Edward “Robbie” Kary scored 10 points in the second overtime to lift Jonesboro-Hodge to a thrilling 59-56 victory over Quitman in the Tigers de-facto home opener despite Quitman being listed as the home team. The game was moved from Quitman to J-H to accommodate the large crowd that witnessed the exciting contest. The win evened J-H’s record at 1-1 while Quitman suffered their first loss after starting the year with four straight victories.
The two teams battled to a 41-41 draw at the end of regulation and remained tied at 46 apiece after the first extra frame. Kary, who led J-H with 18 points, then put the Tigers on his back by scoring the first eight Tiger points of the second overtime period on the strength of a lay-up and back to back three pointers on consecutive possessions to give the Tigers a lead they would hold till the end.
Sloppy start! Quitman led 21-19 at the break after both teams committed more turnovers than made baskets. The Wolverines committed 8 turnovers and made only 7 baskets with J-H following suit with 9 turnovers and 8 baskets.
Josh by gosh! Senior Joshua Smith kept Quitman in it early by scoring 11 of the Wolverines 21 points in the first half and ended regulation play with a team high 17 points. As soon as the first overtime period started the lanky forward was forced to exit due to his legs cramping up.
Still plagued with the gimpy legs Smith re-entered late in the overtime period battled through the pain and through sheer determination took a pass at midcourt and thrilled the Quitman crowd by making a driving three pointer at the buzzer to send the game into the second overtime.
Spreading the wealth! Quitman had four players make all but five of their 56 points. Conversely Jonesboro-Hodge whose roster was bolstered by the football players playing their first game of the year had nine contribute valuable points in the game.
JHHS (1-1) 6 13 13 9 5 13 – 59
QHS (4-1) 4 17 9 11 5 10 – 56
JHHS scoring: Kary 18, Malone 8, Andrews 7, Calahan 6, McGuire 6, Tew 5, Joe 4, Nichols 3, Gray 2
QHS scoring: Smith 23, Everett 13, Ponder 9, Williams 7, Manning 2, Carter 2, Pabaya 1
Turnovers: JHHS – 18, QHS – 23
Lady Tigers saddle Quitman with first loss of the year
On the strength of a pesky defensive effort Jonesboro-Hodge won their third straight to improve to 4-1 on the young season by taking down Quitman 58-41. The loss was the first in seven games and ended one of the longest unbeaten strings to start a season in Lady Wolverine history.
After both teams played to a 14-14 draw in the first quarter the Lady Tigers aggressive man-to-man defense started causing major problems for Quitman and led to J-H stretching a 27-19 halftime advantage into the 17 point advantage.
Grounded bombers! In the first six games of the year Quitman averaged taking around 20 three pointers a game, making over half of them often times. With the Lady Tigers staying close to Quitman as soon as they crossed the half court line the Lady Wolverines were never able to get their bread and butter shots off. For the night Quitman made only 3 trey’s on a season low 10 attempts and only one after the first quarter.
Shorthanded success! One would think that to implore such defensive pressure it would take a bevy of players to handle the job. Remarkably though the Lady Tigers dressed only 8 players and played the majority of minutes with an even shorter rotation
Trice as nice! If you thought the shorthanded defensive success was impressive on offense it was only three players that scored all but two of the Lady Tigers 58 points. Chamya Waters led the way with a season high 25 points followed by 15 from Zymea Hoggro and 14 from Xabrianna Jackson.
Leach stands tall! Bethany Leach may be small in stature but her game stood tall for Quitman. The diminutive guard not only sank the only three trey’s Quitman made on the night but constantly drove the lane for easy baskets en-route to a team 21 points, which was one more point than the rest of team collectively scored.
Game changer! Entering the final frame the Lady Wolverines were down 40-31 but gamely fought back through a trapping defensive effort of their own to cause several turnovers and narrow the margin to 43-39. For one of the few times in the game Quitman got a good look at a three that would have cut the lead to one with 4: 44 left to play. The shot bounded away and J-H proceeded to score six straight to open up a safe lead once again.
JHHS (4-1) 14 13 13 18 – 58
QHS (6-1) 14 5 12 10 – 41
JHHS scoring: Waters 25, Z. Hoggro 15, Jackson 14, Andrews 2
QHS scoring: Leach 21, Womack 8, Stewart 7, Deal 5
J-H Girls win two at Lakeview Tourney
Jonesboro-Hodge had four players scored in double figures to impressively down defending Class 2A finalist Red River 71-50 in the Lakeview Tournament. The Lady Tigers followed that up by destroying Class 4A North DeSoto 66-32.
Against Red River, Xabrianna Jackson led the way with 25 points followed by Chamya Waters with 16, Yahzmynne Andrews 14 and Zymea Hoggro 12. J-H turned a 32-32 game at the half into the 19 point rout by outscoring Red River 21-6 in the third and 18-12 in the fourth period.
JHHS (2-1) 15 17 21 18 – 71
RRHS (0-1) 17 15 6 12 – 50
Jackson and Waters scored 24 each in the victory over North DeSoto with Zymea Hoggro pitching in 11. It was over early as J-H raced out to a 24-11 first quarter lead and limited the Lady Griffins to just 21 points the rest of the way.
JHHS (3-1) 24 11 16 15 – 66
NDHS (0-2) 11 7 10 5 – 32
Weston 72 Dodson 28 (Girls)
Dodson made three, 3-pointers in the first quarter of their season and home opener to take an 11-10 lead but Weston allowed only four more baskets the rest of the way to pummel the Lady Panthers by a 72-28 margin. The 28 points sets a new season best for the Weston defense.
Weston broke it open in the second quarter by taking a 24-8 advantage leading to a 34-19 lead at the half. Seven of Briley Peterson’s game high 19 points and six of the twelve scored by Emma Kate McBride led the way with Lauren Maxwell adding five and Mary Catherine Hay four of her six points in the game.
Weston completely dominated the third period to break the game open by scoring 22 and holding Dodson without a basket and only three free throws to go up by a 56-22 advantage. Seven players scored in the third led by Peterson’s five. McBride added four as did Lainee Trosclair, who ended the night with a season best nine points.
Maxwell also chipped in with the last of her 11 points on her third, 3-pointer of the game while Jacie Ledford (4 pts.), Lakerria Austin (4 pts.) and Mallory Tolar (4 pts.) all made a basket in the pivotal period.
Mary Beth Bond and Cameron Rushing’s basket rounded out the scoring as Weston had ten players tally for their best overall team scoring contribution of the year. The victory evened Weston’s early season slate at 4-4 and continued the string of winning every game after a loss. Dodson fell to 0-1 on the year.
WHS (4-4) 10 24 22 16 – 72
DHS (0-1) 11 8 3 6 – 28
WHS scoring: Peterson 19, McBride 12, Maxwell 11, Troslclair 9, Hay 6, Tolar 4, Ledford 4, Austin 4, Rushing 2, Bond 2
Dodson 71 Weston 68 (boys)
Dodson finally got to hit the hardwoods after having their first five games cancelled or postponed to a later date due to the Coronavirus but the wait was worth it after taking down Weston 71-68 to win their season and home opener.
Xaiden Hall scored 11 of his team high 23 points in the final frame to keep Weston at bay after the Wolves scored 21 in the fourth to come close overcoming a seven point halftime deficit. Quinton Edwards added 20, Caleb Barton 14 and Beau Canter 10 as the four made nine three pointers on the night and all but two of Dodson’s total points. Caden Potts made the other basket.
Jace Holt scored 13 of his game and career high 31 points to valiantly lead the attempted rally. The Wolves had two more in double figures with Davis Tolar adding 13 that included a pair of three pointers in the third period and Mitchel Mathews chipping in with twelve. Eli McBride scored 6, Cooper Harvey 3, Kaden Shirley 2 and Braden Theriot hit a free throw to round out the scoring for Weston who remained winless on the road after four attempts and fell to 3-5 on the year.
WHS (3-5) 16 14 17 21 – 68
DHS (1-0) 18 19 14 20 – 71
WHS scoring: Holt 31, Tolar 13, Mathews 12, McBride 6, Harvey 3, Shirley 2, Theriot 1
DHS scoring: Hall 23, Edwards 20, Barton 14, Canter 10, Potts 2