CLASS A POWER SHOWCASE: Taylor County girls pull away to top Terrell County

ALBANY — The premiere girls matchup of the Class A Power Classic featured a pair of once beaten teams as Terrell County and Taylor County met Wednesday afternoon at the Albany State HPER Gymnasium.

The visiting Lady Vikings rode a gutsy third quarter and played stingy defense throughout the second half to pull off a hard-fought 49-39 victory.

“We just came out flat and unfocused,” Terrell coach Tammye Jenkins-Ware said. “My inside player got into foul trouble, so we had to play some people who were uncomfortable in the position. It was a combination of a few things.”

The Lady Greenwave held a six-point lead with two quarters to play. After both teams were dead-locked at 12 points apiece in the first period, Terrell County started to pull away in the second thanks to junior Jamya McDaniel, who drained four 3-pointers in the first half.

“I think offensively we got pretty good shots off,” Jenkins-Ware said. “Defensively, we just weren’t making our slides. I think we suffered more defensively than offensively, especially in the second half.”

Predictably, the Lady Vikings bounced back to start the second half, going on a 14-7 run to briefly take the lead. The hits would keep coming, after a collision with McDaniel sent junior guard Ticobia Whitting out of the game late in the third quarter.

With one quarter left to play, Taylor had outscored the Lady Greenwave 15-9 in the third and had significant momentum going with eight minutes left.

“She adds a lot,” Jenkins said of Whitting. “We’re young outside of the starting five, and I had a couple of players who normally don’t get much playing time in. I feel like they did well, but offensively, they weren’t that comfortable with the ball.”

From there, senior guard Destiny Mathis took the game into her own hands. Mathis drained two 3-pointers to start the period, helping the Lady Vikings stretch their lead to seven with less than four minutes to go.

Unfortunately for the home team, by the time Whitting returned to the lineup in the third quarter, the well had dried up. Despite forcing twice as many turnovers as they committed, the Lady Greenwave could only score four points in the fourth.

“It’s a combination of both,” Jenkins admitted. “Taylor County is a disciplined team. I’ve known Coach Chatmon for years, and every year he’s going to have a good team. It was a good test for us, to see some things we need to work on while we’re out for the holidays.”

McDaniel led the Lady Greenwave with a game-high 24 points and six rebounds. Destiny Mathis led the Lady Wildcats with 17 points, while Mickelle Greene and Tiara Gibson added 10 points each.

Terrell County fell to 6-2 on the season, while Taylor moved to 7-1.