Phoenix currently in holiday tourneys
With the resumption of the AAA Region 6 basketball schedule less than a week away, the Sonoraville High School boys and girls clubs are wrapping up 2021 with competition in a couple of different Christmas tournaments around Northwest Georgia.
The boys team, led by head coach Brent Mashburn, began play Tuesday afternoon in the Pickens County Tournament against Southeast Whitfield County (details were not available at press time) and were slated to play three games in three days before they are back into Region play.
The girls, under the guidance of head coach Stephanie Caudell, are at the Carpet Capital Christmas Classic in Dalton and they will also play three games through Thursday in the final outings for 2021.
SONORAVILLE BOYS
The Phoenix will head into this week’s tournament and the New Year looking to start anew as it has been a rough year so far.
The Phoenix came into the season with practically a brand new team and definitely a new starting five and have had some growing pains the first two months of the season. They won their opener at East Forsyth back in mid-November but have not won a game since
They also currently sit in last place in 3A Region 6 with an 0-5 mark, but have played everyone tough with a few games just getting away from them at the end.
They lost to Coahulla Creek by a 49-45 count just over two weeks ago in their closest Region game of the year, but fell behind 15-2 at the outset and then were chasing the Colts the rest of the night, before the visitors got out of The Furnace with the league victory.
Region 6 has looked very strong the first six weeks of the high school season with LaFayette and Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe not only unbeaten in the Region to date, but both entered this week unbeaten period.
LaFayette leads the league with a 6-0 record and the Ramblers began this week with a 9-0 record overall. LFO had the best record in the Region with a 10-0 mark heading into this week, but the Warriors were a half-game behind LaFayette in the standings, standing 5-0 in the Region.
The Phoenix played those teams backto-back in their last games prior to Christmas, falling 66-54 to LFO on Dec. 14 and then losing at LaFayette, 66-50 on Friday, Dec. 17.
Adairsville, which is hosting its own Tiger Christmas Clash this week, is alone in third place in Region 6, standing 4-1 and the Tigers are 5-3 overall after they lost a tough 66-62 decision to Calhoun last Wednesday afternoon in Calhoun.
Murray County is the last team in the league above .500 with a 3-2 mark and
the Indians are another team that has played well in November and December, taking an 8-4 record into this week’s non-region games.
Coahulla Creek and North Murray are in a tie for fifth place in the Region with both squads sitting 2-2 before league action begins next Tuesday evening. The Creek has played the fewest games of anyone in the region, standing just 4-3 to start this week while North Murray has played 12 times and stands 5-7.
Rockmart stands 1-4 in the Region with that one victory a 44-31 victory over the Phoenix nearly three weeks ago in the teams’ league opener. Since that game, the Yellow Jackets have lost four straight Region matchups.
Besides Sonoraville, Ringgold is also winless in the league and the Tigers are 0-6 in the Region.
The Phoenix return to Region 6 activity next week when they go to Murray County Tuesday night and then are at North Murray
next Friday evening.
SONORAVILLE GIRLS
The Lady Phoenix went into the final week of 2021 playing .500 basketball and were just a game below that at 2-3 in the Region 7 standings, which has them in a tie for fifth place with Rockmart.
One of the reasons for each of those records is two close losses to Adairsville with the first coming in the first game of the year and the second happening a couple of weeks ago in the form of a 49-48 league loss to the Tigers.
They began the region schedule the first week of December with a five-point loss to Rockmart, but then beat Coahulla Creek by a point, 41-40, on a free throw by freshman guard Erin Garland in the waning seconds. But three days later, they fell by a point to Adairsville and now have some catching up to do when Region 6 games tip off again.
They also fell to LakeviewFort Oglethorpe, 71-45, in their toughest loss to the year but beat LaFayette, 51-40, before Christmas for their second league win.
Just like on the boys side, through the first three weeks
of Region play, LFO is unbeaten and not just in the league but overall as the Lady Warriors were 11-0 overall and 5-0 to start Region.
Murray County, whom the Lady Phoenix play a week from Friday, is second in the region with a 4-1 record and the Lady Indians are off to a solid 9-3 start overall.
The Ringgold girls basketball team has also played well to this point, standing 10-3 and the Tigers are a half-game behind MC in the Region at 4-2.
Adairsville, on the strength of that nail-biting win over the Phoenix, is 3-2 in the Region to hold down the coveted fourth and final playoff berth while Sonoraville and Rockmart are each 2-3,tied for fifth place, and just a game off the pace.
Both Sonoraville and Rockmart are very much in playoff contention, but will need to win games starting next week to keep their playoff hopes intact.
LaFayette is 2-4 in the Region while Coahulla Creek is 1-4 and North Murray is winless and hold down the last three spots in the Region 6 standings.