Shellman — Crisp Academy basketball teams liked Randolph Southern’s “crackerbox” gym so much that in the end they “souped” up their offense to near peak performance Friday night.

In surpassing their previous single-game high for points scored by six, coach Jodie Hays’ Wildcats crushed the Patriots 71-55 to better their record to 8-11 overall, 4-4 in Region 3-A GISA action.

In coming within two points of tying the 86 they put on the scoreboard in a previous 51-point rout of the Lady Patriots, coach Gina Mitchell’s Lady Wildcats improved to a glittering 23-2, 8-0.

Both Crisp teams will close out regular season play this coming week, traveling to Grace Christian on Tuesday before hosting arch-rival Fullington on Friday.

Wildcats 71, Patriots 55

Despite seeing his team win rather handily, Hays wasn’t particularly enamored with the performance it rendered.

After seizing slim leads of 20-11 and 34-33 at the first two quarter breaks, the Wildcats found themselves in a 46-46 snarl entering the final turn where it held a decisive 25-9 edge over the home team.

“It was ugly, but bottom line it was a win we needed,” Hays said. “We started off pretty good as our zone trap forced them into several turnovers we capitalized on.

“Then in the second quarter where there was as much difference in our play as there is between night and day we got caught out of defensive position a lot  and allowed a couple of 3’s and 4-5 lay-ups.

“Things didn’t get much better for us in the third quarter as we continued to miss too many free throws and lay-ups which let them pull even with us.

“By catching fire the way we did down the stretch, though, we managed to book-end the two bad quarters we had in the middle of the game with two of the best ones we’ve had all year in the first and fourth periods.

“Overall, we got a lot from the inside play of Jordan (Howard, who hit a game-high 21 points) and Hunter (Chambers, who finished with 16) plus Banks (Folsom, who ended with 17) had a second straight good game. Those three guys were the big key.”

Randolph Southern also had a trio of double-digit pointmakers in Logan Eubanks, 18, Jarrod Sauls, 11, and Rhett Ragan, 10.

Score by Quarters

Crisp Academy 20-14-12-25 — 71

Randolph Southern 11-22-13-9 — 55

Scoring

Crisp Academy (71) — Jordan Howard 21, Hunter Chambers 16, Banks Folsom 17, Jeff McKinney 4, Chip Posey 4, Jake Smith 9.

Team totals: field goals 28; free throws 14 of 28 (50%); fouls 15; 3-pointers — Smith 1; fouled out — none.

Randolph Southern (55) — Blake Lamb 5, Logan Eubanks 18, Brett Sauls 6, Jarrod Sauls 11, Rhett Ragan 10, Ron Crittenden 5.

Team totals: field goals 23; free throws 6 of 11 (54.5%); fouls 23; 3-pointers — Lamb 1, J. Sauls 1, Crittenden 1; fouled out — Lamb, J. Sauls.

Lady Wildcats 84, Lady Pats 41

In another of the many “ho-hummers” they’ve had to date, the two-time defending Class A state champion Lady Wildcats wound up winning by 40 or more points for a fourth time in their last five starts.

The ultimate rout was on from the start as by the end of the initial canto Crisp was already up by 18 at 29-11. It continued to pad its lead as the game progressed, holding a 56-23 advantage at halftime and a 69-31 bulge heading into the final turn.

“We played really good defense the first half as the press we threw at them paid off big time,” Mitchell said. “Overall, we beat them in the transition game, too, and controlled the boards (with 25 total rebounds).

“While I’m not real happy to see us surrender as many points as we did, it was good to be able to get playing time for everybody who dressed out and to see most of them break into the scoring column.”

As generally has been the case all season, it was the coach’s daughter, Madi, who led the Lady Wildcats’ points parade with 25. Maddie Krause added her season-high of 15. Of the 26 steals Crisp managed, Kayla Childers had seven and Jay Jay Yawn had six.

Gabi Johnson led the Lady Patriots with 17.

Score by Quarters

Crisp Academy 29-27-13-15 — 84

Randolph Southern 11-12-8-10 — 41

Scoring

Crisp Academy (84) — Sidney Folsom 4, Parker Krause 5, Madison Odom 8, Kayla Childers 2, Kara White 6, Maddie Krause 15, Kendall Wilson 9, Emily Faircloth, Jay Jay Yawn 9, Bree Carpenter 1, Madi Mitchell 25.

Team totals: field goals 30; free throws 24 of 37 (64.6%); fouls 17; 3-pointers — none; fouled out — none.

Randolph Southern (41) — Megan Bonner 4, Madison Langford 1, Gabi Johnson 17, Alaina McCook 6, Dana McCarter 8, Madison Lamb 3, Josey Brown 2.

Team totals: field goals 14; free throws 12 of 17 (70.6%); fouls 26; 3-pointers — Johnson 1; fouled out — McCook, McCarter.