Area prep roundup: Lady Lions win region, think state

Back-to-back region championships: Check.

Next on the list is the state tournament.

Christian Heritage’s girls basketball celebrated a second straight Georgia Independent School Association Region 4-2A championship Friday night with a 64-34 win against Flint River Academy in the tournament’s title game at LaGrange Academy.

Lady Lions coach Heather Lowery said her players, who have dominated league opponents all season long with their up-tempo style of play, were ready when Flint River attempted to slow the pace down. The Lady Lions countered with a full-court press even after missed shots.

“We had so much adrenaline pumping,” Lowery said. “We got so many steals from our full-court press. So, that was helpful and we moved the ball well.”

Similar to Thursday’s 89-30 semifinals win against the Heritage School, Christian Heritage had four scorers in double digits. Maggie Peeples led the way with 22 points, five assists and five steals, Ann Marie Massengale added 16 points, Caroline Tarpley chipped in 13 points and six steals, and Rebecca Leonard finished with 10 points.

Christian Heritage scored as many points in the first quarter as it did in the second and third quarters combined. The Lady Lions led 27-8 after the first quarter and held a large lead the rest of the game.

“We shot the ball well,” Lowery said, noting her squad went 7-for-14 on 3-pointers.

The Lady Lions led 40-18 at halftime and took a 54-27 lead into the fourth quarter.

Christian Heritage will move to the Georgia High School Association next school year, but Lady Lions basketball is leaving GISA competition with a bang. After finishing 10-0 in region play during the regular season and 21-5 overall, the top-seeded Lady Lions — who received a bye into the semifinals — rolled through the region tournament by an average victory margin of 44.5 points.

The Lady Lions have been in the region title game each of the five seasons they’ve competed in the GISA. They also won the championship in 2008, when they advanced to the championship game of the Class 2A state tournament.

Lowery said the focus now shifts to that event, which starts next week. Christian Heritage will take on the No. 4 seed from Region 1-2A at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Middle Georgia College in Cochran.

• Heritage School boys 60, Christian Heritage 48: The Lions (8-15) will enter the GISA Class 2A state tournament as a No. 4 seed after losing the Region 4-2A tournament’s consolation game, also at LaGrange Academy.

Michael McKinney finished with a double-double, totaling 21 points and 17 rebounds, but the Lions still came up short.

“We turned the ball over a little too much in key times,” Lions coach Chad Woodson said.

The Lions fell behind 16-8 after one quarter, but cut the lead to 27-22 by halftime. They briefly held the lead in the third quarter, but the Hawks took it right back and were up 41-38 lead heading into the fourth.

“We started fouling at the end just to give ourselves a chance,” Woodson said. “We had trouble making shots early in the game, and they got ahead of us, but our guys battled and got back in the game.

Cole Townsend added 12 points for the Lions, who will be a No. 4 seed for next week’s Class 2A state tournament. They’ll take on the Region 1-2A champion at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Middle Georgia College in Cochran.

• North Murray girls 54, Chattooga 45: The Lady Mountaineers (15-11) used a strong fourth quarter and a big 3-pointer from Kara Deal to pull away in the second round of the Sub-region 7B-2A tournament at Dade County.

North Murray, which received a bye in the opening round, trailed 15-7 after the first quarter, but took the lead at halftime thanks to nixing the full-court press.

“We settled into a half-court defense,” Lady Mountaineers assistant coach Audre Allen said, “and they had a hard time scoring against that.”

However, Chattooga — which beat Coahulla Creek on Thursday to reach the matchup with the Lady Mountaineers — took the lead back in the third quarter and was up 36-35 entering the fourth. But with the Lady Mountaineers up one point with around two minutes left, Deal hit a 3-pointer to give North Murray enough separation to walk away with their third victory this season over Chattooga.

“At the end, they had to start fouling and we got some offensive rebounds,” Allen said.

Meagan Spivey had 10 points and three Lady Mountaineers — Abigail Bradley, Deal and Erin Robinson — each had eight points.

North Murray, the tourney’s No. 4 seed, faces No. 1 seed Dade County at 8:30 tonight in the semifinals of the tournament. Only the top three finishers in the sub-region tournament advance to next week’s Region 7-2A tournament at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center.

North Murray’s boys will face Gordon Central, which beat Chattooga on Friday, at 4 p.m. today in the semifinals. The Mountaineers (19-6), the tourney’s No. 3 seed, swept Gordon Central in home-and-home matchups during the regular season.

• Gilmer boys 81, Southeast Whitfield 55: Gilmer’s 3-point shooting put the Raiders in a hole they could not dig out of in Ellijay.

Gilmer hit eight 3-pointers in the first two quarters and held a 50-27 lead going into halftime. Southeast trailed 69-46 after three quarters on the way to a loss in its regular-season finale, a non-region matchup.

Austin Storey had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists to lead Southeast (1-24), which begins play in the Region 7-3A tournament Monday at Murray County. Chaz Payne added nine points and 10 rebounds, and Devin Gentry contributed nine points and five rebounds.

Southeast trailed 22-17 in the final seconds of the first quarter before Gilmer hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to enlarge its lead to eight. Not being able to stop the shots from beyond the arc was the story of the game for the Raiders.

“They were on fire,” Southeast coach Jake Dickey said. “We played really well, but there was nothing we could do.”

Wrestling

Eighteen of the 22 local wrestlers who advanced to Georgia High School Association sectional tournaments are either heading to state or still alive for the final rounds of action today.

In the Class 3A West sectional at Riverwood in Sandy Springs, Southeast’s Omar Ruiz (106 pounds) and Carlos Fraire (220) each won two matches and have secured berths in next week’s state tournament. The Raiders’ Lester Paucay (138), Austin Allen (160) and Jose Ortiz (285) all split their matches and need one win this morning to advance to state.

The Raiders’ sixth sectional qualifier, senior Edgar Frederico (170), won his first match, but hit his head while competing. Southeast coach Michael Herndon said Federico may have received a concussion during the bout, so to his disappointment the senior had to default his next match and the tournament.

Dalton’s Reinaldo Torres (145) and Sidney Wheeler (182) each won two matches to reach the semifinals and qualified for state. The other two Cats sectional qualifiers, Dylan Carlile (120) and Larry Fernandez (220), each received injuries in their first matches. Carlile broke his collarbone and injury defaulted the rest of the tournament; Fernandez injured his elbow in a losing effort, then defaulted his consolation bracket match.

Murray County’s Blade LeQuire (285) — like Torres and Wheeler, an area champion — won both of his matches and will return to state. Matthew Crace (220) and John Duarte (126) both went 1-1 and must win a match today to stay alive and qualify for state.

In the Class 4A West sectional at Northside-Columbus, all five Northwest Whitfield wrestlers competing are either locked in for state or one win away. Dustin Pendergrass (145) and Brian Whitmire (182) won both matches, while Adam Selby (285), Jared Haws (170) and Brandon Davenport (160) each went 1-1 and need to win at least once today to keep their senior seasons alive.

In the Class 2A West sectional at Atlanta’s Blessed Trinity, North Murray’s Ethan Center (160), Justin Pack (170), who each finished third in Area 7-2A, beat a higher-seeded opponent in the first round before losing in the second round. They will wrestle this morning for a chance to go to the state tournament.

The Mountaineers’ Blane Anderson (285) was eliminated after losing two matches.

Coahulla Creek’s Francisco Sanchez (113), fourth at area, lost his first-round mach but got a bye in the consolation bracket and needs to win two matches today to reach state.

Soccer

• Dalton girls 5, Osborne 0: Yanet Hernandez scored two goals and had two assists as the Lady Cats won their preseason scrimmage in Marietta.

Dalton scored three of the five goals in the first half — Jazmin Cervantes scored off an assist from Alondra Salaises, Ale Salaises scored with the help of Hernandez’s assist and Gladis Paz scored off a Hernandez corner kick right before halftime.

In the second half, Hernandez notched both goals quickly to round out the scoring.

Striker Jeissy Fraire had nine shots on goal for the Lady Cats, who had a total of 23 shots on goal.

• Dalton boys 6, Osborne 1: Ramiro Huitanda scored three goals to lead the Cats to the scrimmage victory.

Jesus Mercado, Rolando Rosillo and Alan Lopez all scored one goal as Dalton raced out to a 2-0 lead in the first half and led 6-0 with less than five minutes to play before Osborne scored its lone goal.

Salvador Rodriguez, Alajandro Hernandez, Jose Gardea, Rafael Esparza and Ramiro Huitanda each had one assist for Dalton.

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