The Lovejoy Lady Wildcats were too much for the Veterans Lady Warhawks tonight at the Warhawks’ Nest as Veterans lost 72-53 to the defending AAAAAA State Champions in the GHSA AAAAAA Sweet Sixteen. Both teams went back & forth for a very brief time in the 1st when the game was tied at 4 but afterwards it was mainly Lovejoy the rest of the night.
The Lady Wildcats led 19-6 down the stretch in the first quarter but the Lady Warhawks ended the first on an 8-2 run to trail Lovejoy 21-14 after one. The Lady Wildcats got back up 13 early in the second & never looked back as Veterans remained behind by double digits for almost the rest of the game but showed tremendous fight throughout the night. Lovejoy took a 39-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Lady Wildcats increased their lead to 20+ in the third until the Lady Warhawks found some life down the stretch in the third to cut the gap down some & as the quarter came to an end Lovejoy led Veterans 57-41. The Lady Warhawks cut the gap down to 60-46 in the fourth & almost made a 3-pt field goal to cut the gap down to eleven but were unable to do so.
Ultimately; Lovejoy kept answering & Veterans could not get much closer for the remainder of the game & when the game was over; the Lady Wildcats defeated the Lady Warhawks 72-53.
Bryanna Nelson led Lovejoy in scoring with 24 pts followed by La’Nya Foster with 20 pts & Morgan Bone with 13 pts. The Lady Warhawks were led in scoring by freshman Gabby Minus with 25 pts followed by Des’teyn Seaton with 12 pts.
The Lady Wildcats improved to 24-5 overall & will host Gainesville in the Elite Eight next week while Veterans finished their season at 24-5 overall. The good news for the Lady Warhawks is that they are losing only one player to graduation & that is #20 Trinity Glover.
Elsewhere; the Demonettes of Warner Robins were home playing against the Harris Co Lady Tigers from Hamilton, GA which resulted in a 55-43 WR victory. The first half remained close as the Demonettes led 15-12 after one & 25-22 at the half after both teams each scored 10 pts in the second quarter.
Warner Robins doubled up Harris Co on the scoreboard in the third quarter 10-5 to lead 35-27 heading into the fourth. Both teams found some offensive fire power in the final eight minutes but the Demonettes put the game away by outscoring the Lady Tigers 20-16 to win 55-43 to advance to their second consecutive Elite Eight appearance.
Jada Morgan led Warner Robins in scoring with 14 pts followed by Navean Mack with 13 pts. Ja’Niya Brooks led Harris Co in scoring with 21 pts followed by Allana Coulter with 12 pts.
The Demonettes improved to 26-3 overall & will host the #2 seed out of region 5-AAAAA the Midtown Lady Knights next Tuesday or Wednesday in the State Quarterfinals. The Lady Knights defeated Cartersville 41-30 & Harris Co ended their season at 19-10 overall.
Roughly 40 to 50 miles northwest of Veterans & Warner Robins is where the sixth team in the Sportsmic arsenal was located as the Mary Persons Lady Bulldogs hosted the Liberty Co Lady Panthers in their Sweet Sixteen matchup in AAA. This game was a relatively low scoring contest that resulted in an MP victory 47-43 to advance to the Elite Eight.
Four years ago; the Lady Bulldogs went winless at 0-26 overall & after their season ended in the Spring of 2021; MP went a combined 8-64 in three seasons which is a .111 win % or 1/9th of their games. Two years later…. the Lady Bulldogs win their region & are amongst the last eight teams in AAA sporting a 25-4 overall record & will travel to take on the #3 girls team in the state of Georgia the Hebron Christian Lady Lions next week.
The Lady Lions are currently undefeated at 29-0 overall & are winning by an average of more than 35 pts per game & tonight they defeated Carver of Atlanta 75-23 in their Sweet Sixteen matchup. The Liberty Co Lady Panthers… MP’s Sweet sixteen opponent finished their season at 19-9 overall.
