also “Apalachee Cluster Elementary School Day” at the ballpark.
All elementary school students receive free admission and free popsicles, and will be have the opportunity to play on an inflatable slide. One elementary school student will throw out the ceremonial first pitch and the first 50 students to show up will receive a free Apalachee High School baseball T-shirt.

Soccer: Lady Titans dominate Lady Bulldoggs 6-0

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Administrator
Thursday, February 23. 2017
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BOGART — The North Oconee Lady Titans scored early and often as they took control of the match early Tuesday en route to a 6-0 win over Winder-Barrow.
“We’ve got some rough spots,” Winder-Barrow coach Angela Powell said. “We’ve got to buckle down and get some discipline, North Oconee has a really good team.”
The Lady Titans (3-1) opened the scoring seconds into the game when Lilah Turk fed a ball to Natalie Frey, who promptly put it past goalkeeper Ashley Everett into the far right corner of the net.
Through much of the first half, North Oconee dominated possession and continued to put pressure on the Lady Bulldoggs’ back line. North Oconee nearly scored again when Camryn Chiu had a shot on goal, but it went wide of the goal. The Lady Bulldoggs (2-2) had a chance to score, but Angelique Boucher’s shot was a ground ball right to goalkeeper Kamryn Black.
North Oconee struck again in the 29th minute when Ella Malone sored to make it 2-0 nothing. Not even a minute later, Andie Tiemeyer found the back right corner of the net, and the Lady Titans were up 3-0. Frey scored her second goal of the match a minute later to give the Lady Titans a 4-0 advantage.
In the opening minutes of the second half, North Oconee nearly had a fifth goal, but Camryn Chiu’s shot sailed over the crossbar.
The Lady Bulldoggs were able to move the ball into North Oconee’s end of the field in the second half. On one such occassion, Alexis Thao dribbled the ball towards the box, but Kamryn Black was there for a sliding kick save, nullifying the chance.
North Oconee scored its fifth goal of the match in the 24th minute of the se cond half. Macie Clanton scored to give the Lady Titans a 5-0 lead. North Oconee continued to put pressure on the back line of Winder-Barrow. Then with 4:14 left in the match, North Oconee was awarded a direct kick just outside the box.
Camryn Chiu delivered, scoring her second goal of the match as she shot the ball over the outstretched arms of Ashley Everett and into the net, completing the scoring for the Lady Titans.

Soccer: Bulldoggs, North Oconee play to 2-2 draw

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Administrator
Thursday, February 23. 2017
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BOGART — It was a hard-fought match which felt like a state playoff game. Both teams were able to produce offensively.
However, the match between Winder-Barow and North Oconee could not be decided in regulation and ended in a 2-2 tie in a non-region match Tuesday night.
“These guys aren’t a region oppoent, but this is a really good test for us for the level of region play we are going to see,” Winder-Barrow coach Levi Karas said. “We wanted it and they obviously wanted it. It was kind of a back and forth, really hard-fought game.”
The first half was a very hard-fought affair between both teams. Winder-Barrow (3-0-1) nearly scored, but Connor Mullis’ shot on goal was right to goalkeeper Scotty Bodie.
The play, at times, was fierce. Winder-Barrow midfielder Eduardo Saucedo was issued a yellow card for a hard foul.
North Oconee (2-1-2) broke the scoreless deadlock when Sam Thomas scored with 19:28 left in the first half.
The Titans nearly made it 2-0 when Frankie Daniels’ long cross into the box hit the crossbar. The Bulldoggs were able to tie the match at 1 when Mullis’ shot went into the upper part of the net with 15 minutes left in the first half. Mullis nearly scored again a couple minutes later, but his shot went over the crossbar.
The Bulldoggs were able to put pressure on the back line of North Oconee, creating more chances.
Forward Sean Rowtham came close to giving Winder-Barrow the lead, but his shot went wide. Winder-Barrow had another chance to score their second goal when Eduardo Saucedo’s shot hit the crossbar.
It was a hard-fought battle during the second half with both teams.
With 27:37 left in the match, Thomas struck again with his second goal of the match. However, not even a minute afterward, Mullis scored his second goal of the match, tying the score at 2 with 27:00 left.
The Bulldoggs put on the pressure with under 15 minutes to play. Mullis took a shot from 20 yards out which hit the crossbar. North Oconee had a chance to score with under 10 minutes left, but Jack Rinkowski’s shot went wide.
North Oconee thought it had a goal off a free kick taken by Ben Mackay. Mackay’s free kick was headed in by Jonathan Leo. However, the goal was disallowed due to an offsides call.
Neither team was able to break the deadlock, and the match went down as a 2-2 draw.

Baseball: Doggs have strong weekend in Augusta area with three wins

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Administrator
Thursday, February 23. 2017
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If there was one thing Winder-Barrow baseball coach Brian Smith had to pick to be excited about last weekend, it was his team’s pitching.
The Bulldoggs used nine guys on the mound and surrendered just six runs in three games over the course of Friday and Saturday as they defeated three fellow GHSA Class AAAAAA teams in their annual early-season trip to the Augusta area.
After winning 5-4 at perennial power Greenbrier on Friday night, the Bulldoggs (4-0) went to Evans High School on Saturday and shut out the host 4-0 and then throttled Effingham County 10-2 to cap off a strong weekend.
“We faced good competition and a great chance for some team bonding, all while playing very well,” Smith said Tuesday.
“We could see one or more of these teams down the road.”
Smith said the Bulldoggs entered the weekend with the plan to throw as many pitchers as possible as the team adjusts to the GHSA’s new pitch-count limitation rules. The strategy paid off and it didn’t take the Bulldogg arms long to find themselves in tight situations.
Daniel Buice started the Greenbrier game and left with one out in the fifth and his team ahead 5-4. Smith went to Darrell Woodall, who came in with a runner on base and got the final two outs of the inning to preserve the lead and get the game to Will Hardigree, who closed it out with a two-inning save.
“There was a lot of pressure there,” Smith said of Woodall being able to get the Bulldoggs out of the fifth-inning jam. “There was a loud dugout and a really tough environment. It felt like a playoff atmosphere.”
Smith went back to Woodall for the Saturday morning game against Evans, and the senior proceeded to throw six shutout innings before sophomore Austin Lockridge came in to close it out.
“Darrell had a very reasonable pitch count,” Smith said. “We like to preach forced contact and keeping the ball away from hard contact and he did that. There were a lot of lazy fly balls and ground balls, and we played really good defense behind him.”
Winder-Barrow sent five pitchers to the mound in the weekend finale against Effingham. Jackson Melton started the game and went two innings and was followed by Lance Sikes, Trent Maddox, Zack Smith and Sam Darling.
“To be able to pitch like that really excites me,” Smith said, “because several of those guys are young and not proven at the varsity level yet. So this was a great step in the right direction.”
But the Bulldoggs were also productive at the plate, scoring 19 runs in the three games. Outfielder Skylor Murphy led the way with six hits on the weekend. Beau Hanna had three hits and batted in three runs in the Effingham game, and Zack Smith had a pair of doubles against Evans.
“We scrapped hits together all weekend and found ways to score,” Smith said. “We just kept on grinding and were steadily consistent, no matter what the score was, so that was encouraging to see.”
Winder-Barrow returns to action Saturday when it hosts Peachtree Ridge in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.
“They’re always pretty good so it should be more good competition for us,” Smith said.
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