Lady Jackets finish fourth in the region

♦ Rockmart boys come up short of a spot in the state playoffs

Despite some postseason honors and milestones for its players, the Rockmart High School girls’ basketball team ran into some tough times in the Region 6-3A tournament last week at Sonoraville.

The Lady Jackets lost close games to Coahulla Creek and Ringgold to wrap up the tournament and finish as the region’s No. 4 seed in the Class 3A state playoffs, which begin Tuesday. Rockmart’s girls will travel to Dahlonega to take on Region 7-3A champion Lumpkin County in the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Rockmart boys’ team improved their seeding in the tournament with a 59-57 win over Adairsville on Friday, Feb. 12, but came up short in the region tournament last Tuesday, losing to North Murray, 69-57, in the opening round.

The loss brought the Jackets’ season to an end as they finished with a 6-16 record.

The Lady Jackets (17-9) were led into the region tournament by Region 6-3A Girls Player of the Year Keyarah Berry, and Megan Little, who was voted to the all-region team by region coaches. Freshman Analee Morris was named to the all-region second team.

Rockmart’s girls saw their six-game winning streak snapped by Adairsville on Feb. 12 as the Lady Jackets lost 55-53. The loss didn’t hurt Rockmart’s seeding in the tournament, and the girls went on to defend the loss with a 68-46 win over the Lady Tigers in the first round of the region tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Berry led all scorers in the game with 31 points, while Morris added 15.Lexie Childers scored 22 points to lead Adairsville. Makayla Wade added nine for the Lady Tigers.

Berry, who is signed to play for Indiana after graduation, recorded her 1,000th career rebound in the contest, adding to her impressive list of accomplishments while a Lady Jacket. Berry has more than 3,200 points and 500 steals in her career and is Rockmart’s all-time leading scorer.

The win placed Rockmart in the region semifinals to take on No. 2 seed Coahulla Creek last Friday. While the Lady Jackets fought to make it a closer game than their previous two meetings, the Lady Colts still won 73-60 to put Rockmart in the tournament’s consolation finals on Saturday.

Berry finished with a double-double, recording 40 points and 14 rebounds in the loss. Little and Morris each had seven points, with Morris pulling down nine rebounds as well.

Battling for third place against Ringgold, Rockmart knew it was going to be tight as the Lady Jackets had won their other two contests

with the Lady Tigers by close margins.

After jumping out to a 22-9 lead after the first period, Rockmart held a 40-28 advantage at halftime before Ringgold managed to take hold of the momentum and outscore the Lady Jackets 44-32 in the second half.

With the game tied 7272 at the end of regulation, Ringgold kept their advantage going in overtime to win 83-78.