Albany girls sneak by Worth County

ALBANY — After struggling to open the game, the Albany girls found their rhythm late to beat Worth County 42-38 Tuesday night at Archie Arena at Albany High School and earned their second Region 1-AAAA victory.

The proverbial lid was on the basket to open the game. Both teams failed to score for more than half of the first quarter. The Squaws struggled with turnovers due to Worth’s press defense, but the Lady Rams couldn’t score despite getting many good looks.

The drought was broken when Albany’s Jakaela Dungee scored with 3:35 left in the opening quarter.

The Lady Rams led 7-5 at the end of the first quarter.

The Squaws were led by China Marcus in the second quarter. The guard had five points in the quarter but it was just the beginning of what would be a big game for the senior. She hit a free throw just before the end of the half to cut Worth’s lead to 14-12.

“She has been big for us scoring this year,” Albany coach Candenisa Thomas said. “She has really been big for us offensively and defensively. She hit huge free throws at the end. She missed a couple but it fell in our favor tonight.”

Marcus came out on fire in the third quarter. She scored five points early to help Albany get the game tied at 19. Marcus finished with nine points in the quarter.

Worth received a big boost from their own No. 12. DeAundra Smith had seven points in the quarter and helped Worth maintain a narrow lead.

Albany eventually took the lead with 3:30 remaining when De’Jarik McClendon hit a basket.

The Squaws led 29-26 at the end of the third quarter.

“Overall, we played flat at times,” Thomas said. “I kept telling them to pick up the intensity. They kind of did at the end but I wish they had done it earlier in the game, then it wouldn’t have been such a battle at the end.”

After struggling to score early in the final quarter, the Squaws found themselves tied at 31. Marcus once again came up big hitting two free throws and scoring a basket to give her team the lead. She also hit a clutch free throw down the stretch to seal the victory. Marcus finished as the game’s leading scorer with 23 points while McClendon dropped nine.

Smith finished as Worth’s leading scorer with 17 points.

Worth County boys 63, Albany 45

Just days after having their 10-game winning streak snapped against Bainbridge, the Worth County boys have put together another one, albeit a little smaller for now.

The Rams handed Albany a loss Tuesday night at the Archie Arena.

Worth used 22-point efforts each from Brandon Moore and Anfernee McLemore to down the Indians and stay in the hunt for the Region 1-AAAA regular-season title.

“I think we did a wonderful job,” Worth coach Roney Mays said. “It’s getting down to the end of the season, so we really want to play our best basketball now. I preach it everyday at practice.”

Albany trailed by double digits after halftime but cut the lead down to nine early in the third quarter.

The Rams extended the lead back to double digits when Tyre McKinney hit a three as the buzzer expired in the third quarter.

Moore and McLemore took over in the fourth quarter, combining to score 16 points.

McLemore gave Worth momentum when he threw down back-to-back dunks. The first was a vicious two-handed slam. He then followed up with a windmill dunk that gave the Rams a 54-45 lead.

“I think we played great overall,” McLemore said. “We had a lot of effort tonight. We came out the game a little slow. In the end we picked it up and started playing well in the fourth quarter.”

Darrell Bryant finished with 18 for Albany, while DeAndre Hamilton had eight.