Buena Vista — Had the old “It’s difficult to beat a team three times in a season” adage not held true, Dooly County High basketball teams would have gotten to play more than once in the Region 4-A tourney.

The Bobcats’ 63-60 semifinals loss Friday to a Hawkinsville team they had beaten by scores of 61-49 and 73-58 during the regular season kept them from qualifying for Saturday’s title game against Brookstone.

The 44-43 defeat dealt coach David Barron’s Lady Bobcats in Wednesday’s opening round by a Pacelli team they had decisioned 64-40 and 69-34 in the regular season officially ended their campaign.

Despite not reaching the region finals, coach Towandi King’s Bobcats will learn Wednesday if they made the 16-team field for the GHSA Class A public school state tournament. They previously held a No. 5 power ranking and don’t figure to drop much lower.

Red Devils 63, Bobcats 60

The only team to achieve a regular season sweep of a Red Devils team led by former Crisp County Middle School boys coach Stacy Stephens, Dooly seldom held a lead in the third collision between the two foes.

Hawkinsville, which did a good job of slowing the fast pace preferred by Dooly, led 10-9 after a quarter and 26-23 intermission before using a 20-8 advantage in the third period that closed at 46-31 in its favor as the springboard to victory.

“Our boys love to run up and down the floor, but tonight they looked a little lead-footed as they let Hawkinsville set the game pace,” said Dooly scorekeeper Sharal Young whose son is the Bobcats’ head coach.

“The Red Devils shot well, too, especially No. 11 (Ditalion Williams, who finished with 23 points) and No. 23 (Thaddeus Ates, who wound up with 19).” Reginald McDonald’s 24 points gave Hawkinsvile a third double-digit scorer.

With Trevoski Lundy tossing in all 12 of his points in the final quarter, Dooly came close to overtaking its opponent but eventually fell to 15-7 on the season record wise. A.J. Smith and LaParris Hall were the top Bobcat scorers with 16 and 14 points, respectively.



Score by Quarters

Dooly County 9-14-8-29 — 60

Hawkinsville 10-16-20-17 — 63

Scoring

Dooly County (60) — Montravius Adams 5, Trevoski Lundy 12, LaParris Hall 14, Jamari Baker 4, Ray Adams 5, Mark Lloyd 2, Devion Mathis 2, A.J. Smith 16, Kerreon Merrell.

Team totals: field goals 23; free throws 12 of 18 (66.7%); fouls 14; 3-pointers — R. Adams 1, Lundy 1; fouled out — none.

Hawkinsville (63) — Tay Lawson 2, Reginald McDonald 14, Ditalion Williams 23, Rashan Griggs 6, Thaddeus Ates 19.

Team totals: field goals 24; free throws 10 of 20 (50%); fouls 11; 3-pointers — Ates 2, Williams 4; fouled out — none.

Lady Vikes 44, Lady Bobcats 43

If the Lady Bobcats had played defense in the first half anywhere near the way they did in the second, who knows just how far they might have gone despite the 6-15 record they brought into the tournament.

After surrendering a total of 32 points to Pacelli High’s Lady Vikings before intermission, Dooly limited their Columbus-based foe to just 12 points over the remainder of the game.

That type defensive effort enabled the lady Bobcats to almost pull out a victory after they had fallen behind by 12 (32-20) at the midway mark.

Still down by six in the late going, Dooly kept chipping away at its deficit and on a basket by Tridedria Burke with 17 seconds to go accounted for what would be the game’s final points.

In the remaining time, both teams exchanged turnovers before the Lady Bobcats got one last crack at winning only to see a shot Burke put up fail to find the hoop.

“We got back in the game by double-teaming Colleen Gottfried in the second half after she had scored 15 points in the first quarter and seven more in the second period,” Young said. “She only had eight after that in finishing with 30 points.”

Burke went Gottfried two points better in the individual scoring battle, pitching in a game- and season-high 32.



Score by Quarters

Dooly County 11-9-10-13 — 43

Pacelli High 19-13-4-8 — 44

Scoring

Dooly County (43) — Tridedria Burke 32, Gereka Sanders 2, C’Nia Felder 1, LaParris Hall 8, Quadesha Tookes, Shanequelin Johnson, Jessica Hightower, Maya Ellison.

Team totals: field goals 17; free throws 9 of 23 (39.1%); fouls 20; 3-pointers — none; fouled out — Tookes.

Pacelli High (44) — Rita DeRojas 6, Chelsea Wright 5, Claire Gottfried 3, Colleen Gottfried 30, Epiphany Chapman.

Team totals: field goals 14; free throws 11 of 19 (57.9%); fouls 19; 3-pointers — Colleen Gottfried 3, DeRojas 2; fouled out — none.