Lady Hounds comeback falls short against Demons

GIRLS HOOPS

  • Britley Johnson coasts in for a second-half layup against Warner Robins. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
    Britley Johnson coasts in for a second-half layup against Warner Robins. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
  • Aubrey Norris reaches around to lob the pass inside against Warner Robins. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
    Aubrey Norris reaches around to lob the pass inside against Warner Robins. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
  • The Demons can only look on as Amaris Ridgeway goes up for a two-pointer during last week’s contest. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
    The Demons can only look on as Amaris Ridgeway goes up for a two-pointer during last week’s contest. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
  • The Lady Greyhounds wrap up this week with road games at Ola and Peach County. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
    The Lady Greyhounds wrap up this week with road games at Ola and Peach County. BRAD HARRISON/Staff

    In facing Union Grove and most recently Warner Robins, the Lady Greyhounds have faced the sternest of measuring sticks to see what they do well and need to improve on.

    Even amidst that, Jones County nearly toppled the Demons, one of the state’s top five teams in AAAAA on Tuesday of last week, coming back from a slow start to lose 43-38. Jones County rebounded nicely following the loss, closing the week out with big wins of 53-29 against Northside and 62-20 against Locust Grove.

    The Lady Greyhounds worked themselves back in it after halftime with Amaris Ridgeway having seven points alone in the third quarter and Britley Johnson adding six in the fourth. With the Demons hitting a scoring slump, the chance presented itself in a large way for the Lady Greyhounds to work themselves back into it. And though Jones County got within striking distance, it ended up being not quite enough to come all the way back.

    “You can’t spot someone 15 points and expect to come back,” Lady Greyhounds head coach ChoRhonda Gwaltney-Harris said. “We made it close and got within six, and they kept missing shots. But we could not capitalize. It was not as much as what they did to us but what we did to them.”

    Therein lied the more frustrating part of Tuesday’s loss – that the chance was there to overtake the Demons only to come up short.

    “That’s the frustrating part. You want the other team to beat you and (Tuesday) we beat ourselves,” Gwaltney- Harris said. “Warner Robins is a good team and will make you take it from them, and we didn’t take it from them.”

    The Lady Greyhounds won’t see Warner Robins or Union Grove on the schedule until January, but that by no means says the schedule is easy. JCHS took on Eagles Landing this past Tuesday and has two games to go against Dutchtown, two teams that are usually in the state tournament.

    “You hate to play them so early because you are trying to figure out who you are and what you can do well,” Gwaltney-Harris said. “It’s not like we have a weak region, we have other teams that can play well, too.”