HOOPS ROUNDUP: East Laurens splits region openers; West Lauren girls get second-straight region win at Howard

A number of key players involved in their runs to last year’s Final Four have moved on, but the East Laurens Falcons are proving early in a new basketball season that the themes underlying their recent tradition of success haven’t graduated. 

Quality starts for their two squads, both led by a new core, have included a lot of the same hallmarks: For the Lady Falcons, dedicated defense and a strong presence in the paint, and for the East Laurens boys, a fast-paced style emphasizing open-court speed and the length of multiple rangy slashers. 

All were visible once again as they took to the home hardwood for a second time Tuesday in a set of region 2-High A openers against Southwest Macon. 

The Lady Falcons ran away with a third win to add to their once-beaten record by a final of 66-29. A top-ranked Patriot boys squad was a bit too potent for the Eastside boys, who kept it competitive, but fell 70-59. 

Besides a rough shooting night in their lone loss to Tattnall County the previous Friday, the East Laurens girls (3-1) have dominated the three opponents they’ve beaten in many of the same ways they did last year.

Defensive fundamentals, for a lineup including several familiar names and some brand new ones, remain the basis of their attack on both ends. And though the Lady Falcons scarcely had to use anything resembling full-court pressure in the Tuesday-nighter, which was out of hand in a hurry, a good many of their scoring opportunities still resulted from forcing turnovers. 

Plenty more relied on the play of forward Deanna Lowther, who was a mismatch on offense and the boards both directions. 

Southwest had no answer for her alert cuts off the ball, and drives that found some good looks on it, that went along with second-chance opportunities to produce 18 points. 

Juniors Zahmaria Robinson, DeAndrea Lowther and Miyah Smith, along with senior Jameria Bing, are among the returning players who’ll be relied on to step into some larger roles in the rotation, where last season’s trio of seniors leave behind two big sets of shoes at the guard positions, and one at power forward. 

Early performances have made clear that fulfilling the defensive portion of those duties is of no concern. 

Replacing the points – over 41 of their 62 per game last season tied up between twin guards McKayela and Brenda Tanner and power forward Jayla Givens – figured to be more of a question mark. 

Tuesday, it was a couple of freshmen who offered a welcome spark on the offensive end: Garyunna Mitchell poured in the shots to lead the team in scoring with 27 points and Alasia Wiggins knocked down all three of East’s made 3-pointers for the balance of her nine. 

It was the first of those triples that capped off a big first quarter to send the Lady Falcons into the second eight minutes with their first double-digit lead, 16-5. And they’d lock down the defensive end to outscore Southwest 17-2 the rest of the way to halftime to put the game firmly in hand. 

Though the now-graduated Rashund Washington Jr. and Ty Snead routinely held their own from deep, last year’s East Laurens boys team was known much more for its offense inside the arc than beyond it. 

Scoring from 2-point range remains the strongest point for its new-look lineup, though this one has shown less of a preference for pulling the trigger from deep. 

Through four games, the Falcons have attempted only 35 shots from outside, and made only 11. 

Their 2-for-12 clip in that department Tuesday wasn’t sufficient to hang with the highly-rated Patriots, who hit on a decent 26 percent to stay slightly ahead, although East Laurens did out-perform its guests at the foul line and on the glass to keep the game close all the way through. 

The Falcons, co-led by the 18 points each of Zion Dixon and Jeremiah Rozier along with a solid 14 from Skyler Snead, made their free-throw opportunities count by knocking down 15 out of 18 at the line. 

But there wasn’t enough scoring to offset a count of 24 turnovers, combined with other empty possessions that were too numerous to give them a chance to catch Southwest after the Patriots used a big third quarter to reopen a double-digit lead from the first half that East Laurens had narrowed back to a manageable number by the break. 

Both Dixon and Rozier knocked down 3s in the fourth to return the Falcons from 10-point gaps into striking distance. 

Snead took the Falcons’ lead in rebounds with nine, and assisted three baskets. 

Southwest’s C.J. Howard and Alex Butts both caught fire from long-range at points over the course of the night. The pair of shooters combined to score the Patriots’ first 12 points on a streak of four consecutive triples after a lengthy drought to open the game. 

Both teams were slow getting warmed up, but things picked up in a hurry once Patriot head coach Monquencio Hardnett drew a technical foul and was suspended to the bench in a heated exchange with one of the game’s officials (who would T up a Southwest player over some post-play chatter later in the half) following a several-minute scoreless stretch to open the contest. 

East Laurens reciprocated the bumpy start offensively, putting in just a pair of field goals during the first three minutes and change, then adding the technical free throws before Howard drilled a stepback to get the Patriots on the board. 

He answered a Falcon basket with another from the right wing, then Butts nailed one from the corner to give Southwest a sudden 9-8 advantage. 

East Laurens cashed in a turnover to go back up by one, but Howard hit bullseye once again the next time down, and the Pats were on top for good. 

The Falcons, pressing tempo back in the other direction, got things moving and shots falling to keep up in the early going. 

Southwest moved ahead by 10 for the first time with a Butts 3 at four to go in the second, but East was able to cut the number back to five by the final minute, and it was anybody’s ballgame going to the half. 

West Laurens girls 56, Howard 30

Brooklyn Jackson led scorers with 24 points as the Lady Raiders (2-3 overall) made it back-to-back wins in Macon after racing out to a 10-0 lead in the first three minutes, and maintaining firm control from there. 

Maddie Ridgway added nine and Demmie Moss eight to the scoring tally. 

Howard 59, West Laurens boys 46

Too many Huskies got a paw on shots by Raider guards in the middle, as some key mid-game possessions sputtered and Howard began to run away with a growing lead. West Laurens outscored the Huskies by nine in the fourth quarter, but trailed by 22 at the start of it. 

The return of Shannon Adkins (who led the way with 12 points) to the frontcourt was welcome, but the Raiders weren’t able to establish any other consistent scoring threat as Kingston O’Neal added nine points, and Brandon Stephens seven. 

Northeast Macon 67, Dublin girls 45

Six 3-pointers helped the Lady Irish overcome a slow start. They they trailed 8-0 early before rebounding to tie the score at 22 by halftime, but fell too far behind in a less fortuitous second half. 

Keasia Jackson scored 13 and grabbed 21 of the team’s 44 rebounds for a double-double. Khalil Maddox added 12. 

Northeast 55, Dublin boys 47

The Raiders staged a 13-0 run in the first half to take over the game. Dublin, led by Patrick Caldwell’s 12 points and 19 rebounds, attempted to reverse the course, but couldn’t put enough heat on the Raiders in a short second-half rally. 

Chris Dixon added 11 to the scoring count.  

Next… 

East Laurens goes to Macon to match up with an unbeaten (girls) and once-beaten (boys) ACE Charter on Friday. 

Southwest’s early-season swing into the southern half of the region continues with a visit from Dublin, which will serve as a rematch (though for a much different-looking Irish squad) of the region championship game.  

It’ll be an early tip (5 p.m.) for West Laurens as its teams return home to continue region 4-AAA action Friday against Aquinas. 

Trinity also finishes up its homestand, begun with a pair of wins on Monday, in a 6 p.m. start against Tattnall Square. 

Dublin and West Laurens collide in Dexter at 4 p.m., and East Laurens plays host to Treutlen beginning at 5, on Saturday afternoon.