Cook scores 21, Lady Bruins win 19th game in row

From Staff Reports

The Northwest Whitfield girls basketball express just keeps chugging along.

The Lady Bruins, with Jordi Cook pouring in 21 points, including three 3-pointers, defeated Osborne 58-49 on Friday night in Marietta for their 19th consecutive win and 11th without a loss in Region 7-4A.

Northwest (20-2, 11-0 in 7-4A) held a 17-8 first-quarter lead, but the Lady Cardinals pulled even at 26-all at halftime. The Lady Bruins, who haven’t lost since Nov. 24, pulled into a 44-38 lead after three quarters and held on.

“I feel like we came out in the second half and controlled them on both ends of the floor,” Northwest coach Margaret Stockburger said. “The girls played really tough. It’s a great win because Osborne had lost only one region game (to Rome) before tonight. They’ve got a good team and we played well.”

Christy Robinson and Quaneisha McCurty each had 11 points and 12 rebounds. Robinson added three blocked shots. Baleigh Coley had four assists.

A key to the Northwest victory was Emily Trew helping to hold Osborne’s leading scorer, Ebonee Allen, to four points. Trew and three other guards — Kayla Piorkowski, Coley and Cook — did a good job collectively handling Osborne’s pressure, Stockburger said.

“Emily did a really good job putting pressure on Allen and kept her from scoring,” Stockburger said.

• Southeast Whitfield girls 72, Ringgold 60: Danielle Pearson led a balanced attack with a game-high 24 points for the Lady Raiders (12-9, 7-1 Sub-region 6A-3A) in the victory at Ringgold.

Briana Sosebee added 17 points and Haley Lock and Ta’Quasha O’Neal each had 12.

“We were down 14-5 after one quarter,” Lady Raiders coach Elizabeth Crane said. “After a nice coach’s talk, we decided this wasn’t going to happen and we outscored them 25-11 in the second quarter, and we kept the lead the rest of the way.

“It was a very good team effort and I’m proud of them for the way they fought hard and came back.”

Danielle Sisk led the Lady Tigers with 18 points and Meg Crawford scored 13.

• Osborne boys 56, Northwest 55: Osborne made a free throw with sixth-tenths of a second left in the game to beat the Bruins (14-8, 5-6). It was Northwest’s second straight one-point road loss by the same score.

“Now we’ve got three games at home and maybe we can get back on track,” Bruins coach Ryan Richards said.

Alex Thames scored 15 points, all coming on five 3-pointers, to lead the Bruins. Michael Kelly had 12 points and Ryan Logan added 10. Marquis Williams had 13 points for the Cardinals (9-13, 4-8).

• Southeast coach Josh Carter did not return a message left on his cell phone seeking results of the Raiders’ game at Ringgold.

Varsity wrestling

Dalton placed six wrestlers in the Area 7-4A traditional tournament semifinals and was in third place after the first day’s action.

Cass was leading the tournament with 80.5 points, South Paulding (74) was second and Dalton had 73 points in third place. Northwest Whitfield was fifth with 67 points and Murray County sixth with 60.

“The top six teams are packed like we thought,” Murray County coach Chris Thornbury said. “A bunch of us have six (wrestlers) in the semifinals and Cass has seven. You can really pile up some points in the semis.”

Luis Juan (103 pounds), Henry Torres (119), Christian Washington (125), Reinaldo Torres (130), Eric Uriostegui (160) and Henson Toland (189) all reached the semifinal round.

Jeremy Medina (135), Juan Holguin (140), Dontate Washington (145) , Gilbert Medina (171), Larry Fernandez (215) and Logan Harr (285) are in the consolation wrestlebacks for the Catamounts.

The Bruins’ semifinalists were Russell Royal (112), Andrew Bennett (119), Dustin Pendergrass (140), Connor Hayes (145), Josh Lewis (152) and Garrett Henderson (160).

Six Bruins were still alive in the wrestlebacks: Steven Riner (135), Hunter Guinn (171), Francisco Ramirez (189), Kerry McElroy (215), Taylor Blansit (125) and Adam Selby (285).

Indians in the semifinals are Josh Webb (103), Zack Shoemaker (135), Dalton Lane (145), David Thornbury (171), Zac Dills (189) and D.J. Winters (285).

Murray has Dustin Campbell (112), John Duarte (119), Jesse Peeples (125), Courtland Morales (130), Tyler Hawkins (140), Andrew Baldwin (152) and Derrick Carnes (160) in the wrestlebacks.

JV basketball

• Northwest boys 44, Osborne 42: Daniel Kubin scored 16 points and Alex Heard added eight for the Bruins (9-3).

9th basketball

• Northwest Whitfield boys 66, Hillgrove 57: Kaleb King scored a game-high 17 points and the Bruins (10-4) advanced to the Woodland-Bartow freshman tournament semifinals.

Tanner Quarles had 16 points and O’Shea Hill added 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Bruins, who play Allatoona today at 10:30 a.m. in the semifinals.

Jordan Sexton led Hillgrove with 14 points.