REGION 1-A TOURNAMENT: Mitchell County girls advance into semifinals

DAWSON — An early seven-point deficit was no problem for the Mitchell County High School girls basketball team Wednesday night.

The Lady Eagles used a strong defensive effort to knock Webster County out of the Region 1-A Tournament with a 61-41 win at Terrell County High School.

After giving up the first seven points of the game, Mitchell coach Rosemary Sanders called a timeout that helped stop Webster’s momentum and kick-started her girls.

“We got off to a slow start,” Sanders said. “We came in expecting to beat the team already because we’ve beat them twice. We had a slow start. We didn’t win the way I wanted us to win, but it’s a win.”

Her team responded well going on a 24-10 run the rest of the first half.

Jocilin Moore started the run with a basket to open the second quarter that gave Mitchell the lead. The Lady Eagles led 24-17 at halftime.

“They realized this team could beat us,” Sanders said. “When you recognize that this could be your last game, you face teams that are hungry and teams that don’t want to quit.”

The Mitchell defense pressured Webster into multiple turnovers and capitalized on the fast-break opportunities. Tymara Pace gave Mitchell a double digit lead when she hit back-to-back layups with four minutes left in the third quarter.

Webster, who had just six players, started to wear down late in the third.

The Lady Eagles’ fast-paced offense took advantage of a short bench and led by 15 at the end of three.

The fourth quarter was routine as Mitchell pulled the starters with about two minutes left.

Mitchell’s Jamia Mobley led all scorers with 17 points. She had 14 points in the second half. Pace finished the game with 10 points.

Webster was led by Alicia Parham who dropped 16. Cera Lockett also contributed 10.

Mitchell will face Calhoun County in the semifinals of the region tournament Thursday night at Calhoun County High School in a 4 p.m. game.

Stewart County boys 49, Terrell County 42

The Greenwave hung around for as long as they could but a last-ditch effort to beat Stewart County came up short as they lost in the quarterfinals.

DeTravion Bishop helped Terrell get off to a good start, scoring half of his team’s 12 points in the first quarter, including a shot to beat the buzzer and make the score 12-10.

Terrell’s RyKirus Ross took over in the second quarter. Ross scored eight straight points to open up the quarter including a basket that tied the game at 18.

“It was a hard-fought ball game on both sides,” Terrell County coach John Davis said. “It could have gone either way. I am proud of my kids. They played a heck of a ballgame. They fought to the end and that is all I ask.”

Ross scored again just before halftime to knot the score at 24.

Stewart went on a 9-2 run at the beginning of the second half to stretch the lead to nine points.

By the end of the third quarter, Terrell trailed by seven. The Greenwave gave up numerous second-chance points to Stewart which ended up being their undoing.

Terrell had a chance to get back into the game in the fourth when Stewart went on a four minute drought.

The Greenwave cut the score to 42-40 when Bishop scored six straight points. Terrell failed to get any closer than two points and Stewart’s Corderra Porter put the game away with five points in the final minute and a half.

Randolph-Clay girls 65, Quitman County 52

The Lady Red Devils coasted to an easy victory over Quitman on Wednesday night.

Quitman went down double-digits early in the first quarter before fighting back to cut the score to 29-20 at halftime.

With under two minutes remaining in the game, Quitman cut the score to 63-50, but there was not enough time remaining for a comeback.

Kobi Thornton gave the Lady Red Devils a strong performance on their way to an easy quarterfinal win. The forward had 47 points including 29 in the second half.

Quitman was led by Tyshemia Ceaser who had 23 points. Taquetta Harvey also added 15 points for Quitman.

Randolph-Clay will face the top-seeded Terrell County girls on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Calhoun County.

Quitman County boys 46, Mitchell County 44

The Eagles’ inexperience in tight situations showed Wednesday night.

For most of the game, Mitchell’s defense did its best to minimize the impact of Quitman’s shooters until it mattered most. Quitman used a four-point play by Laquerus Nelson to build a 32-25 lead in the third quarter.

The Eagles eventually cut it to six by the end of the third.

The final quarter was played at a slow pace with both teams looking for an offensive spark. Quitman’s Shahee Billings stepped up for his team scoring 10 points in the quarter. He finished with 13 in the game.

“There was a little nervousness being in that position,” Mitchell County coach Eric Gervin said. “We have not been in that position too many times. They were a little jittery and a little anxious.”

Mitchell tied the game at 39, but Billings hit two big shots down the stretch. With 3.6 seconds left in the game, he hit a floater, drew a foul and hit the foul shot to give his team a three-point lead.

The Eagles were fouled on the ensuing possession. With under one second left on the clock, Armone Burkes hit the first foul shot and intentionally missed the second. The Eagles failed to come up with the rebound and lost 46-44.

Quitman’s Jadarrian Gibbs and Laquerus Nelson both dropped 13 points.

Mitchell was led by Jamarcus Williams who scored 12.