The Lady Greyhounds might as well have been wearing a doctor’s white coat in last week’s return to region play. Jones County found the best way to get itself well in the region standings following its first region loss of the year. The Lady Hounds did that by handling their business on Tuesday and Friday against Woodland and Hampton, winning 62-46 and 75-44.
The pair of wins sent JCHS into Christmas break with a record of 8-3 overall after Saturday’s 60-59 non-region overtime loss to top-ranked Putnam County.
Jones County starts 2026 with two non-region games at Josey on Jan. 2 and by hosting Putnam County Jan. 3 before region play resumes Jan. 6 against ELCA.
Thanks to last week’s pair of wins, JCHS finds itself in the very thick of a race for the region lead, tied for first with Woodland and a game in front of Ola and Stockbridge.
Tuesday’s triumph helped the Lady Hounds keep the pulse on that spot, as a monster third quarter in which Jones County had a 24-9 scoring edge secured the win in a game where JCHS trailed 28-26 at halftime.
“This week was especially big for us. To take that spot back, that was big,” Lady Greyhounds head coach Takeo Gray said. “(Against Woodland) we were able to control the second half.
They wanted to send a message that even though we lost, we’re still the team to beat.”
All-around effort by multiple players made last week’s two region wins possible.
Against Woodland, Aubrey Norris and Kamiyah Adams each had a double-double.
Norris pulled down 10 rebounds to go with 16 points and Adams poured in 23 points and added 15 rebounds. Liberty Pennamon also secured 11 rebounds.
Control was not much of an issue for Jones County against Hampton as it led 23-10 through one quarter and 44-25 at halftime.
That was not quite enough to shorten the game clock by the mercy rule, but Gray also saw a good bit of value in that, as it afforded both starters and reserves more playing time.
“I want my secondstring and up-andcoming players to get minutes,” Gray said.
“You get to execute more and see who can do what for you.”
Adams got the Lady Hounds going early, scoring 8 of her 13 points in the first quarter. Aubrey Norris was effective from three-point range, getting all but two of her points from behind the three-point line. Desirae Dumas scored 16 points with 11 of those being in the second quarter.
