BEARVILLE — Pierce County’s Lady Bears suffered a pair of home losses in the last week of action before the Christmas break.
PCHS (2-7) fell 42-37 Tuesday, December 16 to visiting Jeff Davis (2-7), winners of two straight, for a split in the season series. The Lady Bears, who lost for the second straight outing, notched a 35-30 victory December 4 in Hazlehurst.
Visiting Brantley County (7-1) recorded its fourth straight victory while handing the Lady Bears a third consecutive loss with a 48-25 decision Friday, December 19.
PCHS will take a two-week break returning to action Friday, January 2 when the Lady Bears open play host to Crisp County in the Region 3-AA opener. PCHS visits Wayne County Saturday, January 3.
Jeff Davis .....................................................42 Lady Bears ...................................................37
The Lady Yellow Jackets slipped away from a onepoint lead entering the final eight minutes taking advantage of Pierce County’s struggles at the free throw line.
Holding a slim 31-30 lead, Jeff Davis converted 4-of-6 free throws while the Lady Bears went 0-for-4 (1-for-7 for game) providing the difference. Each team had three field goals (trey apiece) in the fourth quarter with the Lady Yellow Jackets outscoring PCHS 11-7.
The visitors raced out to a six-point advantage by the end of the first period at 15-9. Jeff Davis outscored the Lady Bears 11-9 in the second stanza stretching the margin to 26-18 at the break.
Claire Murray (13 points, 11 in second half; trey) and Madi McGatha (11 points; two threes) each scored six points in the third quarter helping Pierce County outscore the Lady Yellow Jackets 12-5 to cut the deficit to 31-30.
Caren Drew (trey) was next with five points. Azalea Mobley (trey) netted three points. Isabell Marx and Ansley Hutcheson bucketed two points apiece. Layla Chandel canned a free throw.
The Lady Yellow Jackets’ Bree Coney (17 points) and Brylee Wyatt (15 points; three treys) combined for 32 points.
Lady Herons ................................................48 Lady Bears ...................................................25
Brantley County overcame an early three-point deficit slowly pulling away from the Lady Bears for the victory.
Abbie Lee and Ella Highsmith led the Lady Herons scoring 12 points apiece for game-high honors.
Brantley County scored the final four points of the opening period in taking a 7-6 lead. The Lady Herons outscored PCHS 15-4 during the second quarter to open up a 22-10 advantage at intermission.
BCHS broke the game open in the third stanza outscoring the Lady Bears 21-6 extending the margin to 43-16. Each team made just one basket over the final eight minutes with Pierce County finishing the final canto with a 9-5 scoring advantage.
The Lady Herons’ Chloe Johns (two treys) and Anniston Bowers (trey) contributed eight points and seven points respectively. Tamiyah Coley bagged four points, Kirsten Smith (trey) finished with three points with Sarah Grace Tompkins netting two points.
The Lady Bears were paced by the seven points of Mc-Gatha and Hutcheson (two treys). Murray contributed five points, Alayna Bell chipped in four points and Marx added two points.
