Ware County sandwiched a victory around two losses during the second week of the regular season.
The Lady Gators (3-3) suffered a second straight setback falling 61-35 Tuesday, December 2 at Valdosta. The 26-point win for Lady Wildcats (4-1) was their third double-digit victory.
Ware County ended a two-game slide Thursday, December 4 turning back visiting Class A DI Worth County (2-2) 50-42 in the Lady Gators’ home opener. The loss marked the second straight for the Lady Rams.
Glynn Academy (4-4) won a third straight game handing the Lady Gators a 55-41 setback Friday, December 5. Ware County suffered its third loss in four outings.
Appling County visited Tuesday, December 9 with Groves of Savannah coming to town Saturday, December 13. Valdosta wraps up the season series with a visit Tuesday, December 16.
The Lady Gators travel Friday, December 19 to face Glynn Academy in Brunswick. They will head into the Christmas break after a Monday, December 22 home date with Richmond Hill.
Valdosta..............................61 Lady Gators ........................35 VALDOSTA – Host Valdosta pulled away from a five-point halftime lead outscoring the Lady Gators 31-10 over the final 16 minutes to notch the victory.
The Lady Wildcats grabbed a twopoint advantage by the end of the opening eight minutes at 14-12. Valdosta closed the first half using a 1613 scoring advantage in the second stanza for a 30-25 margin at the break.
The Lady Wildcats outscored Ware County 16-2 in the third quarter to turn five-point halftime edge into a 46-27 lead going into the fourth. Valdosta continued to extend its lead in the final period outscoring the Lady Gators 15-8.
The Lady Wildcats were able to pull away using an aggressive full court press.
“They (Lady Gators) were a really good team last year,” said Valdosta head coach E.A. Wilcox. “We were able to press and get them to hurry up in their offense.”
Bailey Denton was the only double figure scorer for Ware County finishing with 10 points. She also went 3-for-3 from the charity stripe to remain perfect at 19-for-19 through four games.
Lydia Munford finished with eight points connecting on two of the Lady Gators’ four treys. A’Treasure White netted six points.
Bre Hill finished with four points. Lauren Belle and Nevaeh North each bagged three points. LeLe Reid contributed a free throw.
Lady Gators ........................50 Worth County .....................42 Ware County outscored the Lady Rams by at least one basket in three of the four quarters to survive for the win.
The Lady Gators biggest point differential came in the opening stanza when they outscored Worth County 12-8. Each team netted 12 points in the second period with Ware County taking a 24-20 lead at intermission.
A 12-10 scoring advantage for the Lady Gators during third quarter action upped the margin to 36-30 with eight minutes to play. Ware County closed the game with a 14-12 scoring advantage.
White led the Lady Gators with a game-high 19 points and a career-best 20 rebounds in recording her second double- double of the young season. She grabbed 18 rebounds against Toombs County in the second game of the season.
Denton was next with 10 points. She missed her first free throws of the season (3-of-6) after a 19-for-19 start. Munford and Hill followed with six points apiece.
Belle netted five points while Skyy Green and Madisyn Daniels each bucketed two points.
Worth County was paced by the 16 points of Jariah Williams.
Glynn Academy .........................55 Lady Gators ...............................41 The visiting Lady Red Terrors connected on seven three-point attempts in the matchup with Ware County.
Glynn Academy outscored the Lady Gators 21-9 from beyond the arc with Aja Tillman (11 points) and Faith Jernigan (13 points) each finishing with three treys.
The Lady Red Terrors carried a slim 10-8 lead into the second stanza. They hit five treys fueled a 21-15 run before halftime to take a 31-23 lead at the break.
Glynn Academy increased its margin by a free throw during the third quarter outscoring the Lady Gators 10-9 for a 4132 advantage. The visitors finished the game outpointing Ware County 14-9 for the double-digit margin.
Hill was the only double figure scorer for the Lady Gators finishing with 12 points. Denton added eight points with Charmaine Farrell netting six points.
White scored three points with Daniels and Reid contributing two points each. Ameria Burse, Belle and Munford canned a free throw apiece.
Nae Martin’s 11 points gave the Lady Red Terrors a trio of double-digit scorers.
Lady Gators JV ..........................41 Glynn Academy JV ....................18 Ameria Burse led nine Lady Gators in the scoring column finishing with a game-high 12 points in the win over Glynn Academy.
Reagan Ash followed with nine points with LeLe Reid adding six points. Ri’Janae Buford and Gekhya Rawls contributed four and three points respectively.
Lauren Belle, Charmaine Farrell and J. Lane netted two points each. Destiny Tripp added a free throw.
The Lady Gators stretched an 8-2 first quarter lead to 18-7 by intermission. The margin swelled to 30-11 by the end of the third period with Ware County padding the lead by four in the final stanza.
