Tourney time during the holidays
The holiday usually mean a few things: time with family and friends, feasts, bowl games galore and right before the Christmas break: high school basketball tournaments.
As press time was coming around last week, Cedartown and Rockmart were tangled up with teams invited from around the area to participate in the latest addition of the Yellow Jackets’ holiday tourney for both boys and girls teams. Unfortunately neither team got a chance to win the trophy this year, but the Lady Jackets and Lady Bulldogs got a second chance to face each other on the season at the midway point in a consolation round game.
Here’s a rundown of how the teams fared in the tournament:
Lady Jackets top Cedartown in consolation
The Cedartown and Rockmart girl’s basketball squad got to see each other an extra time this year, and this time the Rockmart Lady Jackets came out on top and took third place Game of the Georgia Vinyl and Thread Rockmart Christmas Tournament.
Rockmart jumped out to a big 26-11 halftime lead and never looked back. After another run in the second half, the Lady Jackets won 58-38.
Revenge was definitely on the minds of the Rockmart players. A week prior, the Lady Bulldogs won the rivalry game at CHS 50-45. However, this time around Rockmart was extremely motivated and came out firing on all cylinders. The story of the game for the Lady Jackets was mainly one player: Keyarah Berry.
Berry finished with 40 points in the win. This is the most anybody has scored against the Lady Bulldogs all season. Berry singlehandedly outscored the Cedartown offense in the matchup.
Berry led all scorers with 40 points. Megan Little connected on 4 three pointers, finishing with 14 points. Janaza Hutchins added 3 points and Desiree Williamson finished with 1 in the victory. Rockmart did not spread the ball out too much offensively, but truth be told they did not have to: Keyarah Berry was unstoppable.
As for the Cedartown offense, Qiana Watson put together a nice game with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Before she fouled out, Keke Turner scored 8 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
Tamera Beeman also added 8 points and 8 rebounds, and Kamryn Frazier scored 6 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Freshman Marycille Brumby made a jumpshot in the loss, finishing with 2 points and 6 rebounds.
There is no way around it: this was an ugly loss for Cedartown, and a big win for Rockmart. ]
With that being said, the important part in basketball is how one comes to play after a loss. For the Lady Dawgs, that chance at redemption comes at home on Jan. 4, as they host the Cartersville Lady Canes.
The Lady Jackets are back in action on Thursday against Pepperell for their region opener.
How the boys did?
In the Consolation Championship Game at the Georgia Vinyl and Thread Rockmart Christmas Tournament, the Thomson Bulldogs edged out the Cedartown Bulldogs. The final score was 66-57. Despite keeping it close throughout the first half, Cedartown could not buy a basket in the third period. The Bulldogs of east Georgia outscored the Bulldogs of northwest Georgia heavily in the opening few minutes of the second half, and Cedartown would not be able to close the gap.
Jayden Johnson continued his impressive performances on offense in the tournament with a 15 point, 6 rebound outing. Elijah Pace scored 11 points and grabbed 7 boards. Zah Frazier and MJ Holiday both finished with 8 points, and DJ Frazier added 7 points and 7 rebounds. Additionally, Jeremiah Johnson connected from long-range twice, finishing with 6 points, and Jadon Powell added a layup in the second period, scoring 2.
With the loss, Cedartown fell to 6-5 on the season.
This would make the boys squad finish in 6th Place in the Tournament. In the first round, they lost to Cass 69-62. In the second game, they defeated Bremen in overtime, 59-57, before losing to Thomson in their final matchup before New Year’s.
The Rockmart Yellow Jackets fell to the Cass Colonels in the 3rd Place game of the Georgia Vinyl and Thread Rockmart Christmas Tournament.
In their first game, they barely beat Adairsville, winning 50-48 in a great game. On Friday night, they lost to Furtah Prep 65-57.
Then, on Saturday evening, Cass defeated the Yellow Jackets 81-53. Cass raced out to a sizeable lead early in the game, and despite honorable efforts from Rockmart players, they were not able to stop the
Colonels offense enough to retake the lead. Rockmart’s boys finished 4th in the Tournament.
Logan Maddox contributed to this report.