Deerfield-Windsor teams sweep Tiftarea

ALBANY — If Jeff Eubanks was nervous, he didn’t show it.

The Deerfield-Windsor girls basketball coach remained calm, cool and collected as his Lady Knights squeaked out a 49-47 victory over Tiftarea Friday night at the W.T. Henry Gymnasium.

The win was a big GISA Region 3-AAA victory for the Lady Knights as it puts them in second place.

“I thought we played great ball at times,” Eubanks said. “Of course, we missed some easy layups. That has kind of been our trademark this year. They went zone on us late and forced problems. I got a little bit nervous.”

The game got off to a fast start for the Lady Knights. They outscored Tiftarea 20-13 in the first quarter. Hannah Mills had six points in the quarter and finished with 10 in the first half.

After a fast-paced but foul-riddled opening quarter, the referees put the whistles away in the second quarter and let the girls play. Both teams struggled offensively, but Deerfield-Windsor managed to outscore the Lady Panthers 8-7 in the quarter and took a 28-20 lead into halftime.

The Lady Knights came out in the third and built a quick 40-26 lead with the help of threes by Patsy Cartee and Lila Lanier. Those threes were followed by a four-point play from Emilee Foy to give Deerfield a 14-point lead. The Lady Panthers answered by going on a 5-0 run that forced Eubanks to call a timeout.

Deerfield maintained a 41-33 lead going into the final quarter.

The teams took a little bit to get the scoring underway in the final quarter with only one field goal in the first four minutes.

A trey by Shaunteria Taylor cut the Deerfield lead to just three with 2:16 left in the game.

Deerfield extended the lead to four, but Tiftarea hung around and made it a two-point game with 25 seconds remaining. After missed free throws, the Lady Panthers had a chance to win on a 3-pointer as time expired, but the shot was just off the mark.

Cartee led all scorers with 12 points. Mills finished with 11. Tiftarea received 10 points from both Taylor and Paulk.

Deerfield-Windsor goes to Dawson today to face Terrell Academy.

“Things are looking good right now,” Eubanks said. “It doesn’t get any easier. We have to go play a tough Terrell Academy team tomorrow.”

Deerfield-Windsor boys 65, Tiftarea 43

The Knights came out a looking little sluggish but shook off a slow start to earn a big victory.

Tiftarea hung around early in the game and held a 15-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. That was as good as it got for the Panthers. After struggling in the first quarter, the Knights found their footing. They scored 26 points in the second quarter while holding the Panthers to just four. Deerfield held a 40-19 lead at the half.

“I thought the second quarter we got some energy going,” Deerfield-Windsor coach Gordy Gruhl said. “We caused some turnovers and when we do that, we play pretty well. We created shots off our defense.”

The Knights outscored Tiftarea by a slim margin to take a 52-30 lead into the final quarter.

Trey Young led Deerfield with 11 points. The Knights had a balance scoring night as Young was one of six scorers with five or more points.

Tyler Lowe, Chandler Matthews and Whit Turner all finished with nine points.

Deerfield-Windsor struggled a bit to open the fourth quarter, scoring just three points in the first four minutes. The Panthers eventually worked the lead down to 13 but the Knights were able to hang on and secure the victory.

Tiftarea’s Mondo West led all scorers with 15 points.

The win makes Deerfield 5-1 in GISA Region 3-AAA play.