By HARVEY SIMPSON
Dispatch Sports Editor
WARNER ROBINS — Crisp Academy’s basketball teams made good on their final chance to get a victory in the 32nd Annual Lancer Tip-Off Tournament hosted Thursday-Saturday by Central Fellowship.
Coach Cliff Ranew’s Lady Wildcats rebounded from losses of 53-42 to Trinity and 36-20 to First Presbyterian Day to win their finale by a 64-4 count against Praise Academy of Powder Springs.
The Wildcats fell victim 80-33 to Faith Christian of Ludowici and 50-23 to Covenant Christian of Macon before presenting new head coach Drew Bailey with his first triumph when they defeated Solid Rock Academy of Riverdale 47-38.
Both Crisp Academy teams will return to action on Tuesday when they journey to Albany to meet Sherwood in a varsity doubleheader tipping off at 6:30 p.m..
Trinity 53, Crisp 42 (girls)
Going up against a team considered one of the favorites to reach the Class AA finals at the end of the new hoop season, the Lady Wildcats gave a good accounting of themselves.
“Considering the strength of the opposition, I thought we had our best game of the year,” Ranew said. “I knew in advance the competition would be good and that’s why I wanted to come up here and play.”
Down 14-10 after a quarter and 31-21 at the break, Crisp whittled its deficit to just four points, 36-32, heading into the final period where the Lady Crusaders outscored them 17-10 for a hard-earned, double-digit decision.
“I’m proud of our club,” Ranew said. “We played hard and hung tough against a very good team that has everything — size, depth, perimeter shooting, inside scoring and rebounding.”
Eighth grader Madi Mitchell emerged as Crisp’s lone twin-column scorer, pumping in a game-high 26 points.
Score by Quarters
Crisp Academy 10-11-11-10 — 42
Trinity Christian 14-17-5-17 — 53
Scoring
Crisp (42) — Kristen Greene 5, Brittany Brewer 3, Kendall Wilson 6, Madi Mitchell 26, Ashley Athon 2, Tomijo Carpenter, Libbi Collins, Hannah Helms, Cara White.
Team totals: field goals 16; free throws 9 of 12 (75%); fouls 12; 3-pointers — Greene 1; fouled out — none.
Trinity (53) — Taylor Shiver 2, Dayna Johnson 4, Blair McMichael 4, Natalie Underwood 4, Jordan Mimbs 19, Anna Claire Knight 15, Kaylee Belote 4, Coretta Hill 1.
Team totals: field goals 23; free throws 5 of 7 (71.4%); fouls 11; 3-pointers – Mimbs 2; fouled out — none.
Faith 80, Crisp 33 (boys)
Outsized at practically every position on the floor, the Wildcats easily got outscored by their Georgia Christian Athletic Association opponent that rolled to quarter leads of 28-4, 53-11 and 66-19.
“Despite the big margin at the end, I was very proud of our guys as when you looked out there on the floor they had a 6’9” post player and two other kids who went 6’5” or better,” Bailey said. “They also had one of the most athletic teams I’ve ever seen.
“To the credit of our guys, though, they never quit. We’ve got a long way to go, but at the same time we took some steps toward getting better as there were some positives we could pull from this one.”
James Bodrey, an all-tournament team selection, led Crisp’s scoring with a dozen points.
Score by Quarters
Crisp Academy 4-7-8-14 — 33
Faith Christian 28-25-13-14 — 80
Scoring
Crisp Academy (33) — James Bodrey 12, Austin Childs 8, Nick Culpepper 5, Chip Posey 3,Chris Wells 2, Brett Card 3, Michael Spears, Jay Lovell.
Team totals: field goals 24; free throws 2 of 7 (28.6%); fouls 8; 3-pointers — Bodrey 1, Card 1, Culpepper 1.
Faith Christian (80) — Tracey Jester 16, Jacquez Motley 13, Jamil Donovan 12, Aaron Power 8, Tyler Royer 4, Andrew Carmack 2, Khiry James 4, Jamaal Posey 5, Evan Kicklighter 3, Brandon Cox 2, J.J. Frazier 7, Kirk Hile 2, Derek Brooks 2.
Team totals: field goals 35; free throws 5 of 7 (71.4%); fouls 6; 3-pointers — Power 2, Royer 1, Kicklighter 1, Frazier 1; fouled out — none.
FPD 36, Crisp 20 (girls)
As the final score might indicate, there was more defense than offense in this contest as both teams did a relatively good job of holding the other in check. FPD held quarter leads of 14-7, 16-11 and 27-15.
“They put a lot of pressure on our guards with their big, tall lanky girls and as the result we again had a lot of turnovers,” Ranew said. “We also had a poor shooting night in a game where not many shots were actually taken by either team.”
Kristen Greene led Crisp’s scoring with nine points. The Lady Vikings’ had the game’s lone double digit scorer in Ashley Cope who connected for 16 points.
Score by Quarters
Crisp Academy 7-4-4-5 — 20
First Presbyterian Day 14-2-11-10 — 37
Scoring
Crisp Academy (20) — Greene 9, Mitchell 8, White 2, Collins 2, Wilson, Childers, Athon, Helms, Brewer.
Team totals: field goals 9; free throws 2 of 9 (22.2%); fouls 11; 3-pointers — none; fouled out – Athon.
First Presbyterian Day (37) — Fran Johnson 9, Leah Sexton 4, Ashley Cope 16, Kristin Ingram 2, Lucy Allen 6.
Team totals: field goals 17; free throws 1 of 10 (10%); fouls 10; 3-pointers — Cope 2; fouled out — none.
Covenant 50, Crisp 23 (boys)
In what Bailey described as “a tough match-up for us because of their big guy (Josh Cooper) down low,” Crisp was never able to make a contest of it. The Wildcats faced rest break deficits of 19-2, 32-20 and 46-16.
“We handled their press well, but had trouble in our half-court offense where we made too many poor passes as we really need to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” Bailey said. “Again, though, we kept fighting.”
Bodrey once more was Crisp’s scoring lead with 11 points to his credit.
Score by Quarters
Crisp Academy 2-8-6-7 — 23
Covenant Christian 19-13-14-4 — 50
Scoring
Crisp Academy (23) — Bodrey 11, Childs 2, Wells 4, Spears 2, Lovell 4, Card, Posey, Culpepper.
Team totals: field goals 6; free throws 9 of 18 (50%); fouls 16; 3-pointers — Bodrey 1, Wells 1; fouled out — Lovell.
Covenant (50) — Ezekiel Freel 4, Sam Ashmore 4, Andretti Lloyd 11, Hunter Bowker 3, Gunnar Mendiola 5, Michael Battle 5, Josh Cooper 18.
Team totals: field goals 21; free throws 7 of 16 (48.6%); fouls 14; 3-pointers — Battle 1; fouled out — none.
Crisp 64, Praise Acad. 4 (girls)
In recording one of their school’s largest victory margins ever, the Lady Wildcats landed nine players in the scoring column while building rest break edges of 21-2-, 36-4 and 49-4.
“They have a real young, very inexperienced team and that gave us a chance to get quite a bit of playing time for our second bunch that didn’t get to see a lot of action in the first two games,” Ranew said.
Mitchell and Tomijo Carpenter sank 16 and 12 points, respectively, for the winners.
Score by Quarters
Crisp Academy 21-15-13-15 — 64
Praise Academy 2-2-0-0 — 4
Scoring
Crisp Academy (64) — Greene 4, Brewer 4, Mitchell 16, Childers 5, White 6, Athon 6, Helms 9, Collins 2, Tomijo Carpenter 12, Wilson.
Team totals: field goals 29; free throws 6 of 12 (50%); fouls 9; 3-pointers — none; fouled out — none.
Praise Academy (4) — Alex Adams 2, Jessica Wolfe 2, Brittany Thompson, Kayle Emory, Julie Wolfe.
Team totals: field goals 1; free throws 2 of 6 (33.3%); fouls 9; 3-pointers — none’ fouled out — none.
Crisp 47, Solid Rock 38 (boys)
Needing a confidence boost after their pair of decisive earlier losses, the Wildcats got it thanks in large part to their man-for-man defensive effort that helped them construct quarter advantages of 15-8, 25-11 and 35-22.
“The guys really worked hard in putting pressure on the ball and moving,” Bailey said. “The excellent job Jay Lovell did for us on the boards (where he snared 10 rebounds) was another big help.
“We did kind of lose our focus toward the end when they pressed us full-court, but we fortunately regained our composure and held on for the win.”
Bodrey again emerged as the top pointmaker for the ’Cats, bagging 17 points. He got double-digit assistance from Austin Childs with 12.
Score by Quarters
Crisp Academy 15-10-10-12 — 47
Solid Rock Academy 8-3-11-16 — 38
Scoring
Crisp Academy (47) — Bodrey 17, Card 4, Childs 12, Wells 7, Posey 2, Culpepper 5, Spears, Lovell.
Team totals: field goals 16; free throws 11 of 24 (45.8%); fouls 10; 3-pointers — Bodrey 2, Card 1, Wells 1; fouled out — none.
Solid Rock (38) — Brannon 26, Battle 7, Sheppard 3, Lowery 2, Brown, Smith.
Team totals: field goals 17; free throws 2 of 7 (28.6%); fouls 21; 3-pointers — Brannon 1, Battle 1; fouled out — Battle.
