Ware County wrapped three games in four nights including back-to-back outings splitting Friday’s twinbill on Kennedy Sanders Night.
The Lady Gators (9-12) fell 52-49 in the opener to Florida’s Rural Class thirdranked Hilliard Lady Red Flashes (20-5), winners of six straight. Hilliard, winners in 13 of its last 14 games, posted a 44-37 home victory January 6.
MaxPreps 10th-ranked Gators (21-3 overall, 8-1 Region 1-AAAA) completed the season sweep of visiting Benedictine (4-17, 2-7), losers in 9 of its last 11 games, winning 56-49. Ware County rolled 7246 January 16 in Savannah.
Ware County closed out the regular season Tuesday with Warner Robins. The Lady Demons (19-3, 5-0) entered ranked 10th by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and riding an eight-game winning streak.
The Demons (13-11, 8-1) are tied for the region lead with Ware County. They have won nine of their last 10 games.
No. 3 Hilliard .........52 Lady Gators ...........49 Ware County climbed back from a double-digit halftime deficit taking a short-lived 40-39 lead with just over three minutes to play before the Lady Red Flashes regrouped to pull out the victory.
The Lady Gators trailed 26-14 at intermission. They matched their first half point total during the third period outscoring Hilliard 14-10 slicing the deficit to 36-28.
Ware County scored 2 of the first 15 points in the final stanza to grab a 4039 advantage with 3:07 remaining. A 5-2 response by the Lady Red Flashes gave the visitors a 44-42 lead with 2:03 to play. The Lady Gators were unable to get any closer outscoring Hilliard 21-16 in the fourth quarter.
Ware County hurt itself at the free throw line making just 10-of-23 attempts including 4-of-13 over the final eight minutes. The Lady Red Flashes were 9--of-14.
Hilliard built a 13-4 lead in the first period as the Lady Gators struggled from the floor converting all of their points from the foul line. The Lady Flashes used a 13-10 scoring advantage in the second stanza to extend their mar-gin to 26-14.
Bre Hill scored 11 of her game-high 22 points in the final period to lead Ware County. Bailey Denton (three treys) tallied 13 points.
Nevaeh North netted six points. A’Treasure White and Lydia Munford each bagged four points.
Hilliard had three players reach double-figures led by the 21 points of Reah Saunders (four treys). Alyssa Hallman followed with 12 points while Kailyn Ballance added 10 points.
No. 10 Gators .........56 Benedictine............49 The Gators outscored Benedictine 31-20 over the middle two periods while the Cadets had a fourpoint advantage in the first and fourth quarters.
Davion Jones (trey), Isaiah White (two treys) and Masiyer McKoy reached double figures combining for 34 points to lead Ware County. Jones scored nine of his teamhigh 14 points in the third period. White netted seven of his 10 points in the final period with McKoy finishing with 10 points.
The Cadets hit three consecutive long-range bombs in the final two minutes of the first period helping the visitors to a 1412 lead. Ware County dominated the second quarter using a 16-9 run to take a 28-23 halftime lead.
The Gators added five points to their margin by the end of the third stanza outscoring BC 15-11 to open up a 43-34 advantage. The visitors cut two points off the margin by the final horn outscoring Ware County 15-13.
Kevin Ramsey and Elan Jones followed the doubledigit trio contributing seven and six points respectively. Ja’Londi O’Hara chipped in four points. Eugene Woods (trey) netted three points with Travis Story adding two points.
Kyree Richards (three treys) paced the Cadets with a game-high 15 points - all coming in the second half. Gavin Rycock (four treys) poured in 14 points - all in the first half.
Ware County’s Bailey Denton, bringing the ball up the floor against a Hilliard defender, averaged 14 points in the Lady Gators’ three-game slate last week. Photo By RICK HEAD
