Terrell Academy squads take big wins over Deerfield-Windsor

DAWSON — Terrell Academy girls basketball coach Keith Jones took off the neatly pressed tie and slung it onto the court.

If Jones’ courtside tirade fired up the Lady Eagles, maybe he should wear a starched shirt and tie to every game, at least for Terrell Academy’s sake.

In a complete reversal from the opening minutes, Terrell rallied from a 14-point first-quarter deficit to upend Deerfield-Windsor 46-42 in a heated nonregion game Tuesday night.

While Jones was upset at an officiating call, Terrell Academy (2-1) certainly fed off his demeanor.

“I know that if I wear a tie again and we play like we did in the first quarter, I’ll never wear another tie again,” Jones said. “I was proud of several kids who stepped up unexpectedly for us. Sierra Brogdon stepped up for us and we played well on defense.”

Deerfield-Windsor (2-1) seemed to be in midseason form while dominating the first quarter. The Lady Knights created turnovers, forced Terrell Academy to take bad shots and turned fast break opportunities into easy layups.

But Terrell pulled itself within striking distance by outscoring Deerfield-Windsor 8-4 in the second quarter to trail by just six at halftime.

“We got in a zone and limited them to one shot … and no offensive putbacks,” Jones said. “It worked out well in our favor.”

The Lady Eagles tied the game on a free throw from Madison Lamb at the 2:21 mark of the third, then took the lead on Javen Wimberly’s putback off a missed free throw.

Wimberly, who finished with nine points in the third quarter, gave Terrell a 32-28 advantage with 41 seconds left.

Wimberly, Jenna Cuff and Madison Lamb helped Terrell build leads as high as eight in the fourth quarter before back-to-back 3-pointers — one each from Rachel Bonner and Patsy Cartee — made it 43-39 with 2:14 left.

However, that was as close as Deerfield-Windsor got in the closing minutes.

It didn’t help that the Lady Knights got themselves into foul trouble and went cold from the perimeter.

“I was surprised we kept it as close as we did,” Deerfield-Windsor coach Jeff Eubanks said. “I think a lot of our problem was mental, because we’ve got some good shooters.”

Cuff led Terrell with 12 points, while Wimberly added 10 and Hannah Harrell nine.

Bonner led Deerfield-Windsor with 12 points, while Cartee and Emily Foy finished with seven points each.

Terrell Academy boys 62, Deerfield-Windsor boys 53

Everything between visiting Deerfield-Windsor and Terrell Academy was a big deal.

While the two basketball teams tried to out-do each other, so did the Terrell and DWS student sections. Even school the cheerleaders tried to outperform each other.

In a spirited game, Terrell Academy beat Deerfield-Windsor in a nonregion game that seemed to be for more than just bragging rights.

Deerfield’s Daniel Ramsey scored 26 to lead all scorers and had three monster dunks in the first quarter. But when the Eagles decided to take over, Terrell Academy built a lead they never relinquished in the second half.

And it started with a 32-point performance in the third quarter.

Terrell’s Jalin Wimberly, who finished with 22 points, helped kick start Terrell’s surge with a couple of dunks, then Jared Donalson drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing with 2:09 left in the third quarter to give the Eagles a 10-point lead.

“Jared’s basket was big,” Terrell coach Robert Bryant said. “But all the guys played hard. I was proud of the way we matched their intensity. We set our own pace of the game.”

Deerfield-Windsor, who graduated all five of its starters from last season, gave Terrell all it could handle before the Eagles’ 17-point lead in the final period was trimmed to nine. However, that was as close as the Knights could get in their season opener.

Donalson finished with 13, while Reese Bell added 12. After Ramsey, Deerfield-Windsor got seven points each from Harrison Cannon and Howell Logan.