By Christian Malone
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA — Valdosta High’s basketball teams dominated the hardwood Friday night, and earned a pair of Region 1-AAAAA wins over Houston County.
The Wildcats routed Houston 86-52, while the Lady Wildcats hammered the Lady Bears 72-31.
Valdosta’s boys never trailed in their game, built a 14-point halftime lead and pulled away in the second half.
“It’s always good to get a region win,” Valdosta head coach Rufus McDuffie said.
With the win, Valdosta’s boys improved to 18-2, and 11-1 in Region 1-AAAAA.
Will Ferrell gave the Wildcats a quick 6-0 lead, draining two 3-pointers in the first 61 seconds of the game. Ferrell was on fire in the first quarter, making three 3-pointers and scoring 13 points. Ferrell outscored the entire Houston team in the first quarter.
Valdosta led 19-10 after one period.
The teams traded baskets for much of the second quarter. But then the Wildcats’ defense held Houston scoreless for the final 3:08 of the period, Jay Rome scored the final five points of the half for Valdosta, and the Wildcats headed to the locker room with a 35-21 lead.
Houston scored the first three points of the third quarter, but Rome responded with a 3-pointer and two free throws. Later in the period, Valdosta went on a 12-1 run, keyed by two 3-pointers and a jumper by Quadry Hall, and the Wildcats led by 24 points, 58-32, heading into the final period.
In the fourth quarter, McDuffie put some of his younger players into the game to give them some playing time. The young guys helped Valdosta further increase its lead.
“I was happy with the way our young guys played,” McDuffie said.
Norman Taylor scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and Clarence Smith added six for the Wildcats. Valdosta had a pair of 7-0 runs in the final period, and increased their lead to as many as 34 points. Smith’s jumper at the buzzer gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the night.
Rome led Valdosta with 21 points. Ferrell scored 15 points and Taylor and Hall had 11 points apiece.
Valdosta girls 72, Houston 31
Valdosta’s girls jumped on Houston early, and never let up, on their way to a 41-point region win.
“Any time you get a region win, it feels really good,” Valdosta head coach E.A. Wilcox said. “That puts us in fourth place right now (in the region).”
In each of the first two quarters, a Valdosta player outscored the entire Houston team. Sierra Foster scored six points in the first quarter, compared to Houston’s five, then Bria Bush got hot in the second quarter, and scored nine points for the Lady Wildcats, compared to Houston’s six.
Valdosta led 17-5 after one period, then outscored the Lady Bears 18-6 in the second period, and headed to the locker room with a 35-11 lead.
“We switched defenses, and we got a lot of steals off that. We pressed, and (that led to) a lot of turnovers,” Wilcox said. “A lot of our points came off the fast break.”
The teams traded baskets for much of the third quarter, which ended with Valdosta leading 50-25. But in the fourth quarter, the Lady Wildcats returned to their dominant ways, outscoring Houston 22-6. At one point in the final period, Valdosta rolled off 17 straight points, and built its lead as high as 45 points.
“I told them that we want to get up and down, we want to run,” Wilcox said. “We did a lot of running.”
Valdosta had balanced scoring Friday night. Nine different players scored for VHS. Laporchia Bridges led the Wildcats with 15 points, while Sierra Foster had 11 points. Bush had nine points and Stormm Phillips and Alisha Crawford added eight points each.
“I saw we had an opportunity for everybody to contribute,” Wilcox said. “They really played big for us. I was happy that I was able to get people in the game and score that usually don’t get a chance to play (a lot).”
With the win, Valdosta improved its record to 14-6, and 6-6 in region play.
Valdosta travels to Crisp County tonight.
