After a pair of losses to end the region tournament, the Lady Greyhounds have one option going into next week’s state tournament – to look forward.
With a 64-47 loss last Thursday in the region tournament semifinals to eventual region champion Warner Robins and a 39-37 defeat to Eagles Landing in the thirdplace game, Jones County will go into the state tournament next week as the fourth seed, drawing the top seed from Region 1-AAAAA. Bradwell Institute was that region’s top team entering the region tournament with Greenbrier, who JCHS beat to open the season, in second place.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff to work on. You’d rather be in third than fourth, but it is what it is,” Lady Greyhounds head coach ChoRhonda Gwaltney-Harris said. “At least we’re in the playoffs.”
The loss to Warner Robins came against a Demonettes team that few have been able to solve all season. The Lady Hounds got a strong start, leading 8-2 early before Warner Robins came to life, going up 17-13 before an Amaris Ridgeway three pointer cut the advantage to 33-26 at halftime. Jones County hung close for a better part of the third, trailing by as few as six prior to the Demonettes pulling away to win.
Ridgeway’s 20 points led the Lady Hounds with Shania Bryant adding 10.
That sent Jones County into what ended up being a somewhat low-scoring contest against Eagles Landing. The Lady Greyhounds led 37-34 with 1:54 on a layup by Ridgeway, but Eagles Landing fought back. After the Lady Hounds turned the ball over on a possession that could have gone a long way toward putting the game away, Eagles Landing tied it 37-37 with 19 seconds to go. After being unable to score on their next trip down the floor, Eagles Landing drew a foul with 2.7 seconds left, sinking two decisive free throws to win 39-37.
Carlie Skinner had nine points to lead JCHS against Eagles Landing, each of them on three-pointers.
