Basketball Shorts: Albany Deerfield-Windsor splits with Southland, Monroe sweeps Columbus, More

ALBANY — The Deerfield-Windsor basketball teams split region games with arch-rival Southland Academy Tuesday night, the Lady Knights winning easily 55-37 and the Knights falling in a nail-biter, 34-31.

The Lady Knights ran out to a 37-7 halftime lead against the Lady Raiders and the game was never in doubt. Joi Hubbard led Deerfield-Windsor with 16 points, Hampton Rushton put in 13, Gabrielle Harris knocked in 11 and Murphy Ray added eight.

Mary Easterlin scored 15 points to lead Southland Academy.

The Lady Knights are now 14-5 overall and unbeaten in the region with a 5-0 record. Southland fell to 6-10 and 2-2.

Southland’s boys led 19-14 at the half and 28-24 after three. The Raiders only scored six fourth-quarter points but their defense was enough and kept the Knights from scoring only seven.

Lane Sceals hit four three-pointers to lead Deerfield-Windsor with 12 points.

Jamarcus Walker and Perry Usher each scored 10 to lead the Raiders.

Southland is now 7-7 on the season and 2-2 in the region. The Knights are now 13-7 overall and 3-2 in the region.

Monroe takes two over Columbus HighALBANY — The No. 3-ranked Monroe Golden Tornadoes survived a scare from the Columbus Blue Devils 60-56 Tuesday night after Monroe’s No. 7-ranked Lady Nadas blasted the Lady Blue Devils 82-28.

Monroe’s boys scored 27 second-quarter-points to lead 40-26 at the half, but the Blue Devils outscored the Tornadoes 16-7 in the third quarter to make the game much closer. The two teams scored almost evenly in the final period so Monroe held on for the win.

Justin Burns led Monroe with 24 points, Jaquan Maddox put in 10 and Nehemiah Tinch added nine.

Monroe freshman Kie’Aundria Acree scored 37 points to lead Monroe’s rout of the Lady Blue Devils. She also pulled nine rebounds, handed out seven assists and took four steals. Taylor Mckinzy scored 23 and Ciarra Lunsford scored 17 with 14 rebounds, seven assists, and seven steals.

Monroe will host Thomasville Friday night in another region contest.

Lee County wins at VeteransKATHLEEN — The No. 8-ranked Lee County Tojans (17-3) took a huge region victory on the road at Veterans High School Tuesday night, edging the War Hawks 70-67. The win over Columbuskeeps the Trojans in first place in the region standings.

Sophomore Torren Williams led the Trojans with 18 points, five rebounds, three steals, and three assists. Trecori Green scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Josiah Parker put in 15 points with eight rebounds and seven assists.

The Trojans will take to the road again Friday night when they travel to Thomasville to take on Thomas County Central.

Westover beats Tift CountyTIFTON — The Westover Patriots won their eighth game in a row Tuesday night in Tifton, beating the Tift County Blue Devils 40-33. The Patriots are now 11-7 on the season. Tift County fell to 9-9.

Bryson Carter scored 12 points to lead the Patriots, Anthony Milton put in eight and Trevion Wheeler added seven.

Westover will travel to Bainbridge for a region contest Friday night.

Joe Whitfield/Sports EditorJoeWhitfield[email protected]