Albany Herald

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Throw the ball into A’Miracle Jones and let the 5-foot-7 post player do the rest — that was the game plan Wednesday for the Mitchell County girls basketball team.

And it worked.

Jones scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Lady Eagles to a 54-51 victory against Godby (Fla.) in the Florida-Georgia Shootout girls basketball tournament at Lawton Chiles High School.

“(Jones) was the main reason we won tonight,” Mitchell coach Rosemary Sanders said of her sophomore star. “She just played hard. We run the offense through the post. We just try to feed the ball into the post, and that’s where we get most of our points.”

Shondreka Holton, another 5-7 post player for Mitchell, added 12 points in the win, which snapped a three game losing streak for the Lady Eagles (3-3). Mitchell was down by 11 points at halftime, but Sanders said key defensive stops and rebounding allowed her team to claw back into the game.

“We have been losing some close games,” said Sanders, referring to a 64-62 loss to Calhoun County on Dec. 9 and a 56-52 loss to Randolph-Clay on Dec. 10, “so this was a big win for us.”

The Lady Eagles will try to get back above .500 tonight in the final day of the tournament when they face FAMU at 8:30 p.m.

DOUGHERTY GIRLS 47, RUTLAND 18: The Lady Trojans outscored Rutland 31-6 in the opening half of Wednesday’s game and ran away with the 29-point victory in the opening day of the 11th-annual Great Southern Shootout in Macon.

Quannesha Gatlin and Terrianna Martin had 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Lady Trojans, who improved to 6-1.

“I am extremely happy with our effort,” Dougherty coach Charlene Jackson said. “They had a lot of energy in the first half and executed the system well. That first five really clamped down and did a fantastic job of doing all the things we asked them to do.”

Dougherty’s next opponent in the three-day, 10-team shootout is Macon Central at 3 p.m. today.

EARLY COUNTY GIRLS 34, LINCOLN 29: The Lady Bobcats held Lincoln to nine points in the second half to win Wednesday night in the opening day of the Florida-Georgia Shootout girls basketball tournament at Lawton Chiles High School.

Early County (7-1) was led by Justice Lee, who scored 13 points, and Tynicia McCoy, who had 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

The Lady Bobcats will play again at 1 p.m. today against Leon in Day 2 of the tournament.