VALDOSTA — Randolph-Clay’s boys won again — for the 58th straight time — and the girls teams from Wilkinson County and Terrell County also gave performances that marked them as state contenders, while McIntosh County Academy went to overtime to win an 84-82 thriller over Wilkinson in the Class A south sectionals Friday at The Complex.

Today, in the boys quarterfinals, Terrell County plays Calvary at 6 p.m. and Randolph-Clay plays McIntosh County Academy at 9 p.m. In the girls’ quarterfinals, Randolph-Clay plays Calhoun County at 4:30 p.m., while Terrell faces Wilkinson at 7:30 p.m. (in a battle of Class A’s top two teams). The quarterfinal games follow Valdosta State’s basketball games, which begin at noon.



Wilkinson County girls 59, Savannah Country Day 38

Class A No. 1 Wilkinson County’s size, depth, athleticism and full-court press proved to be too much for No. 4 Savannah Country Day on Friday. Wilkinson played like a 28-1 team in beating a solid SCD team 59-38.

Keterah Boyd scored 21 points and dominated the boards, and teammates Allegra Grimes and Tegra Hillman added 10 points apiece for the Lady Warriors.

Savannah Country Day kept it close the entire first half, trading baskets with Wilkinson most of the way. The Lady Hornets have a reputation for playing fundamentally-sound basketball, and their defense kept them in the game. The Lady Warriors led just 12-10 after one quarter.

In the second quarter, Wilkinson went to a full-court press, and Country Day had trouble all period with it, turning the ball over several times. But Savannah Country Day’s defense also kept Wilkinson off the board. Each team had just one point in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the period. Wilkinson led 24-21 at halftime.

Near the end of the first half, the Lady Warriors started getting the ball inside to center Keterah Boyd. The lineman-sized Boyd had six points late in the half. But in the second half, she began to dominate.

Boyd scored the first eight points of the third quarter. That put Wilkinson up 30-21, and gave the Lady Warriors their first comfortable lead of the game. Boyd scored 10 points in the period, and Wilkinson led 43-29 going into the final period.

Savannah Country Day scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to cut its deficit to nine, 43-34, but that was as close as they’d get. Down the stretch, Wilkinson went on a 14-2 run, which gave them their biggest lead of the game, 21 points, and sealed the outcome.

Offensively, most of what Savannah Country Day got, they got from center Haley Reese. Reese scored 23 of the Lady Hornets’ 38 points, and the team was at its best when they were able to get the ball inside to her for shots. Natalie Cortes’ six points was the most of any other SCD player.



McIntosh Co. Acad. Boys 84, Wilkinson Co. 82, OT

Midway through the third quarter of Friday’s Class A Sweet 16 matchup between No. 7 McIntosh County Academy and No. 4 Wilkinson County, the Bucs’ Aldrin Palmer had a ball of cotton stuffed up his nose and Pernell Watson had a bandage just below his left eye.

Class A No. 4 Wilkinson County had beaten McIntosh into submission for nearly three quarters, but the Bucs’ toughness and resolve overcame a 16-point third quarter deficit to eliminate the Warriors from the Class A state playoffs, 84-82 in overtime.

“I try to make them play through the injuries,” Bucs’ head coach Terrance Haywood said. “These are just tough kids. They’re all football players and they bring that same toughness onto the basketball court.”

Trailing 62-47 at the end of the third quarter, McIntosh senior Pernell Watson scored 13 of his game-high 33 points in the final quarter to spark a 12-0 run, giving the Bucs the lead 69-68 with 3:10 to play.

“You’ve got the ball game in hand and then you just don’t play down the stretch,” Warriors head coach Dr. Aaron Geter, Jr., said. “That’s not to take anything from them. They’ve got a good ballclub.”

Wilkinson (28-2) fought back to take a 75-73 lead on Keith Davis’ three with 1:19 to play and then had a chance to win on its final possession. Sophomore Senario Hillman, who led the Warriors with 25 points, drove the lane with five seconds remaining, hung in the air while being fouled and hit a short jumper. Officials waved off the basket and Hillman missed the front end of a 1-and-1, sending the game to overtime.

“I think that’s obvious,” said Geter, Jr., of Hillman’s basket that was waved off. “It’s a no-brainer. They waved it off, but I don’t know.”

Wilkinson led 80-79 in overtime with just over a minute to play, but the Bucs’ duo of Watson and Dominique Wilson, who combined for 56 points, drained 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to seal the win.



Terrell County girls 69, Seminole County 38

No. 2 Terrell won its game by a convincing 31 points. And really, they could have won by a lot more than that.

Terrell County dominated just about every phase of the game against Seminole, and made their second-round victory seem easy.

This game was practically over shortly after it began. The Lady Green Wave scored 15 of the first 17 points of the game, a precursor of how things would go.

Terrell got a threee-pointer by Courtney Few, a free throw by Antwanette Spencer, a basket by Shankel Allen, then two baskets by Tanae Davis, for a 10-0 lead. Terrell then countered a Seminole basket with a Monshay Thomas jumper and a Davis three-pointer, making it 15-2. The period ended with Terrell leading 20-6.

It was more of the same in the second quarter. Terrell went on a 12-1 run midway through the period, and led by 27, 42-15, at halftime. On the final play of the half, Few rushed the ball upcourt and shot from 40 feet out as the buzzer was sounding. The desperation shot went straight through the hoop for a three-pointer, just another sign that it was Terrell’s night.

If anyone had forgotten during the 15 minutes of halftime that Terrell was dominating the game, the Lady Green Wave quickly reminded them when play resumed. Terrell scored the first 13 points of the third quarter, and took its biggest lead of the game, 55-15, on a Davis three-pointer with 4:14 to go in the quarter.

Terrell coach Tammye Jenkins started substituting in her reserves about that time, or the Lady Green Wave’s margin of victory could have been much worse than it was. The starters took a seat for good early in the fourth quarter.

With the bench players in for Terrell, Seminole was able to shave some points off its deficit. Terrell led 56-21 at the end of three quarters.

Davis began the fourth quarter with two three-pointers and a jumper, leading Terrell on a 10-2 run. The starters left after that, and the Lady Indians proceeded to go on an 11-0 run that made the score slightly more respectable.

Davis put 24 points on the board in barely three periods of play. Allen added 14 for the Lady Green Wave, and Few had 11. Seminole was led by Katrivia Johnson’s seven points, as SCHS also tried to play its entire team. Twelve Seminole players scored.



Randolph-Clay boys 83, Miller County 35

Randolph-Clay’s boys haven’t lost in nearly two years, and the No.1 Red Devils (26-0) were hardly challenged Friday night by Miller, winning by 48. The win was Randolph-Clay’s 58th in a row.

The score was only 19-11 at the end of one period. But in the second period, the Red Devils began their domination. Randolph-Clay outscored Miller 20-6, and took a 39-17 lead into the locker room.

It only got worse for Miller.

Randolph-Clay continued its strong play, and dominated even more in the second half. The Red Devils began the third quarter with a 13-0 run, turning a 22-point lead into a 35-point lead, 52-17. Randolph-Clay scored more points in the third quarter (26) than Miller scored the first three quarters combined (23), and led 65-23 heading into the final quarter.

The Red Devils began the fourth quarter with eight straight points, and extended their lead to as much as 51, 76-25 with 4:44 to play. The reserves played most of the fourth quarter.

Shamaine Dukes scored 29 points for Randolph-Clay. Rashaad Lewis added 14 and Cornelius Price had nine. Mark Freeman led Miller with eight points.

-compiled by Christian Malone and Matt Stewart