DOWN THE STRETCH
♦ Yellow Jackets help region standing with successful week on the hardwood
With mere days before region basketball tournaments begin, the Rockmart varsity boys’ basketball team is working hard to click at the right time after wrapping up three important wins last week.
After a nail-biting 74-72 win over 7-AA foe Murray County last Tuesday, the Yellow Jackets closed out a rare three-game home stretch over the weekend with a 63-51 win Friday over Haralson County on Senior Night followed by a dominant 78-53 victory against Fannin County on Saturday.
Rockmart entered this week third in the region standings with just two regular season conference games left.
Last Friday’s tilt against the Rebels put the Jackets to the test after the visitors managed to take a sevenpoint lead into halftime and continue to be a pest through the second half before Rockmart was finally able to seal the win.
The Jackets took a 15-9 lead midway through the second period before Haralson County got hot and went on a 16-2 run that propelled the Rebels to a 25-18 advantage going into the locker room.
Rockmart (13-9, 7-3 7-AA) opened the third quarter with a 10-2 run to reclaim the lead and then put together a 12-2 run over 2:28 to go up 40-34 on the way to scoring 26 points in the period. Haralson County got within three of the host team with 2:57 left to play before the Jackets closed the game on a 10-3 run.
Hunter Atkins drained six 3-pointers in the game to lead Rockmart with 20 points. Three of his treys came in the fourth quarter. Tristan Anderson was next with 19 points, nine of which came in the decisive third period, and Cam Ferguson finished with nine points.
Nik Harness led Haralson County with 22 points and went 10-of-11 at the line.
Senior Trent Pace led Rockmart the next day against Fannin County with 18 points, followed by Hunter Atkins with 15 and Anderson with 14.
This week’s matchups begin Friday with Rockmart traveling to North Murray. The Jackets then visit crosscounty rival Cedartown on Friday and host region-leader Model next Tuesday to close out the regular season schedule.
Saturday’s varsity games at Cedartown begin at 5 p.m.
ROCKMART GIRLS
The Lady Jackets were able to celebrate some positivity along with lone senior Brittani Sims last Friday night as the girls hung on for a 40-38 win over Haralson County on Rockmart’s Senior Night.
Going back and forth with the visiting Lady Rebels for the first 16 minutes of the game before going into half with a 19-18 lead, the Lady Jackets
took control in the third quarter and outscored their opponents 7-1 in the third period to take a 2619 lead.
But Haralson County came roaring back to open the final eight minutes with a 7-2 run and get within two of Rockmart. Another Lady Rebels short run kept it a one-possession game with less than two minutes to play before a 7-0 Rockmart run gave the Lady Jackets a 3935 lead with 13 seconds left to play.
Rockmart’s Sky Myers led all scorers with 15 points in the Region 7-AA contest, while teammate
Zori Williams finished with 11, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Haralson’s Bayleigh
Chandler was fouled while attempting a trey with 3.2 seconds left and made all three of her free throws to cut Rockmart’s lead back to one. Myers then made one of her two foul shots with 0.8 on the clock and Williams intercepted a long inbounds by Haralson County as the buzzer sounded.
The Lady Jackets (616, 3-7 7-AA) lost to Fannin County on Saturday, 68-41. They will take on North Murray on the road Friday and then travel to Cedartown for a 5 p.m. tip off Saturday. They close the regular season next Tuesday by hosting Model.