Jackets look for gold in tournament play
Good news abounded for Rockmart basketball fans late last week as the Jackets and Lady Jackets both headed to the 7-AA tournament championship games at press time on Saturday evening.
They’d come off big wins in both the final regular season games and their games in semifinal play on Friday, especially the boys.
Rockmart took a 53-51 overtime win over Model to advance to the championship against Chattooga over the weekend, though it wasn’t without a dramatic finish.
The Model boys’ basketball team owned a sixpoint lead early in the fourth period, but Rockmart battled back and eventually came away with a 53-51 overtime win in the semifinals of the Region 7-AA tournament.
Model’s Jabari Burge hit a basket to give the Blue Devils (12-13) a quick 47-45 lead in overtime, but Rockmart responded with Juke Boozer and Tyler Rowland hitting back-to-back buckets to give Rockmart a 49-47 lead. Four key free throws made by Sam Depew and Ty Floyd sealed the win for the Jackets.
Depew scored 19 points including three 3-pointers to lead the Yellow Jackets (16-8), Rowland finished with 10 points and was 5 of 6 from the free throw line, and Boozer and Floyd each scored nine points.
Meanwhile, the Lady Jackets took a big win of their own in the semifinal of the region tournament over the Lady Warriors.
Keyarah Berry nearly single-handedly defeated Gordon Central as she racked up 42 points in a 59-53 win at home to send the Rockmart girls’ basketball team to the championship game.
The second-seeded Lady Jackets (16-7) faced No. 5 seed Chattooga in the final game of the tournament after press time.
Berry was also 12 of 18 from the free throw line, and she sank two 3-pointers.
If the boys and girls win, they would be able to host back-to-back first round playoff games for the second season in a row with region championships under their belts.
Check back online early this week for more on how the team did over the weekend, and who they’ll be hosting for the Class AA playoffs.