AMERICUS —
On Tuesday night the Dougherty County Trojans and Lady Trojans traveled to Americus with a season sweep on their minds. After taking down the Panthers and Lady Panthers back in November, Dougherty would have to settle for only one win in the girl’s game as the Panthers avenged their early season loss with a by 69-61 Region 1-AAAA victory.
The night did not start as planned for Americus-Sumter as the Lady Panthers fell into an early 13-5 hole in the first period of their contest. The Lady Panthers would again come up on the short end of the stick in the second period after being outscored 8-6 to enter the halftime break trailing 21-11.
Americus-Sumter would storm out of the locker room in the third period by outscoring Dougherty 16-5 to claim the lead 27-26 going into the final period. Unfortunately for Americus-Sumter, the Lady Trojans of Dougherty would find their footing again on defense in the final quarter, and they would score just enough points in the final frame to claim a nail-biting 35-34 win and claim the series sweep for the season.
In one of her most dominating performances on the boards this year, Tanyetta Hill pulled down an amazing 18 rebounds and scored four points in the loss. Kayla Bowens and Kahler Fletcher tied for the team lead in points with nine each. De’Kayla Blackshear added six points and A’Dasjah Mercer pulled down nine rebounds and scored four points.
Lady Panther head coach Evelyn Wright was pleased with her team’s halftime adjustments, and she said to be successful on Friday night against Monroe they will need to play that way for all four quarters. “We have to play the defensive game we played against Dougherty in the second half for the whole game on Friday, and we have got to start hitting our free throws.”
After watching the exciting girl’s games, the Panther boys took the court, and they were not letting the Trojans claim the fourth win over Americus-Sumter this season.
The Panthers took command of the game in the first period by outscoring Dougherty 13-11, and they added onto their lead in the second period with a 16-13 run to claim a 29-24 halftime lead.
In the second half the Panthers would use a 17-12 third period to stretch their lead to a comfortable 46-36 margin as the teams entered the final period. Although they were outscored by the Trojans 25-23 in the final period, Americus-Sumter’s huge lead was plenty enough to claim the 69-61 win and avenge their early season loss.
The most impressive part of the victory for Americus-Sumter is that it came without two of their top play-makers in Michael Volley and Xavier Willis. Willis scored nine points in the game before leaving early in the second period with a minor injury. In the absence of the two stars junior Mike Russell stepped up big with 22 points, and Adam King added 12 points and seven rebounds in the win. Sophomore D.J. Harris also had a big night with 11 points to help seal the victory.
Another sophomore had a career night for the Panthers and broke an Americus-Sumter school record in the region victory. Point guard Juwan High stepped up in the win and produced a school-record 14 assists to other Panthers to help lead his team to the victory. High narrowly missed a double-double with eight points scored.
“We played pretty good defense and kept the tempo about where we wanted it the whole game,” said Panther head coach Michael Coley.
Friday night will be a big test to the Panthers and Lady Panthers as they travel to Albany to take on Monroe High School in another tough Region 1-AAAA battle. The girl’s game will begin at 6 p.m. with the boy’s game following immediately after at approximately 7:30 p.m.
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Americus-Sumter sophomore point guard Juwan High (11) dished out a record-setting 14 assists to help the Panthers knock off their Region 1-AAA rival Dougherty County 69-61 on Tuesday night in Americus. Scott Phillips
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