Heritage boys claim No. 3 seed, Heritage girls No. 2 after losing coin flip with Northwest
The Heritage Generals finished the regular season as the No. 3 seed in the Region 6-AAAA standings, but it wasn’t earned without a fight.
Having to face scrappy Ridgeland twice in the last week of the regular season – thanks in part to a makeup game from a postponement earlier in the year – the Generals were beaten on the road last Tuesday, but won on Friday. The Generals (18-7 overall, 8-4 region) were scheduled to open the tournament at 6 p.m. on Tuesday against No. 6 seed Gilmer, the same Bobcats who upset the Generals, 54-52, in Ellijay on Jan. 20.
A win over Gilmer would put the Generals in Thursday’s semifinals against either LaFayette or Pickens and clinch Heritage a spot in the Class AAAA state tournament.
Ridgeland boys 57, Heritage 52
In a tight game from start to finish, Heritage led by one after the first period and held a slim 27-26 lead at intermission.
Ridgeland would pull even to start the fourth period before going on to claim the victory.
Markeith Montgomery shined brightest for the Panthers with 19 points, followed by nine each from Christian Battle and Markeion Jones. Grayson Moore added eight and Fred Norman put up seven in the win.
Cole Wilcox had 17 points to lead Heritage. Tylon Gaines finished with nine and Blake Bryan added eight.
Heritage boys 76, Ridgeland 62
Several times in the second half Friday night, it looked as if the Panthers were about to take the lead from the Generals.
Heritage however, refused to let it happen.
In a game full of important runs, Heritage’s 9-0 spurt late in the third quarter proved to be the decisive one and the Generals picked up the win to claim the tournament’s No. 3 seed.
Ridgeland led 3029 at halftime, but the Generals would use a 12-4 run to forge ahead in the third quarter.
The Panthers would cut the gap down to 43-41 with 2:57 left in the third when the run began. Senior Khari Spearman got things going with a lay-up in transition and junior Joel Martin had four points off the bench to help push the lead back to 11 by the end of the period,
Three fourthquarter 3-pointers by C.J. Shackleford allowed Ridgeland to hang around, but the Panthers would get no closer than nine points the rest of the night.
Bryan and Gaines both hit threes in the fourth for the Generals and a floater in the lane by Corbee Wilson with just under two minutes remaining would cap it off as Heritage pulled away late.
Bryan had 18 points to lead Heritage, followed by Luke Grant with 14, Wilcox with 13 and Gaines with 12.
Shackleford and Battle each had 14 points for Ridgeland. Norman finished with nine and Moore added
eight in the loss.
Heritage girls 68, Ridgeland 37
The state-ranked Lady Generals had little trouble with the shorthanded Lady Panthers last Tuesday.
Sydney Smith paced Heritage with 14 points, followed by Reagan Armour and Emily Wiley with 13.
Brylee Dunn led Ridgeland with 12 points, while Amaya Harrington added nine. The Lady Panthers were without senior standout Sarah Meadows, who missed the game with a knee injury.
Heritage girls 90, Ridgeland 46
The Lady Panthers hung with the Navyand-Red nearly pointfor-point for the first 14 minutes of the game and Ridgeland missed a chance to take the lead with just over three minutes left in the first half.
But the home team would need less than a minute to reel off an 8-1 run and they followed that up with eight unanswered points in the final two minutes of the half to turn a 27-26 nail-biter into a 43-27 cushion at the break.
Heritage would open the second half on an 11-2 run and never looked back as they took control for good. A 3-pointer by senior Alexys Bolden with 3:50 left in the third pushed the Lady Generals’ lead to 30 and they would add to it in the final period.
Smith had 24 points in the win, followed by Shayla Ludy and Ansley Bice with 15 each. Heritage ended the night with 13 3-pointers.
Dunn had 20 points to lead Ridgeland. Haley Sandridge added eight and Hailey Bryant finished with five.
Heritage (23-2, 111) finished in a tie for first place with Northwest Whitfield in the final Region 6-AAAA standings, but lost a coin flip with the Lady Bruins that gave Northwest the top overall seed in the tournament, a bye to the semifinals and an automatic state berth.
The Lady Generals were scheduled to open the tournament at Southeast Whitfield at 7:30 p.m. on Monday against LaFayette. A win would put them into the state tournament and into the semifinals on Thursday.