Lady Hounds get split after loss to top-ranked Union Grove

GIRLS HOOPS

  • The Lady Greyhounds play Friday at second-place Warner Robins. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
    The Lady Greyhounds play Friday at second-place Warner Robins. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
  • Carlie Skinner prepares to feed the ball inside against Union Grove. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
    Carlie Skinner prepares to feed the ball inside against Union Grove. BRAD HARRISON/Staff

    For a half, the Lady Greyhounds hung with top-ranked Union Grove on Thursday, fighting back to trail by just three points at halftime. Then, the visiting Wolverines showed why they’re ranked so high and the reason that they have lost just once this year.

    Helped by self-inflicted turnovers by Jones County, Union Grove outscored the Lady Hounds 19-7 in the third quarter alone, enough of a cushion to pace its way to a 49-39 win. The Lady Greyhounds bounced back nicely a night later, routing Locust Grove 74-13.

    Trailing 12-8 after a quarter on Thursday, Jones County took advantage of time at the charity stripe. In the second quarter alone, Jones County was 5-of-9 from the free-throw line. The result? JCHS trailing 20-17. That momentum swung away in the third with Jones County held to just two field goals as the Wolverines ended up running away with the win.

    “They’re a No. 1 team for a reason, but a lot of our turnovers, it was more us than them,” Lady Greyhounds head coach ChoRhonda Gwaltney-Harris said. “They’re a good team, but we just didn’t do what we needed to do. It should’ve been closer, and that was all on us.”

    Carlie Skinner, who converted two threepointers, was one of two Lady Hounds with eight points along with Mya Anderson.

    “We had more turnovers than points in the first half and were only down by three, and then we just bombed it out in the third quarter,” Gwaltney-Harris said.

    With four games to go in the season as this week began, Jones County found itself third in region with an overall record of 15-5 and 5-3 in the region. That put the Lady Hounds third in the region, one game behind Warner Robins and a game up on fourth-place Eagles Landing.

    This week may go a long way in where JCHS ends up for next month’s region tournament. Jones County played Eagles Landing on Tuesday and goes to Warner Robins on Friday. Those two games plus next week’s home games against Ola and Dutchtown will determine where JCHS is seeded for the region tournament, and one spot the Lady Hounds hope to avoid is one spot below their current position.