GIRLS HOOPS
From the standpoint of the region standings, nothing was riding on Friday’s game in Warner Robins for the Lady Greyhounds. For late-season momentum? That was a whole other element.
Jones County took down one of its chief nemeses on Friday, coming back from being down by seven points in the final four minutes to win in the closing seconds on a steal and layup by Amaris Ridgeway to win 55-53. Ridgeway scored 12 points in the fourth quarter alone. The Lady Greyhounds began this week with an overall record of 17-5 and 7-3 in the region.
Regardless of this past Tuesday’s game against Ola and Friday at home against Dutchtown, Jones County can finish no worse than the third seed going into the region tournament since they lose a tiebreaker with Warner Robins. That makes a semifinal matchup in the region tournament likely next week between Jones County and Warner Robins, when the stakes will be higher than they were last week.
“This is big for our confidence; it lets us know we can beat them,” Lady Greyhounds head coach ChoRhonda Gwaltney- Harris said.
But with the region tournament coming next week, momentum from Friday’s thriller could come at a very opportune time for JCHS. The Lady Hounds thrived from the perimeter against the Demons, getting three pointers from five players, four by Carlie Skinner and two by Autumn Coleman. Skinner’s 16 points led JCHS on Friday with Mya Anderson having 11 and Britley Johnson having six points and 10 rebounds.
“We’ve got some other kids who can knock down shots,” Gwaltney-Harris said. “Warner Robins, they dare you to outscore them, and that’s what we ended up doing.”
Anderson hit one of those threes late in the first half, carrying Jones County to a 23-22 halftime lead. With the Lady Greyhounds still hanging close in the third quarter, Skinner got them within a point, down 36-35 with 59 seconds left before Autumn Coleman drained a three pointer of her own to put JCHS ahead 38-37 going to the fourth.
Jones County would need to dig deep for another comeback. First on a 4-0 run and then ahead 51-44 with 3:45 to play, Warner Robins was on the cusp of icing the game. But within 30 seconds, a Skinner three and Ridgeway layup quickly cut the Warner Robins lead to 53-51 with 36 seconds to go. After both teams swapped possessions, a Ridgeway layup with 16 seconds to go in the game tied it, setting up a likely overtime. But the Demons’ final possession went astray as Ridgeway came up with a steal, going half the length on the court for the game-winner with less than a second to go.
“We fought really, really hard. They kicked our butts on the boards. They probably outrebounded us by 20 or 30 boards, but we just kept fighting and stayed in it and had a chance to win and that’s all you want.”
Friday’s win came after last Tuesday’s 55-28 win at Eagles Landing with Ridgeway scoring 16 points and 10 coming from Anderson and Kamiyah Adams.
