BAXLEY — Homestanding Appling County completed the Region 3-AA season sweep of Pierce County here Friday night.
The Lady Pirates (13-10 overall, 7-1 region) won their third straight game, handing the Lady Bears (6-15, 2-5), who have split their last six games, a 62-27 setback February 6. Appling County notched a 60-51 victory in the January 16 matchup in Bearville.
The Pirates (7-16, 5-3), winners in three of their last four after dropping 12 of 14, held off the Bears’ second-half surge to record a 49-43 decision. Appling posted a 78-67 victory in the first meeting.
Appling County .........................62 Lady Bears ................................27 Appling County raced out to a 25-point halftime advantage in beating PCHS.
The Lady Pirates claimed an 11-5 advantage at the end of the first eight minutes. They blew the game open in the second stanza outscoring PCHS 25-6 in opening up a 36-11 cushion at intermission.
The Lady Bears clipped one point off the deficit during the third period, outscoring Appling County 9-8 to trail 4420. With their starters on the floor for parts of the final quarter, the Lady Pirates finished off the 35-point victory, outscoring Pierce County 18-7.
PCHS was led by Claire Murray’s 12 points. Isabella Marx netted seven points with Saharah Minott contributing four points. Layla Chandel and Keirsten Jones bagged two points each.
Appling County had a trio of doublefigure scorers led by Madison Jones’ (two treys) game-high 17 points. Kaitlyn Mims (two treys) scored 13 of her 14 points in the first half. Shamiah Barnum also finished with 14 points.
Appling County.........................49 Bears ........................................43 Pierce County’s rally from 20-plus points fell just short as the Bears ran out of gas in the final minutes in falling to the Pirates.
Appling County dominated the first half as the Bears struggled from the field. The Pirates jumped out to a 15-9 first quarter lead. They outscored PCHS 18-3 in the second period to open up a 33-12 halftime advantage.
The Bears regrouped during intermission storming out of the locker room to outscore Appling County 20-5 in the third stanza to get to within 38-32. PCHS cut the margin to five points inside the final minute before the Pirates hung on.
The Bears hurt themselves at the charity stripe making just 7-of-20 free throws including 2-of-6 over the final eight minutes. Appling County struggled converting just 11-of-28 and 6-of-21 in the fourth period.
PCHS was paced by the game-high 17 points of Nigel Brown (two treys) with 12 coming in the third canto and 16 over the final two periods. Jamil Strickland (trey) added 15 points. D.J. Moody contributed six points with Chez Armstrong (trey) bagging five points.
Appling County was led by the 14 points of Aldamious Howell and Noah Henderson’s 12 points.
