AMERICUS —
After a strong start by the Lady Panthers in Tuesday night’s match-up with the Lady Syrupmakers of Cairo, it appeared that Americus-Sumter would have a strong chance of sweeping the boy’s-girl’s doubleheader in Americus. Unfortunately for the Lady Panthers a late game letdown would give the Lady Syrupmakers the win before the Panthers took care of the Syrupmakers in the boy’s match-up to split the games and give each school a victory.
The night could not have started much better for the Lady Panthers, who scored 15 first period points while holding the Lady Syrupmakers to only two points. A big second period by Cairo, however, would make the halftime score 27-20 and the Lady Syrupmakers would take advantage of the close game in the second half. Americus-Sumter would be outscored 29-20 in the final two periods, and as the final buzzer sounded the Lady Syrupmakers began to celebrate their two point comeback victory, 49-47.
Khaler Fletcher had a solid game to lead the Lady Panthers with 16 points, but a lack of execution in several phases of the game led to the tough loss according to Lady Panther head coach Evelyn Wright. “We had 27 turnovers and you aren’t going to beat anybody with 27 turnovers,” Wright said. “We also missed 30 lay-ups, and that determines your game when you can’t make easy baskets.”
After watching the tough loss, the Panthers took the court to face off against the Syrupmakers in the boy’s game. The Panthers also started hot by outscoring Cairo 15-7 in the first period, and Americus-Sumter kept up the strong defensive pressure by only allowing seven points a piece in the second and third periods as they stormed out to a 36-21 lead. Despite giving up 19 points in the final period of play, the strong start enabled the Panthers to put the game on cruise control, and when the game ended Americus-Sumter took an impressive 52-40 win over their Region 1-AAAA opponent.
The young Panthers were led on offense by junior Michael Volley, who scored 19 points to go along with five rebounds and a team-leading four steals. Juwan High added 10 points for the Panthers, and sophomore D.J. Harris had eight points and six rebounds in the victory.
“We got several turnovers and got a lot of easy baskets,” said Panther head coach Michael Coley of the big win. “The defense has gotten where I want it, and those slow starts have gotten better with time and we are executing better,” he added.
On Friday night the Lady Panthers and Panthers will travel to Buena Vista to battle the Lady Eagles and Eagles of Marion County High School in a non-region test. The girl’s game will begin at 6 p.m., with the boy’s game following immediately after.
Local Sports
Related Photos
-
Kahler Fletcher (3) takes a shot against Worth Co. Scott Phillips
-
Michael Volley (23) goes up for a shot against Worth County last week. Volley scored 19 points to lead the Panthers to victory against Cairo on Tuesday night. Scott Phillips
Americus-Sumter splits with Cairo after Lady Syrupmaker comeback
- Local Sports
-
-
Lady Jets’ Portia McCray signs with Lander University
South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets sophomore guard Portia McCrary has signed a letter of intent to play basketball with Lander University, a small public university located in Greenwood, South Carolina, for the 2013–2014 season. Lander University plays in the Peach Belt Conference.
-
Leonard Pope Kids Day provides fun, laughter
On Saturday, June 15 children from across Sumter County descended on the Sumter County Fairgrounds to participate in the 7th Annual Leonard Pope Kid’s Day. Just as he does every year, Pope hosts the event as a way to get kids active by providing fun activities and entertainment for the children at no cost.
-
Marion County standout kicker A.J. Wells commits to Appalachian State
A long recruiting process came to an end on Tuesday for Marion County senior place kicker and punter A.J. Wells. After completing a recent visit to Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Wells had seen all he needed to see to make his college choice. Following his senior year at Marion County this season, Wells will don the black and gold as Mountaineer on the Appalachian State football team.
-
SGTC Lady Jets sign Kadejah Saunders
South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets head basketball coach James Frey signed Kadejah Saunders from Tarpon Springs, Florida to be a member of the South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets 2013–2014 basketball team.
-
Dwight Harris Boys Club promotes active summer time lifestyle
Four years ago, Dwight Harris noticed that many of the area’s local youth were cruising the streets and finding their way into trouble during the summer months between school years. Rather than looking the other way, Harris decided to make a difference by creating a summer time activity for local boys of all ages and races to participate in. In the summer of 2009 he began the Dwight Harris Boys Club of Americus, Inc. as a youth development program to give children a fun activity to keep them off the streets and bridge the local racial gap.
-
GSW's Gahman named PING All-Region
Georgia Southwestern men's golfer Nate Gahman was named to the NCAA Division II PING All-Region Southeast Team on Friday afternoon by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
-
Lady ‘Cane Mollie McGowan earns Academic All-District Cross Country honors
Mollie McGowan, a senior on the Georgia Southwestern women's cross country team, has been named to the 2012-13 Capital One Academic All-District III Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Team.
-
Local runners dominate ‘Loop the Lake’ 5k at Georgia Veterans Park
On Saturday runners from several southern states converged on Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park in Cordele for a run to benefit the GraceWay Recovery Residence in Albany, Georgia. GraceWay is a non-profit, faith-based, long-term substance abuse/addiction treatment community for women, and the ‘Loop the Lake’ run around Lake Blackshear was organized to raise funds for this great cause.
-
Star Racing brings home a win from Englishtown
Sovereign-Star Racing’s Michael Ray claimed his second career victory in his first final round appearance of 2013 at the Toyota NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., this past weekend.
-
Hughes highlights postseason awards with All-State selection
Dillon Hughes made sure that he put an exclamation point on the end of a stellar baseball career at Southland Academy during his senior season. Hughes was recently selected to the 2013 GISA Class AAA All-State Team following a monster year, capping off postseason honors that included three All-Region 3-AAA selections and two Region 3-AAA Honorable Mention selections.
- More Local Sports Headlines
-
