Cordele — Still smarting from their stinging 51-29 loss to arch-rival Fullington two nights earlier, Crisp Academy’s Wildcats took out some of their frustrations from that defeat by beating Tiftarea 36-28 Thursday.

“We had much more balanced scoring and a lot of the reason for that can be attributed to the team meeting we held after the Fulllington game,” coach Jodie Hays said.

“In making a decision then on whether we were going to tank the rest of the season or take personal responsibility toward turning things around, we showed as much effort and intensity as we had all year.”

In doing so, they not only successfully followed up on their previous 42-40 road win over the Panthers but also secured a sweep for their school as the Lady Wildcats trounced the Lady Panthers 54-22.

The now 5-9 Wildcats and 18-2 Lady Wildcats will put their respective Region 3-A GISA records of 1-2 and 3-0 on the line Tuesday night when they visit Georgia Christian School in Dasher.

Wildcats 36, Panthers 28

With four of its players breaking into the scoring column in the first eight minutes of play, Crisp seized a 14-8 lead that it would never surrender in a game that did remain relatively close throughout.

Getting in the first half four of the five treys they canned during the contest, the Panthers only trailed by one, 19-18, at intermission. They were down by just three, 30-27, heading into the backstretch where they were held to a lone point by a stingy Wildcats defense.

“We missed some defensive assignments in the second quarter that kept them in the game, but we never stopped hustling and that eventually was the key,” Hays said.

“We had come to the point that we were either going to sink or swim and tonight we put forth the effort needed to keep treading the water. Even though this wasn’t a region game for us, it was an emotional win — one that could well turn our season around.”

Hunter Chambers’ 10 points topped Crisp’s scoring ledger that showed three others — Jordan Howard, Jake Smith and Banks Folsom — with eight apiece. Ethan Mims had nine points for Tiftarea.



Score by Quarters

Tiftarea Academy 8-10-9-1 — 28

Crisp Academy 14-5-11-6 — 36

Scoring

   Tiftarea (28) — Rob Flick 6, Sam Tucker 3, Ethan Mims 9, Austin Stripling 6, Nathan Carswell 2, Trent Hobbs 2.

   Team totals: field goals 9; free throws 5 of 7 (71.4%); fouls 11; 3-pointers — Flick 1, Tucker 1, Mims 1, Stripling 2; fouled out — none.

   Crisp Academy (36) — Jordan Howard 8, Hunter Chambers 10, Jake Smith 8, Cullen Brooks, Banks Folsom 8, Jeff McKinney 2, Chip Posey, Chris McGee.

   Team totals: field goals 17; free throws 2 of 6 (33.3%); fouls 18; 3-pointers — none; fouled out — none.

Lady ’Cats 54, Tiftarea 22

In keeping the paltry scoring average to which they’ve limited foes at 22, the defense-minded Lady Wildcats never surrendered more than seven points in a quarter.

Then on the offensive end of the floor, they put up double digit totals in all four of the eight-minute stanzas while breezing to rest break advantages of 13-4, 27-11 and 42-16.

“Our goal continues to be to limit our opponents to 20 points or less and we came mighty close to reaching it,” coach Gina Mitchell said after watching her team’s 32-point victory margin surpass its earlier 31-point, 51-20 win over Tiftarea.

“Overall, I thought the fact we came out fresh and ready from the start.  Instead of just taking for granted that we’d beat them handily again, we took over the game from the very beginning.

“Again, it was good to see us get to play everybody and to get the kind of balanced scoring we did.”

Madi Mitchell once more led the winners with 15 points. Kendall Wilson and Jay Jay Yawn weren’t far behind with 10 each. No Tiftarea player had more than four.

Score by Quarters

Tiftarea Academy 4-7-5-6 — 22

Crisp Academy  13-14-15-12 — 54

Scoring

   Tiftarea (22) — Mary Stealth, Neeli Fortson 2, Caitlyn Albritton 2, Katy Johnson 3, Ali Rippy 3, McKenzie McWhorter 4, Rachel Thomason 4, Jarrett McWhorter 2, May McGarr 2.

   Team totals: field goals 9; free throws 4 of 6 (66.7%); fouls 9; 3-pointers — none; fouled out — none.

   Crisp (54) — Parker Krause, Kayla Childers, Kara White 5, Maddie Krause 6, Kendall Wilson 10, Jay Jay Yawn 10, Madi Mitchell 15, Morgan Wells, Sidney Folsom 6, Madison Odom 2, Emily Faircloth, Bree Carpenter.

   Team totals: field goals 25; free throws 4 of 7 (57.1%); fouls 6; 3-pointers — none; fouled out — none.