Westover girls tune-up for region play by beating Lee County

LEESBURG — The Westover Lady Patriots came into Saturday night’s game against Lee County hoping to capitalize on their win over Tift County Friday night.

With the heart of their Region 1-AAAA schedule starting this week, they hoped to continue their positive momentum.

Consider it done.

The Lady Patriots did just that, rolling to a 37-24 victory at Lee County High School.

Westover girls coach Lewis Smith believes his team needs to exercise more patience on offense.

“I thought we had a good first half,” Smith said. “The second half, we lost our intensity, lost our focus. We didn’t execute well offensively or defensively — one good half, one bad half,”

The Lady Patriots went to work right away, jumping out to a 22-7 lead in the second quarter before going to the locker room with a 28-11 advantage. Nyla Perry led Westover in scoring with 12 points, all of which came in the first half on the strength of four 3-pointers.

The Lady Trojans responded in the early minutes of the second half as Addison Renfroe nailed a 3-pointer for the first points of the second half. However, Westover moved the ball patiently on offense and maintained a 35-18 lead by the end of the third quarter.

The Lady Trojans cut Westover’s lead to 13 on a basket from Ashley Morris, but that was as close as they would get.

Westover also got point production from Kristavia Milton and AuBre’ Ana Moore with each of them chipping in seven points. Lee County was led by Renfroe’s seven points.

“We need to have more patience on the offensive end,” Smith said. “Sometimes, I think we are settling for quick shots instead of being patient and making the other team play some defense.”

Both teams return to region play Tuesday as Westover will host Worth County, while Lee County (6-7) will try to bounce back and get their first win in Region 1-AAAAAA play when they travel to Valdosta.

WESTOVER BOYS 66, LEE COUNTY 61: Lee County and Westover played a tightly contested game that went down to the wire, but Westover escaped.

Both teams played an evenly contested first half, but halftime came with Westover enjoying a 33-27 lead. Westover’s Jordan Floyd exploded in the first half with 19 of his points, 12 of them coming off of four three-pointers.

With a little under six minutes to go in the third quarter and Westover up 35-27, the Trojans went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to one, but the Patriots responded with a 5-0 run of their own before Lee County’s Zee Johnson sank two free throws to cut the Patriots lead to 40-37 with 3:54 left in the third.

After a Westover basket from Andre Kennedy, Kristopher Gardner nailed a 3-pointer to cut Westover’s lead to 42-40 with a little over two minutes left in the third quarter.

A key play in the game came near the end of the third when Johnson drove to the basket but his shot was blocked by Kennedy. Westover then went the other way and Kennedy dunked, resulting in a four-point swing.

However, the Trojans went on a 4-0 run to start the fourth quarter, tying the game 46. A few minutes later with Westover up 52-51, the Trojans took the lead on a basket from Chris Barnes.

Then Lee County electrified the crowd with a steal at midcourt and a basket by Johnson giving the Trojans a 55-52 lead. Then Floyd struck again with his fifth 3-pointer of the night, tying the game at 55 with 3:10 to go.

Westover’s Alec Williams scored four quick points to give the Patriots a 59-55 lead. Westover maintained a 64-58 advantage with less than a minute left before Lee County’s Jalin Wimberly was fouled and sank two free throws.

The Trojans got a steal at half court and called time out. However, they weren’t able to capitalize as they turned the ball over.

Williams was fouled with 21 seconds left and sank one of two free throws. With the Patriots in command with a 65-60 lead, Lee County’s Tyler McConnell was fouled on a 3-point attempt but he converted just one of three free throws.

Floyd led the Patriots with 24, while Kennedy added 19 and Williams tossed in 1o.

Wimberly led Lee County with 17 points, while Gardner added 15.