More 2AAAAA Tournament Wrap-Ups

Two other county basketball teams are back in the GHSA state

tournament for the first time in six years.

The

Houston County High Lady Bears, under coach John Roddie, came from 10 points

behind to defeat Grovetown 46-44 in the first round of the Region 2-AAAAA

tournament Tuesday. Karissa Engram scored nine of her 13 points in the fourth.

Roddie said it was

an electric atmosphere in the locker room afterwards with everybody jumping. He

said some of his players were probably in elementary school the last time a

Houston girls team made the state playoffs. That would be 2007.

Things didn’t go so

well for the Lady Bears in the rest of the region tournament, including

Friday’s semifinal loss to Evans High. Evans had 12 3-pointers against any

defense Roddie could call. Houston County then lost Saturday’s third-place game

to Northside 55-49 after leading by double figures in the first half. {{more}}

Casaundra Wilson’s

Lady Eagles, which fell to Warner Robins in the semifinals after eliminating

Greenbrier 53-46 in the first round, tied Saturday’s game 34-34 in the third

quarter behind six points from senior forward Kiara Thompson.

Tia Williams of

Northside had 20 in the game, nine in the first half. Engram had 11 through

three quarters, 18 for the contest, and Lady Bear freshman Unique Tuberville

scored 12, eight in the second period.

Justice Wright had

two fouls late in that third quarter and earned her fourth at 6:51 with her

team trailing 38-34. Tuberville made a clutch 3, as did Engram to retie the

score 40-40. Northside’s Shambria Smith had all six of her team’s total up to

that point (14 for the game), then sprinted off a steal for two.

Williams later sunk

a 3 two steps from the arc.

Also making state

for the first time since 2007 are the Warner Robins High Demons of coach Jamaal

Garman. They topped Lakeside-Evans Tuesday 61-57, which represented the

program’s first region tournament win in six years.

Senior

Carlos Scott made five foul shots in the final 1:11 and finished with 24 points,

which included three 3-point shots.

Warner Robins then lost in the semifinals to Jones County

73-68. Juvaun Shine had 22 points and Scott 15. Jarquez Smith netted 21 for

Jones. The Demons fell the next night to Evans 80-63 despite 34 by Shine.

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