MORGAN COUNTY
The Morgan County girls’ basketball team is riding a high after going 2-1 last week.
The Lady Dogs started off last Tuesday with a 56-55 victory over Oconee County. They battled the Lady Warriors for four quarters and came away with a win.
Morgan County’s duo of Kenwanna “Kiwi” Lane and Jaden Young led them in points. Lane totaled 19 points with seven assists and three rebounds in the win. Young was the other player in double-digits, notching 16 points with four rebounds, three boards and three steals. Kymora Smith and Destiny Hunter each scored nine points apiece.
“It was a great game,” Morgan County head coach Milfred Franklin said. “The girls played well with an overall team effort. They came out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, which transferred over onto the court through their play during the game.”
The Lady Dogs led Oconee 27-22 at the half but entered the fourth quarter up, 37-36. The final period was back-and-forth, although they were able to come away with a win. It all came down to free throws as Smith went to the line with 5.7 seconds left.
The junior nailed both from the charity stripe to extend Morgan’s lead to 56-52 with under five seconds left. The Lady Warriors drove the length of the court in the final seconds and made a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it wasn’t enough because of Smith’s effort.
However, the Lady Dogs’ momentum didn’t extend over into Friday’s contest at home against a tough Hart County squad. The visiting Lady Dogs upended Morgan 48-28.
The home Lady Dogs only scored two points in the first quarter, which led to their demise. Hart County had a stingy defensive effort and led Morgan 32-13 at the half. The visiting Lady Dogs continued their dominance in the second half and cruised.
“I told them to not allow this game to affect the next one,” Franklin said. “They needed to shake it off and be ready for the next game. Because when you have back-to-back games, you can’t let the previous game dictate how you play the next one.”
Franklin’s squad responded with a 61-44 thumping of rival Putnam County on Saturday. The Lady Dogs’ were led by Young, who totaled 17 points and seven rebounds. They downed the Lady War Eagles in front of a crowd of 2,500 people at home.
“I think it helped a little,” Franklin said of the environment on Saturday. “Overall, I think my girls were able to refocus and regain their purpose of how we want to play. They were able to implement that throughout the game on Saturday (against Putnam).”
Morgan defeated Social Circle 50-23 on Tuesday. The Lady Dogs are now 4-2 overall on the year and will face Eastside on Saturday, followed by North Oconee next Tuesday.
They will then play in a post-Christmas tournament from Dec. 28-30.
According to Franklin, he is ready to see the Lady Dogs start playing their best basketball heading into the next part of their schedule. They will begin region play in January.
“Right now, I am pleased with where we are at based on how we’ve played through now,” Franklin added. “We will have some things that we need to work on and little kinks we need to work out. However, at this point, I am pleased with where we’re at, especially because this is pretty much what I expected our progress should be.”
Morgan will hit the hardwood again on Saturday against Eastside in Covington at 3 p.m.