Lady Warriors drop two
By Paul Bridges Sports Writer

The Southwest Georgia Academy Lady Warriors' Caitlin Cooper drives down the court during last week's loss against Fullington's Lady Trojans.

The SGA Lady Warriors dropped a couple of heartbreaking games, losing to Fullington in Damascus Tuesday 39-36 and to Tift Area 39-38 Friday. The Warriors had a Jekyll and Hyde type week, playing poorly in a losing effort to Fullington 49-32 but bounced back to play well in a big region game to defeat Tift Area 43-30.

The Lady Warriors fell behind early against Fullington as the Lady Trojans ran out to a 16-6 first quarter lead. The Lady Warriors fought back in the second quarter outscoring Fullington 13-4 to only trail by one point at halftime, 20-19. The game went back and forth the rest of the way. The Lady Trojans hit a shot at the buzzer and led 29-25 after three quarters. SGA outscored Fullington 11-10 in the final quarter but it was not quite enough and the Lady Trojans were able to hang on for the win.

Allison Hutchins was the only Lady Warrior in double figures with 11 points. Kristi Williams added 9, Ashley Tedder 5, Lindsay Buckhalter and Casey Foster 4 each, and Caitlin Cooper 3 points.

In the boys' game, the Warriors could not get on track on offense. The Warriors scored only 14 points in the first half, hitting 2 field goals and 10 free throws. SGA played good defense though and only trailed 9 points at the half, 23-14. Fullington put the game away with a big third quarter. The Trojans outscored SGA 20-9 in the quarter and coasted to an easy 49-32 win.

Michael Fincher provided half of the Warriors offense with 16 points. Drew Bridges added 7, Alex Wilson 3, DJ Simpson and Andrew Stone 2 each, Russ Williams and Jason Dean 1 point each.

SGA traveled to Chula to face Tift Area in region competition. The girls' game was close from start to finish. The Lady Warriors led 8-5 after one quarter but Tift came back in the second quarter and the teams went to the locker rooms at halftime tied, 16-16. SGA had chances to pull away in the third quarter but could not get numerous easy shots to fall enabling Tift to lead 31-28 after 3 quarters. Tift led by 3 points with seconds to go in the game. The Lady Warriors got the ball down the court and Allison Hutchins hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to tie the game and send it to overtime. The score board read 39- 39. Then the three blind mice, the three stooges, or as people from Tift call them, OUR refs, conferred at the scorers table and they ruled the shot was not a 3-pointer but a 2-point basket thus giving Tift Area the win 39-38. Call it whatever you want, cheating is what it was.

Allison Hutchins was the leading scorer for SGA with 13 points though she only got credit for 12 of them. Caitlin Cooper added 9, Kristi Williams and Lindsay Buckhalter 6 each, and Ashley Tedder 3 points.

In the boys' game, the Warriors came out clicking on the offensive end and just smothering on the defensive end of the court. SGA ran out to a 19-4 first quarter lead. The Warriors outscored the Panthers 10- 8 in the second quarter to take a 29-12 lead into halftime. Tift cut into SGA's lead at the start of the third quarter but Blake Shepard hit a 3-pointer midway through the quarter that seemed to get the Warriors back rolling again. SGA held a comfortable lead the rest of the game, winning 43-30.

Michael Fincher led a balanced Warrior scoring attack with 10 points. Beau Clenney followed with 9, Russ Williams 8, Alex Wilson 6, Jason Dean 4, Blake Shepard and Drew Bridges 3 points each.

SGA will play Valwood Friday in a region game in Damascus and travel to Cordele to play Crisp in non-region action Saturday.

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