Heritage girls ready for state tournament return
After missing the state playoffs completely in a rebuilding year a season ago, the Heritage Lady Generals are back in the postseason and are set to begin the Class AAAA state tournament this week as the No. 3 seed from Region 7.
The first game for the Navy-andRed was slated for Tuesday of this week at Region 6 runner-up Arabia Mountain. Due to newspaper deadlines, results of this game could not be included in today’s edition.
Heritage girls 64, Central 18
After a couple of close games against the Lady Lions in the regular season, the fourth-seeded Lady Generals simply crushed fifth-seeded Central in last Tuesday’s 7-AAAA tournament opener in Boynton. Heritage led 3610 at intermission and pulled away even more in the second half.
Brooke Matherly scored 20 points for fourth-seeded Heritage, including three 3-pointers. Dayonna Perryman had 14 points and Gracie Murray added 10 as eight different players scored for the home team.
Lauren Mock had six points, followed by Riley Kokinda with five, Renee Weldon with four, Katie Coke with three and Kortney McKenzie with two.
Pickens girls 56, Heritage 46
Heritage fell behind the top-seeded Dragonettes at halftime, 29-17, and were unable to overcome the deficit in the second half as they fell in the tournament semifinals on Thursday at Northwest Whitfield High School.
Three players scored in double-figures for Heritage. Perryman put up 15 points, followed by Murray with 14 and McKenzie with 12, who scored all of her points on four 3-pointers. Mock and Matherly were limited to just two points each, while Kokinda added one.
Heritage girls 49, Cedartown 38
The Lady Generals claimed the No. 3 seed out of the region with a solid victory over the Lady Bulldogs Friday afternoon in Tunnel Hill.
Heritage (17-7) led by five points at halftime and added to the lead in each of the last two quarters.
Perryman scored 14 points for the Lady Generals. Murray had 13 points, including an 8 for 8 performance from the free throw line in the final period, while Mock scored 10 points. Matherly had six points on a pair of 3-pointers, while McKenzie and Kokinda each finished with three points.
The LFO Lady Warriors’ soccer team evened its overall record at 2-2 on Wednesday with a 3-0 win over visiting Armuchee in a non-region match.
Emma Leverrett, Evlyn Woody and Bailey Sullivan all found the net for the Red-and-White, while Joanna Matute collected 12 saves in the shutout.
The Warriors fell to the Indians, 4-2, in the nightcap. Heber Sosa-Trejo and Jalen Glover-Perez found the net for LFO (1-2).
Ridgeland girls earn first win
Ragan Wimpee found the net twice, once on an assist from Annabelle Casto, and the Lady Panthers picked up their first win of the 2021 season with a 2-1 road victory at Dade County on Friday.
In the boys’ match, the host Wolverines led 1-0 at halftime, tacked on a second goal in the 43rd minute, and appeared to have a victory all but certain as the clock ticked down to the closing minutes.
But after seven previous shots on goal, Lucas Bautista finally got one past the keeper in the 77th minute and the Panthers would keep the pressure on following the restart.
Sam Dickson, who assisted on Bautista’s goal, would get a shot on net himself a minute later, but seconds later Liam Kenney would take a pass from Matthew Cole and knocked it home for the stunning equalizer in the 79th minute as Ridgeland earned a 2-2 draw.
The Panthers outshot the Wolverines on the night, 12-4. Both Ridgeland teams are now 1-0-1 on the season.