Heritage girls upend Northwest to grab region lead

The Heritage Lady Generals enjoyed a very productive week as they picked up two huge region wins to take over the lead in the 6-AAAA standings.

On Tuesday, the Navyand-red bolted out to a 19-7 lead after one quarter of play and went on to a 61-44 home victory over visiting Gilmer.

Emily Wiley had 24 points for Heritage. Ansley Bice collected 19 points, followed by Haley Phillips with 10 and Reagan Armour with eight. That quartet combined to go 13-of-16 at the free throw line.

Then on Friday, the Lady Generals assumed first place in the region after knocking off previously unbeaten Northwest Whitfield, 48-47, in a big early-season match up in Tunnel Hill.

Trailing by one with the clock ticking down, Heritage got the ball to Armour on the low block and the senior would get the basket to put her team up one with 7.6 seconds left.

Following a Northwest timeout, the Lady Bruins drove the lane and dropped it off to standout Jada Griffin. But Griffin would miss the shot and both teams would scramble for the loose ball as time expired.

Armour finished with a game-high 22 points for the Lady Generals (8-1, 4-0), who led 25-19 at halftime. Wiley had 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Bice scored just five points, but assisted on 10 other baskets. Sydnee St. John had three points, while Gracie Murray added two.

On the boys’ side, it was the Bobcats who had a happy ride home from Boynton after a 54-48 win over the Generals.

Nolan Letzgus had 13 points and Cade Collins added 12 for Heritage in the loss. Brady Hawkins scored eight points. Kobe Mcallister finished with six. Clint Petteys had four points, followed by Caden Snyder with three and Will Allen with two.

However, Heritage rebounded nicely to take down the Bruins on Friday, 74-68, and move to 6-3 overall and 2-2 in region play. Individual statistics were not provided as of press time.