JCHS To Host Region First Round Friday

The Monticello Lady Hurricanes continued to move up the region standings, playing four games during a five-day period and winning three of them, two in dramatic fashion.

On Tuesday the Hurricane basketball teams welcomed the rivals from up Highway 11, the Social Circle Redskins, to “The Eye” for what was to be the first of four straight region contests for the week.

The Lady Canes struck first, getting out to a 34-23 lead at halftime, being outscored by four in the third quarter to cut the margin to seven, and then playing even basketball the rest of the way to preserve the win, winning by a final score of 64-57.

Freshman Jazmin Maddox led the way with a game high 32 points, junior Selena Harvey also finished in double digits with 12 points. Senior Kinya Thomas and freshman Kamryn Davis added six each, and senior Stevi Davis and sophomore Malayha Thurman contributed three apiece to the scoring. This continued the winning streak, extending it to five games, going into the Lady Canes next game against Lamar County the next day.

The Hurricanes were able to pull out a decisive win in the boys’ game, winning by a final score of 54-40. The game was close at the break, with the Hurricanes only leading the Redskins by a scant three points after a short run by Social closed the gap to 21-18 as the buzzer sounded. They turned in on coming out of the locker room for the second half, outscoring the Redskins 33-22 in the third and fourth quarters of play, and putting the game away.

The Hurricanes were led in scoring by junior Jamarkus Thomas with 21 points, and followed by senior Malik Epps with nine, and Dereon Pennamon with eight. Others in the scoring column were senior Jay Vinson with five, junior Kenyan Davis and sophomore Chance Ross with four apiece, and junior Tayshawn Reeves rounding out the scoring with three.

The next day both squads traveled to Barnesville to take on the Trojans of Lamar County. This was a make-up of a game that was postponed by the winter storm, which necessitated playing the four games over a five-day period.

The Lady Canes had their winning streak broken in the first game, falling to the Lady Trojans by a score of 65-42. The Lady Trojans are one of the better teams in the state, and it showed in the first half of the doubleheader as the Lady Canes were held to just three points in the first quarter, and 15 in the half.

Maddox led the team with 15 points, all in the second half, with Kamryn Davis adding eight of her own.

The boys game was quite the contrast though for the Hurricane faithful, as they were able to come out on top with a 31-point victory, 73-42. The Hurricanes struck quickly, pushing themselves to a 24-10 lead after the first quarter. Chance Ross was the leader of the attack, dropping in 11 of his game high 16 points to push the Canes ahead. The Hurricanes were able to open up to a 21-point margin at the half, before putting the game away with a big third quarter of play.

Thomas was second in scoring on the evening, adding 13 points, Epps and Reeves came away with 10 each, and were followed closely by senior Cameron Lawrence, who finished with seven, and junior Denoyren Head and his six points. Rounding out the scoring for the Hurricanes were juniors Kenyan Davis and Aidon King with four each, and sophomore MJ Maddox with a three pointer off the bench.

After a short one-day break, the teams continued their schedule with a visit to Eatonton for a contest with the War Eagles. The girls were able to pull off a big overtime win to avenge an early season loss in non-region play at the hands of the Lady War Eagles.

In what was a tight game throughout the contest, the Lady Canes were ahead by three at the halftime break, 22-19, and the teams were tied at the end of the third quarter 37-37. The fourth was much of the same, as in a back in forth contest, both teams played even again, and went into the extra period tied at 52.

In overtime, the Cane defense stepped up the heat, and held Putnam to just three points while scoring eight themselves to pull out the win, and move their record to 12-9 going into a big weekend matchup with Greenforest Christian. In the scoring department, Maddox finished with 24 points, followed by Kam Davis with 11 and Thurman with 8.

The boys game was quite the opposite of the girls, with the Hurricanes getting out to an early lead at the end of the first quarter of action, but allowing their opponents from Putnam to score almost at will while having trouble scoring themselves. The final in the boys’ game was 73-50 War Eagles.

Thomas led in scoring with 15 points, while Pennamon added 11 for the Hurricanes.

On Saturday, the Eagles of Greenforest Christian came calling. In the girls’ game, it was a tale of two halves, with the Lady Hurricanes falling behind by 11 in the first half, working around the height and length of the Lady Eagles of Greenforest. Much like “A Tale of Two Cities” though, it was the worst of halves, it was the best of halves as the defensive pressure of the Lady Canes wore down the depleted Greenforest “Trees” and were able to outscore them 22-10 in the second half, taking home an exciting 37-36 victory over the higher ranked team, and securing the third spot in region play.

Maddox again led the girls in scoring, dropping 30 of the team’s 37 points in the victory.

The boys had a tough opponent with the Greenforest boys team, falling 61-34 to the highly ranked Eagles, both state and nationally. The Canes were no match for the length and strength of the Eagles, a school whose only sport offered is basketball.

The next step for both teams is the region playoffs, which will begin at JCHS on Friday with the 7-10 seeds playing. Both the girls and boys teams will be playing next week at Putnam County, the girls on Monday, and the boys Tuesday, opponents yet to be determined.

Come out and support your Hurricanes in their push for the state playoffs!