Cordele — Thanks primarily to the defensive effort both its teams rendered, Crisp County High managed to topple Cairo in a Friday night Region 1-AAAA twin bill and thus end two-game losing skids.

Coach Barrett Wilkes’ Lady Cougars launched the action with a 47-43 triumph over the Syrupmakers. Coach Terry Smith’s Cougars closed out the action with a 43-32 victory over the Syrupmaids.

The sweep gave the Crisp teams records of 7-3, 5-1 (girls) and 4-8, 3-3 to take into road games last night with neighboring Dooly County. Their next starts won’t come again until Friday when they visit Americus-Sumter.

Crisp 47, Cairo 43

Perhaps guilty of playing down to the level of its competition against a Cairo team that after its defeat here reads 3-10 overall, 2-3 in region play, Crisp again experienced post-intermission problems.

Having seemingly secured victory when they went up by as much as 12 points at 34-22 late in the third period, the Lady Cougars saw their lead gradually melt away as the game progressed.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to become more consistent in our second half play,” said Wilkes in acknowledging his team’s tendency to maybe think it can coast after building a good lead.

“Our free throw shooting (5 of 14) has got to get better, too, and we need to cut down on turnovers. We had been averaging about 15, which is a little high, but then tonight we had 26 which is entirely too many.

“Fortunately, we played pretty well defensively particularly in the early going when we also did a good job of boxing out underneath both boards, got the ball down low offensively and then hit the open shots.”

Nasheema Oliver’s 20 points topped the scorebook stats for the victors who led 13-8, 23-14 and 34-24 before getting outscored 19-13 down the stretch. Kayla Green, who drew praise from Wilkes for playing “a great game as she was able to stay out of trouble and contribute,” added 10.

The Syrupmaids, whose extremely tough schedule has been a big factor in their won-loss mark, also had a pair of double-digit scorers in Daneesha Edwards, 11, and Heather Greene, 10.

Score by Quarters

Cairo High 8-6-10-19 — 43

Crisp County 13-10-11-13 — 47

Scoring

   Cairo (43) — Daneesha Edwards 11, Arianna Pate 4, Destiny Brown 4, Alicia Hampton 7, Alandria Stewart 6, Tia Washington 1, Heather Greene 10.

   Team totals: field goals 15; free throws 12 of 21 (57.1%); fouls 11; 3-pointers — Edwards 1; fouled out — none.

   Crisp (47) — Quenisha Waters 7, Dee Dee Williams 6, Deletria Colson 2, Kayla Green 10, Nasheema Oliver 20, Alexis Felton 2, Dajia Chambliss, Niqueria Jones, Mia Burks.

   Team totals: field goals 21; free throws 5 of 14 (34.7%); fouls 14; 3-pointers — none; fouled out — Oliver.

Cougars 43, Syrupmakers 32

Anxious to get the 2013 portion of their schedule started off on a good note, the Cougars did just that thanks in large part to the fact they limited the Syrupmakers to single-digit production in the first three quarters.

“Defense was definitely the key to our win as after using mostly zone in the first half we went a little more man-for-man the rest of the game and that strategy worked well for us,” Smith said.

“Offensively, we should have scored more than we did especially in the transition game where we left some empty points. All of our post guys — (Prime

time) Hamilton, (Shaquille) West, (Rashad) Buckholts, (A.J.) Mobley, (Clement) Burnam and (Breon) King — had a good night, though.”

With his 14 points, Hamilton wound up as the scoring leader for Crisp which led 13-5, 24-14 and 34-21 at the quarter stops. Javoris Cooks also reached double digits for the winners with 12.

Cairo, which came into the game allowing opponents just 47 points per game, had nobody score more than six points as its already low offensive average of 37 points a night dropped even lower.



Score by Quarters

Cairo High 5-9-7-11 — 32

Crisp County 13-11-10-9 — 43

Scoring

   Cairo (32) — Andre’ Baker 5, Stacy Masten 6, Anfernee Jackson 1, Tiakail Anderson 2, Cole Bennett 5, James Bennett 3, William Akins 3, Trey Sparrow 2, Andrew McClendon 2, Michael Callaway 3.

   Team totals: field goals 8; free throws 14 of 23 (60.9%); fouls 10; 3-pointers — Baker 1, Masten 1; fouled out — none.

   Crisp (43) — Kerrion Harris, Javoris Cooks 12, Davion Harvey 6, Taylor Walls, Montre’ Hartage, Eddie Morgan 3, C.J. McGriff, Clement Burnam, A.J. Mobley, Primetime Hamilton 14, Rashad Buckholts 2, Shaquille West 4, Breon King, Landon Whitman 2.

   Team totals: field goals 19; free throws 4 of 9 (44.4%); fouls 19; 3-pointers — Harvey 1; fouled out — none.