BASKETBALL: Lady Wildcats win despite absences

The Lady Cats were without front line players Ryan Burke and Saboyce Shelton due to injury. Parks hopes to have both back Friday when AHS travels to Loganville.
“I just didn’t feel like they could go tonight,” Parks said. “We’ll try again Friday.”

AHS built a 10-point lead after the third quarter but East Jackson rallied to tie the game on a 10-0 run. A basket by Tamaica Morrow gave the lead back to the Lady Wildcats with 4:30 left and a free throw from Aliyah Taylor pushed the lead to three.

The Lady Eagles got as close as 51-50 with 2:35 remaining but would get no closer. AHS held East Jackson scoreless the rest of the way. Key free throw shooting late helped the Lady Wildcats ice the contest. Jasmin Bell was 4-of-4 from the line in the final minue while Tia Carter was 2-of-2. Morrow and Kia Sanford both made free throws.

“I give East Jackson a lot of credit,” Parks said. “They played very hard. Even when they were down they kept fighting back. They made us make mistakes.”

Morrow ended the game with a team-high 21 points. Sanford finished with 19 points, including 11 in the third quarter. Bell, stepped into the point guard role, totaled nine points. Carter and Taylor both had five points.

AHS travels to Loganville Friday (7 p.m.) before hosting Hebron Saturday (1 p.m.)

“Loganville year-in and year-out is a typically sound basketball team,” Parks said. “It will be another good measuring stick for us.”

Saturday’s start game with Hebron was pushed up since they are no junior varsity contests.