By HARVEY SIMPSON
Dispatch Sports Editor
VIENNA — Seldom has Dooly County played and won two games on a single night any more important to them than the pair of victories they recorded Friday.
Squaring off against Turner County teams currently engaged with them and Wilcox in a tight three-way race at the top of the Region 2-A, Division A, standings, the Lady Bobcats and Bobcats won by 58-55 and 54-53 scores, respectively.
Those narrow triumphs left the 16-7. 9-1 Dooly girls with a one-game lead over Wilcox and a two-game advantage over Turner County and kept the Dooly boys tied with Turner just a game behind Wilcox heading into the final week of regular season play.
It’s therefore only fitting that Dooly and Wilcox will tangle Friday in Rochelle in contests that will likely determine which of them gets the No. 1 feminine and masculine seeds for the upcoming sub-region tournament.
Lady Bobcats 58, Lady Rebels 55
Down by a dozen points to start the final stanza, the Lady Bobcats went back to the press they had abandoned for a quarter or so and boy — or should that be girl — did it ever pay off.
Sinking four straight baskets within about a 30-second span, Dooly quickly got back into contention. When shots the Lady Bobcats had been missing earlier in the game continued to fall the rest of the way, the 23-8 scoring edge they held in the final eight minutes proved decisive.
“We knew we had to play hard in order to stay in first place and we did just that as our intensity won it for us,” Dooly coach David Barron said after the game that saw no hint of a repeat of the fight-marred duel the teams had in Ashburn 3 1/2 weeks earlier.
“We put all the stuff that happened before behind us and after having two good days of practice getting ready for the re-match played extremely well as the girls were just determined to win.
“Everybody that went out there for us played above their heads and in their efforts to get rebounds or block shots jumped higher than I had ever seen them do before.
“And even those who didn’t get into game like seniors Raven Barron and Takeria Merrell were as much a part of the win as anyone as with their encouragement from the bench they were like assistant coaches.”
Carneisha Glover led Dooly’s scoring with a 19-point effort. Her twin sister Careisha sank 12 as did Tylicia Sanders. Antonia Graddie had a game-high 21 for the Lady Rebels who got another 13 from Chabria McCoy and 11 from Kadriana Howard.
Score by Quarters
Turner County 20-10-17-8 — 55
Dooly County 19-8-8-23 — 58
Scoring
Turner County (55) — Kadriana Howard 11, Chabria McCoy 13, Zenia Coley 4, Demetria King 6, Antonia Graddie 21.
Team totals: field goals 22; free throws 2 of 6 (33.3%); fouls 16; 3-pointers — McCoy 1; fouled out — none.
Dooly County (58) — Careisha Glover 12, Miranda Burke 3, JacKeria Sanders 8, Tylicia Sanders 12, Carneisha Glover 19, Kenisha Kellogg 3, Tridedria Burke 1, Akendolyn Westbrook
Team totals: field goals 23; free throws 7 of 21 (33.3%); fouls 12; 3-pointers — J. Sanders 2, T. Sanders 1, M. Burke 1, Kellogg 1; fouled out — none.
Bobcats 54, Rebels 53
In a game that see-sawed back and forth throughout, Turner turned a 17-15 first period deficit into leads of 35-33 and 46-41 at the next two rest breaks only to see Dooly pull even at 50-50 in the late going.
As time wound down, the nip-and-tuck action continued with Castonio Lucas’ field goal giving the Bobcats a 52-50 lead before a three-point play by Chris Spears made it 53-52, Rebels.
With just a few ticks left on the clock, Jabioas Glenn hit two pressure-packed free throws that accounted for the final score when Arsenio Watkins came up with what Dooly coach Towandi King labeled “a key blocked shot that saved our victory.”
King also lauded the defensive job turned in by post players Ben Miller, Marquis Harris and Lucas.
“Those three guys did a pretty good job in containing (Turner’s) Chris Spears (who was held to just 14 points, a total that tied him with Jatabian Daniels for scoring honors for the Rebels).
“Jabioas and Cordeyrous also played big down the stretch,” said King before adding that Dooly’s ability to break Turner’s press was another factor in the final outcome.
Glenn finished with 17 points and Worthy ended with 15 to top the Bobcats’ scoring ledger.
Score by Quarters
Turner County 15-20-11-7 — 53
Dooly County 17-16-8-13 — 54
Scoring
Turner County (53) — Chris Spears 14, Markevian Teague 4, Jatabian Daniels 14, Demontae Madison 8, Quentavius Edwards 11, Shaquille Foster 2.
Team totals: field goals 22; free throws 7 of 12 (58.3%); fouls 10; 3-pointers — Edwards 2; fouled out — none.
Dooly County (54) — Castonio Lucas 4, Jabioas Glenn 17, Arsenio Watkins 8, Cordeyrous Worthy 15, Marquis Harris 2, Alex McClendon 7, Darrius Lester 1, Fabian Green, Desi Wiggins, Melvin Borden, Bentavious Miller.
Team totals: field goals 22; free throws 5 of 10 (50%); fouls 9; 3-pointers — Glenn 1, Worthy 1, McClendon 1; fouled out — none.
