Gators clinch regular season title with 28-point win
Ware County’s basketball programs closed out their regular season schedules Tuesday splitting the Region 1-AAAA finales with visiting Wanrer Robins.
The Atlanta Journal-Contstitution’s 10thranked Lady Demons (20-3 overall, 6-0 region) completed the season sweep February 3 of the Lady Gators (9-13, 3-3) stretching their winning streak to nine games with a 67-46 victory. Warner Robins rolled 65-28 at home in the January 17.
The MaxPreps ninthranked Gators (22-3, 9-1) notched a seventh consecutive victory and the regular season region title beating the Demons (13-12, 8-2), winners in nine of their previous 10 games, 59-31 in the battle of top region teams. It marked a seasonlow total by 16 points for Warner Robins, who came in averaging 58 points a game.
The Demons recorded a 70-63 overtime victory in the first meeting.
Next is the region tournament at Warner Robins scheduled for this week. The Lady Demons will serve as host after capturing the girls’ regular season title.
The Lady Gators will square off with Wayne County (15-8, 3-3) in one semifinal game while Warner Robins faces fourth-seed Perry (10-14, 2-6) in the other. Dates and times have not been announced.
The top-seeded Gators will face the winner of fourth-seed New Hampstead (9-16, 4-6) and fifthseed Benedictine (5-17, 3-7) Wednesday, February 11. No time has been released.
The second-seed Demons get the winner of third-seed Wayne County (15-9, 5-5) and sixth-seed Perry (5-18, 1-9) in the other semifinal pairing.
The semifinal winners advance to the Friday, February, February 13 championship game with the losers meeting in the consolation matchup.
No. 10 W. Robins ....67 Lady Gators ............46 The visiting Lady Demons drilled 11 treys as they steadily widened their margin throughout the game to beat Ware County.
Warner Robins jumped out to an 18-15 advantage by the end of the first stanza. The Lady Demons added 10 points to their lead by intermission outscoring Ware County 23-13 in the second period pushing the margin to 41-28 at intermission.
The visitors extended the margin to 20 points by the end of the third quarter outpointing the Lady Gators 13-6 for a 54-34 working margin. Warner Robins finished the game with a 13-12 scoring advantage over the final eight minutes.
Bre Hill paced Ware County with 17 points. Lydia Munford (three treys) contributed 11 points. Nevaeh Norton (trey) netted seven points.
A’Treasure White bagged four points with Lauren Belle chipping in three points. Bailey Denton and Madisyn Daniels added two points apiece.
No. 9 Gators 59 Warner Robins 31
Ware County dominated the first half building a 25--point halftime lead coasting to the victory over the Demons.
The Gators had a large scoring advantage by their starters over the Warner Robins’ starting five. Ware County’s first five outscored the Demons 51-25.
The Gators opened up a 19-5 bulge in the opening eight minutes limiting Warner Robins to one-shot trips, banging the boards and fighting for every loose ball. The second quarter was a repeat performance leading to a 20-9 scoring advantage and a 39-14 halftime score.
Ware County managed just 20 points after intermission, but still added to its margin. The Gators outscored Warner Robins 13-8 in the third period extending the lead to 52-22. The Demons outscored Ware County 9-6 in the six-minute “mercy rule” fourth stanza.
Kevin Ramsey and Elan Jones tied for game-high scoring honors leading the Gators with 13 points apiece. Ramsey keyed the first quarter surge with 10 points. Isaiah White hit three treys and scored his 12 points in the first half.
Davion Jones netted eight points with Masiyer McKoy chipping in eight points. Travis Story, Ja’Londi O’Hara, Luke Hinley and Eugene Woods bagged two points each.
Tristan Warren topped Warner Robins with eight points.
