Lady Bobcats, Tigers advance to area championships with road wins

Published 1:00 pm Tuesday, February 8, 2022

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Opp and Straughn headed on the road for area tournament semi-final matchups in girls’ basketball action Monday, and both returned back home with a win.

At the 3A Area 4 Tournament, the second-seed Lady Bobcats (8-10) pulled away for a 53-25 win against Goshen. The third-seed Lady Eagles only trailed 12-11 after one but went cold in the second period. OHS took a 31-14 lead into halftime and cruised to the lopsided win over GHS with a strong second half.

Vanessa Stoudemire paced Opp with 21 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and five steals. Amiya Thompson added eight points and nine rebounds. Cuba Wiggins also notched nine rebounds, while Kyla Rhodes finished with seven rebounds and five steals. Amber Vickers led Goshen with nine points in the loss.

“We started off a little slow but got better. The girls played very hard and shot the ball well tonight. Vanessa is playing some really good basketball for us right now. The great thing is that our girls are very unselfish and play together as a team,” Head Coach Willie Edwards said.

The Lady Bobcats travel to Brundidge and meet top-seed Pike County in the area championship Thursday, Feb. 10 at 6 p.m.

At the 4A Area 2 Tournament, the second-seed Lady Tigers (13-17) edged out a 37-35 win over Ashford and led 8-7 after one period. They built some breathing room for a 19-12 halftime lead. The third-seed Lady Yellow Jackets fought back and closed the deficit down to 27-25 with eight minutes remaining. Both sides scored 12 points in the fourth period.

Melonie Harris led SHS with 15 points and was followed by Ora Hall with 11. Bryleigh McBride added six, while Abbi Hataway had four. Amiyah Lewis and Jakena Curl each had seven points to pace AHS as Madison Decker tallied six.

“I am extremely proud of the girls. This team went through a lot of adversity early this season. They bought in and got better every week. We did a good job of getting an early lead and maintaining the lead. We also adjusted to Ashford, who did a great job of preparing tonight,” Head Coach Bradley Stephens said.

Straughn now prepares for the area title game Thursday, Feb. 10 at top-seed Geneva.