Dougherty basketball squads split with Americus-Sumter

ALBANY — The Dougherty Lady Trojans came into Tuesday night’s game against Americus-Sumter desperately needing a win to boost their confidence and turn around their season.

However, the undefeated Lady Panthers dashed any hopes of an upset as they defeated Dougherty 71-52 at Radium Springs Middle School.

Americus-Sumter point guard and A’tyanna Gaulden led all scorers with 34 points. Gaulden also had help from forward Timia Swanson who added 15 points and shooting guard Jy’kiera Long’s 10 points. Dougherty (1-6) was led in scoring by guard Sh’Keria Williams’ 19 points and point guard Takiya Davis with 15.

Americus-Sumter (4-0) came into the game without head coach Sherri Harris, who is serving two-game suspension for accumulating two technical fouls in the Lady Panthers’ victory over Macon County last week. Assistant coach Teira Wallace assumed the coaching duties.

Gaulden exploded early in the fourth quarter by scoring a basket, then electrified the crowd by driving to the basket and making a behind-the-back pass to Jakayla Stevenson who scored. With just under six minutes to play, Americus-Sumter led 59-37.

Davis hit a 3-pointer to cut the Lady Panthers’ lead to 17 with 2:02 to go in the game. Dougherty tried to create turnovers by using full court pressure of their own, but it was too little too late.

“Team … that’s all I’m worried about,” Gaulden said.

Dougherty struggled early to score due to the full-court pressure defense of the Lady Panthers. Americus-Sumter jumped out to a 14-3 lead to start the game before Dougherty coach Charlene Jackson called timeout with 4:40 to go in the first quarter.

From then on, the Lady Panthers never looked back. By the end of the first quarter, Americus-Sumter had built up a 24-9 lead. Dougherty was able to keep pace with the Lady Panthers in the second quarter, but Americus-Sumter went into the locker room with a 34-19 halftime advantage.

Swanson and Long both scored 10 first-half points for the Lady Panthers, while Williams led Dougherty with 10 first half points as well.

The Lady Panthers resumed their full court press to start the second half, but the Lady Trojans did a better job defending it at first. However, Americus-Sumter increased their lead to 42-22 mostly on the strength of six points from Gaulden. Then Americus-Sumter started scoring points off turnovers using full court pressure, and built up a 46-24 lead with 2:32 left in the third quarter. The quarter ended with the Lady Panthers enjoying a 50-30 lead.

Dougherty will try to bounce back when they travel to Valdosta to take on the Lady Wildcats Saturday, while Americus-Sumter will try to stay undefeated when they play host to Monroe in what should be a battle between two of the region’s top teams.

DOUGHERTY BOYS 79, AMERICUS-SUMTER 65: It was the game first-year coach Ty Randolph was looking for from his Dougherty Trojans.

And they delivered. In a big way.

Israel Shead led Dougherty with 24 points to help Randolph earn his first victory with the Trojans. Three other players finished in double figures: Chris Thomas scored 12 points, while Charles Porter and Terry Lewis each had 11 points in the win.

“The guys have been scraping, fighting and clawing for chemistry, and I think for the first time this season, it came together,” Randolph said. “I’m very proud of the effort.”

With the score tied at two early, Shead stole the ball, went the other way and dunked. However, that woke up Americus-Sumter as they scored nine straight unanswered points and would end the first quarter leading 11-7.

The Panthers controlled the second quarter, leading by as many as 12, but Dougherty reeled off five straight points to close out the half only trailing 34-27.

Americus-Sumter jumped out to a 40-29 lead to start the third quarter but the Trojans went on an 8-0 run before Dwight Harris hit a 3-pointer to put the Panthers back up by six. Harris drilled another 3-pointer to extend Americus-Sumter’s lead to 46-37.

Elkwan Thompson cut Dougherty’s deficit to seven with a lay-up before Dougherty was hit with a technical foul, and High hit one of two technical free throws. By the end of a frenetic, fast-paced third quarter, Americus -Sumter maintained a 52-42 lead.

The Trojans went on a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter, keyed by a basket from David Quimby. Then the Trojans cut the lead to 54-52 with 5:43 to go before Juwan High stole the ball and scored.

Dougherty grabbed the lead at 57-56 in the waning minutes of the game.

It was back and fourth until Dougherty went up 66-60 with less than two minutes to play. Then the Trojans completely put it out of reach with two break away baskets by Shead and Lewis.

With 58 seconds to go in the game, Americus-Sumter tried to get back in it when High was fouled and he hit two free throws, followed by a time out from the Panthers.

A technical foul was called on Americus-Sumter and David Quimby hit one of two free throws. Then with 49 seconds to play, the lights went out for a second and the refs had to stop play. Once play resumed, Dougherty had the ball and Quimby was fouled again. Quimby sank both free throws, giving the Trojans a 74-62 lead. The Panthers’ Eric Hall hit a 3-pointer to cut Dougherty’s lead to 74-65, but that was as close as the Panthers would get.

“We battled,” Americus-Sumter coach Michael Hoffpauir said. “It was our first road contest of the year. We had good crowd support. We didn’t handle it very well, but it was a good learning experience for us.”

High led all scorers with 27 points for Americus-Sumter, while Dwight Harris chipped in 19 in the losing effort.