FT ills cost Veterans girls at home, boys cruise

mbrown@sunmulti.com

Only

one thing on the basketball court stood between Veterans High’s girls and a

third straight win in Region 2-AAAA Tuesday: the free-throw line.

Actually,

there are two free-throw lines on a standard court, but neither one was a good

place to be for a Lady Warhawk in the home game against the Baldwin High

Bravettes of Milledgeville. With the first-half results being 5-for-14 and the

fourth quarter numbers (on the opposite line) 3-for-10, Veterans came out on

the wrong end of a 49-42 final.

Baldwin,

which feasted off turnover scoring throughout the contest, allowed the Lady

Warhawks to stay as close as they were with only slightly better foul shooting.

The Bravettes went 8-for-17 in the first half and had just as many attempts as

Veterans in the fourth period, but with two more makes.

Forward

Jalyn Slaughter registered another double-figure scoring game for coach Nicole

Miranda by netting 13 points. Back-up forward Khayla Owens had nine points, but

production was extremely low from the backcourt, though reserve point Kya

Poe-Cochran had a fine game distributing the basketball against the heavy

Baldwin pressure.

In

the first few minutes of play, things got tense on the court and the Baldwin

bench was assessed first a warning from the referees and then a technical foul

with 5:14 showing on the clock. Asha Lee had just scored Veterans’ first points

with a three-point play. The bad sign of things to come at the foul line

showed, however, when the home team could not make the technical free throws.

The

other bad sign showing up early for the Lady Warhawks was the turnover problem.

The Bravettes forced four and scored twice, but Veterans managed to go back and

forth with the lead as Slaughter converted from a strong move on the block and

Poe-Cochran had two wide-open assists to Lee and Owens.

Owens

also scored on a hard-working second-shot and Poe-Cochran stole the basketball

at the 20-second mark. Veterans couldn’t cash in, and Baldwin had time to run

the floor and take the lead going into the second quarter, 12-11.

Back

on the offensive boards, Owens gave the hosts their final lead of the night at

13-12. Baldwin created four more takeaways to score eight, and Veterans was not

taking advantage of numerous free throws in trailing 20-14.

Kerregan

Poe-Cochran beat the press for an assist to Slaughter, but the Bravettes

answered with a 9-0 run with four points coming on second shots. Kya

Poe-Cochran’s assist before Baldwin could set a press to Lakinya Green

ended the run at 1:34, but the home team trailed 31-18.

It

was at this point in the game that Veterans put on its own full-court pressure.

Slaughter had two steals from mid-court up to her own free-throw line. The lack

of foul-line success, however, didn’t shrink the deficit, and Baldwin

penetrated the zone defense to score with 23 seconds on the clock (34-21).

Kya

Poe-Cochran ended the half with a steal and score of an inbound, so it was

34-23 at intermission.

The

first Bravette points of the second half didn’t come until 4:41 of the third

quarter, but Veterans had yet to score from the field. Three times the Lady

Warhawks tried to feed Slaughter inside, but the results were one turnover and

2-for-4 in free throws. Baldwin’s lead stayed in double digits 36-26 at 3:40.

Miranda

kept Kya Poe-Cochran in the mix to lead her club, and she and Owens worked

together against the press for 2.

The

Bravettes, though, had three scoring possessions in a row to lead 42-39 before

an interesting final period. Interesting because the score did not change for

more than five minutes of game time. Baldwin tried to run the clock out, and

Veterans had another spell of three giveaways in a row.

Kerregan

Poe-Cochran sank a jumper at 2:36 to start an 8-0 run. Guard Temia Sapp,

playing for the first time, had Veterans first 3-pointer from a turnover at

the 1:43 mark. It was 43-37, and both Sapp and Lee caused takeaways, but the

ladies couldn’t move closer due to errant free throws.

Slaughter

converted a pass from Kerregan Poe-Cochran and Courtney Palmer stuck a

last-second 3-pointer, but it was not enough as Baldwin sped down court for 2

out of a timeout. The loss put the Veterans girls at 4-7 in 2-AAAA.

Jonathan

Robertson and the Veterans High boys basketball team had no sympathy for a

struggling Baldwin High club Tuesday. Robertson had 25 points (12-for-12 in

free throws) in pacing Chris Kothe’s Warhawks to a 74-51 Region 2-AAAA rout at

home.

While

Veterans raised its region record to 5-6, Baldwin lost for the fifth time in a

row and sixth time in its last seven games. Once 5-1 in 2-AAAA, the Braves

slipped to 6-5 Tuesday.

The

road to a blowout began after the two teams played competitive basketball to

the tune of an 8-8 tie. Four different players had the four Warhawk field

goals, including a long 2-pointer from Elijah Milteer and assisted shots inside

to the Broughton brothers, starting forwards Malik and Cortez.

The

Warhawks essentially put things away with a 10-0 second-quarter spurt. It

started with Robertson’s penetration dish for M. Broughton’s short baseline

jumper. Milteer aggressively attacked the basket around tight Brave defense,

and Robertson amazed fans with an incredible outlet catch and shot (while still

in the air).

Milteer

and Robertson assisted 3-pointers for each other, Milteer making his pass from

the baseline and Robertson off penetration. Their efforts let Veterans cruise

into halftime up 33-18.

Baldwin’s

full-court pressure caused the Warhawks some third quarter issues. The Braves

had the first five points to trail 33-23 and the basketball from a turnover

with only two minutes played.

Leger,

M. Broughton and Milteer all scored eight points.

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