Summer basketball – the girls’ turn

MOULTRIE — Girls’ basketball teams from all over southwest Georgia and beyond converged on Colquitt County High School on Wednesday for two days of summer basketball games against each other. The teams included Albany’s Monroe Golden Tornadoes, the Lee County Lady Trojans, the Mitchell County Lady Eagles, the Pelham Lady Hornets, the Americus-Sumter Lady Panthers as well as the host Lady Packers of Colquitt County and many other schools. West Port of Ocala, Florida, was the school that came the longest distance to compete.

The gymnasium at Colquitt County was divided so three games could take place simultaneously and each game was divided into two 20-minute halves with a two minute break between each half. At points during the day teams had breaks to watch other teams or just rest, but late Wednesday, the Lady Trojans finished one game against Bainbridge and moved directly to another court to take on Americus-Sumter.

While the games are for coaches to see where things stand and on what they need to improve, the girls were also out to win. Lee County fell by just a few points to Bainbridge and looked like they might get blown out by Americus-Sumter. The Lady Panthers opened up with a 10-0 lead to start the game, but the Lady Trojans used a strong second half to overcome the deficit and win going away.

The scariest moment of the afternoon happened late in that game when Lee County’s Jakailyn Poole hit the floor hard diving for a ball going out of bounds. She hit the floor and slid head first into the concrete wall at the end of the court, just below the protective mat. She was taken into the training room by a trainer, but a few moments later she returned to the bench for the remainder of the game.

The Lady Tornadoes battled a really tight game with Coffee County, who won by five points. Monroe had real trouble against the West Port, Florida, school that beat the Golden Tornadoes by more than 20 points. Still, coach Kenneth Atkins liked what he saw.

“We had really good energy today,” Atkins said. “The girls are already stronger than they were last year and we have been working the weight room and other things to get stronger. We are on the right track.”

The same Coffee team knocked off Pelham in another close game, as Pelham Coach Jeray Randall used most of his players to get game experience. At the same time Randall could be heard urging his team to push harder and work stronger as Coffee moved out front.

Mitchell County girls basketball coach Monte Killins was pleased with the effort of his team, but the young Lady Eagles lost two of their three games Wednesday. Six seniors from last year’s 23-6 squad graduated, and two of them are set to play at Albany State in the fall.

The schools will compete again Thursday in Moultrie.

Staff Photo: Joe Whitfield
By Joe Whitfield