Solid defense carries Patriot teams to wins over Stewart

Local Sports

February 8, 2010

Anonymous The Cordele Dispatch Mon Feb 08, 2010, 12:13 PM EST

By HARVEY SIMPSON

Dispatch Sports Editor

LUMPKIN — Aware they had a serious fight on their hands when they trailed by 10 points early in the third period, Wilcox High’s Patriots used a defensive switch as their ultimate knockout punch Friday night against Stewart County.

“When we started really putting pressure on them with our big man (6’7” Lonnie Outlaw) by flip-flopping our point man and safety, they committed a number of turnovers we capitalized on while coming back to win (79-63),” coach George Kennedy said.

That successful rally gave the visitors a sweep of a Region 2-A, Division A, twin bill as the Lady Patriots had earlier decked the Lady Knights 59-39.

After last night’s duel in Rochelle vs. Bleckley County, Wilcox closes out regular season play this week with home games on Tuesday against Wilcox, on Friday vs. Dooly and on Saturday against Fitzgerald.

Patriots 79, Knights 63

In eventually finishing with the same number of points they had scored in an earlier 79-49 win over the Knights, the Patriots overcame first-half struggles that led to deficits of 19-15 and 32-28 at the first two quarter breaks and a 40-30 shortage two minutes into the third period.

The change they made with their press at that point coupled with their 13 of 19 free throw shooting in the second half eventually paid off in a sixth straight win that improved their report card to 18-2 overall, 8-2 in sub-region play where they now hold a one-game lead over Dooly and Turner counties.

“The guys were upset at the half that the game wasn’t being called more closely, but I told them they needed to forget about that and to just go back out there and take care of things we could control,” Kennedy said.

“They did just that as we began blocking out better under the boards which not only improved our rebounding but also helped us get the ball down the floor in a hurry and take advantage of the turnovers we forced.”

Nick Marshall poured in 34 points, Outlaw swished 18, Jonathan Howard hit 15 and Vidal Emory sank 10 to lead a balanced Wilcox attack. Chris Brown paced Stewart County with 19.

Score by Quarters

Wilcox County 15-13-24-27 — 79

Stewart County 19-13-14-17 — 63

Scoring

Wilcox County (79) — Nick Marshall 34, Mikail Grace 2, Jonathan Howard 15, Quez Mahoganey, Lonnie Outlaw 18, Vidal Emory 10.

Team totals: field goals 29; free throws 17 of 25 (68%); fouls 10; 3-pointers — Marshall 3, Emory 1; fouled out — none.

Stewart County (63) — Tory White 11, Drexler Jenkins 7, Markus Boyd 14, Tyrone Harvey 4, Avalance Chester 4, Chris Brown 19, Aario Johnson 4.

Team totals: field goals 27; free throws 3 of 10 (30%); fouls 19; 3-pointers — White 1, Jenkins 1, Boyd 2, Brown 2; fouled out — Johnson, Jenkins.

Lady Patriots 59, Lady Knights 39

Like Kennedy, Wilcox girls coach Santita Coon also credited the job her team did with its press as being a major factor in a win that improved its record to 16-4 and kept alive its hopes for a No. 1 sub-region tournament seeding.

“Usually, we go with the press only after we score, but tonight we pressed them full-court throughout the entire game,” Coon said. “Then if they did get the ball past mid-court we went to a 1-3-1 half-court trap that gave them a lot of trouble.”

Those tactics enabled the Lady Patriots to gradually stretch their lead as the game progressed. From 13-10 after the first period, it grew to 31-17 at halftime and to 44-26 at the three-quarter mark.

Slowed by the triangle-and-two defense Stewart effectively ran on them in the early going, Jenna Kennedy and Shareba Montgomery still combined for 26 points for the winners. The former had 17 of them while placing right behind teammate Shanequa Jackson’s game-high 18.

Score by Quarters

Wilcox County 13-18-13-15 — 59

Stewart County 10-7-9-13 — 39

Scoring

Wilcox County (59) — Nastashia James, Jenna Kennedy 17, Michaela Dennard 4, Shareba Montgomery 9, Shanequa Jackson 18, Ieesha Cantella, Dana Coley 6, Kadejah Jackson, Ashley Benjamin 1, Robyn Butts, Lucreshia Fuller 4.

Team totals: field goals 21; free throws 16 of 28 (57.1%); fouls 10; 3-pointers — Kennedy 1; fouled out — none.

Stewart County (39) — KayKecia Brown 1, Iman Culpepper 2, Jasmine Ellis 21, Tiyana Redding 2, Shatoria Gardner 5, Jasmine Rine 8.

Team totals: field goals 15; free throws 7 of 14 (50%); fouls 18; 3-pointers — Ellis 2; fouled out — none.

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