Staff Reports

    While the Morgan County High School Lady Dogs got a wake–up call from Elbert County in the first period, they fought back to win the closest contest they’ve had this season.
    The Lady Dogs fell 17–8 to Elbert County but stormed back in the second and outscored Elbert 17 to 4 to take a 25–21 lead at the half before eventually winning the game 48–46. “They came out and scored a quick eight points before we made anything,” said Head Coach Kathy Hubbard. Elbert stormed into Morgan County with a full man–to–man defense that initially stymied the Lady Dogs.
    The Lady Dogs were paced in the game by Andrea Benford’s 20 points and her emerging court leadership on the floor. Benford’s effort was aided by the Lady Dogs aggressive defense that led to steals that led to transition points down low. “We got a lot of steals. They (Elbert) did not adjust soon enough.”
    Tweety Hawkins scored eight in the game and Sade Weaver scored seven.
    Hubbard said she was impressed by the Lady Dogs will in the contest.
    “They didn’t give up. They just kept going until they got back into it.
    The Lady Dogs also defeated Mountain View 57–46 and Monticello 57–35 last week.
    In the Mountain View game the Lady Dogs took an eight point lead early and never looked back. The Lady Dogs led at the half 30–16 and matched Mountain View with 12 points in the third.
    With the game no longer in question, the Lady Dogs scored 15 in the fourth to Mountain Views 18 points.
    Benford led the team in scoring against Mountain View with 17 points. Weaver had 16 points including four 3–point shots and Hawkins had 10.

Staff Reports

    One point.
    After two solid days of wrestling with 13 teams in the mix, one point separated the Morgan County High School Mat Dogs from White County in the annual Morgan County Christmas Classic wrestling tournament. White County won the tournament with 180.5 points to Morgan County’s 179.5.
    Still, given the youth of the team, Head Coach John Robbins said the result was gratifying this early in the season.
    “Our young guys are much better than any we’ve had in the past. They are getting better fast.”
    That, of course, would include a tournament champion win by James Bearden, a sophomore wrestling at 103 pounds. Bearden won the Classic by defeating Banks County’s Mason Patton 8–7 in a thrilling overtime final. “I was particularly proud of Bearden,” said Robbins, who called the overtime win “the most exciting match of the tournament.”
    For the tournament Morgan County had 10 medalist. Along with Bearden (17–5 for the season), Jacob Akins (18–2) finished second at 125 pounds. At 160 pounds freshman Stewart Spence (14¬–10) took second place.
    Other medalists in the tournament include Austin Ross (17–7) who took third place at 215 pounds; Stiara Mathis (22-6) took third at 275 pounds; Kyle Palmer (18–4) took fourth at 140 pounds; Bailey Ross (19–8) took fourth at 189 pounds; Jared Rector (16–7) took fourth at 152 pounds; Nick Simmons (17–11) took fifth at 145 pounds and Carter Shultz (15–12) took sixth place at 135 pounds.
    Top five teams in the Christmas Classic were White County, Morgan County, Oconee County (168 points), Roswell (163.5 points) and  McEachern (163.5 points).

Staff Reports

    So far, so perfect for the Morgan County Middle School boys basketball team.
    The Bullpups took two wins last week, defeating Carver 39–23 and Youth Middle School 42–29 to push its season record to 5–0.
    Despite trailing to Carver 7–6 in the first quarter, the Bullpups found their game in the second quarter and took a commanding 10 point lead into the half by outscoring Carver 12–1 for a 18–8 halftime lead.
    “We were taken by surprise by their speed,” Head Coach Milfred Franklin said.
    The Bullpups were also plagued by costly turnovers early in the game. But they found their game.
    “They just calmed down and got to there usual rhythm,” Franklin said.
    Davon Gibbs led the Bullpups in scoring with 13 points. Trent Hawk had nine points and Tez Mathis had five.
    Against Youth Morgan took a 12–4 lead early. However, Franklin said the effort was flat.
    “The first quarter we did not play well at all. We kind of played down to our competition and that’s something we stress not to do.”
    Morgan took a 18–8 lead at the half and opened the scoring floodgates in the third, popping three 3–pointers and building a commanding 40–20 lead. “Our jumpers really started falling.” Offensively the Bullpups also began recognizing Youth’s defense and started exploiting weakness’ on the corners.
    Gibbs led in scoring with 14, Hawk had 12,  Clayton Gasaway scored six and seventh grader Deshaven Reynolds had four.
    The Bullpups face Loganville at home on Wednesday and travel to Monticello on Friday.

Staff Reports

    The Morgan County Middle School girls basketball team split a two game schedule last week. The Lady Bullpups dropped it’s Wednesday game to Carver Middle School 34–30 but bounced back with a 26–15 win against Youth Middle School on Friday.
    Against Carver, Morgan County started slow with a 13–7 deficit in the first quarter. Carver reeled off another 12 points in the second quarter to Morgan County’s seven to take a commanding 25–14 lead at the half.
    Morgan pressed Carver the entire game but Carver found a way around the pressure. “They were able to break our presses early,” said Head Coach Brian Cousins. In the second half Cousins dropped Morgan back to a half court press that held Carver in check for six points, matching Morgan’s total in the third. Down 31–20, the Lady Pups made an impressive run in the fourth, outscoring Carver 10–3 but the effort was four points short.
    Deandra Reed led the Lady Pups in scoring with 16 points.
    Against Youth Middle School Morgan took a 4–2 lead in the first quarter and outscored Youth 9–4 in the second for a 13–6 halftime lead. Youth managed seven points in the third to come within four points of Morgan  (19–15) but the Lady Pups defense completely shut down Youth in the fourth quarter, giving up no points while offensively add seven points to its total.
    Cousins kept the half court pressure on the entire game and also shifted Reed to a low post position on defense. Transition points came easy late in the game off opportune steals. Reed led the Lady Pups in scoring against Youth with nine points and Carvetta Williams had eight points in the win.

Staff Reports

    The Morgan County High School varsity basketball team pushed it’s season record to 3–2 with wins over Mountain View High School and Monticello last week and a loss to Elbert County.
    At Elbert County last Tuesday the Bulldogs took a 60–47 loss that they had a shot at in the third quarter. The Dogs crept back to within five points but couldn’t switch the momentum. Turn–overs and poor foul shooting allowed Elbert to maintain the lead. “It was a five point game five straight trips down the floor and we didn’t get a score,” Head Coach Charlemagne Gibbons said. Elbert took an eight point lead in the first, outscoring the Dogs 19–11 and expanded that to a 12 point lead (38–26) at the half.
    “There were just too many empty possessions. You can’t win like that,” Gibbons said. The Dogs free throw shooting woes continued against Elbert County. Morgan went 3–12 from the free throw line. In the game senior Brian Green maintained a steady scoring pace and lead the Dogs with 15. Nnaji McDaniel added 11 points in the loss.
    Gibbons said the Dogs are searching for defensive leaders to jump start a part of the team’s game that is absent. “We’re not playing any (defense) right now.”