PUTNAM COUNTY
Gatewood’s Lady Gators held on to break a three-game losing skid on Jan. 30 with a narrow 36-32 region win at home against Westminster Christian Academy (WCA) but fell three nights later 62-42 in another region match against Piedmont Academy in Monticello.
The Gatewood girls regrouped this past Monday, though, crushing Augusta Prep Day 50-15 in Augusta.
“One and O have been kind of our thing the last couple of weeks, but a win is a win, and at this point in the season all you can hope to do is win and move forward,” Gatewood head coach Jordan Walters said after the WCA game.
She singled out freshman Avery Hill, as well as sophomore Kendall Ward, for their strong post-play against the Lady Lions.
“I thought they both did a very good job. They typically come in from the bench and they both came in and played valuable minutes and had very good put-backs and very good rebounds. They did all the things that helped us get the win,” Walters said.
However, while Walters was happy to get back in the win column, she didn’t feel it was a very good game for her team.
“Not a good shooting night, in my opinion. We weren’t getting very good looks and whatever good looks we were getting, we were being hesitant, not confident with our shots,” she said. “There were times we did a good job of being confident going to the rim. And then there were other times we were very hesitant. So no, definitely not our best performance, but at this point a win is all we ask for.”
Unfortunately, that was asking for too much in Monticello, as Gatewood never was able to mount a significant attack against the Lady Cougars.
Piedmont led by just four points after the first quarter, but it was 30-16 in the home team’s favor by halftime. Gatewood managed 26 points in the second half, but the Lady Cougars countered with 32 of their own to reach the 62-42 final and preserve a perfect 4-0 record in region play with just one more in-region game on their schedule.
Meanwhile, Gatewood was left 1-3 in region play when it headed to Augusta for a rematch after beating the non-region Lady Cavs 63-16 in mid-January in Eatonton. The game was never in doubt as the Lady Gators cruised to a dominating 50-15 decision, with many of the JV and non-starters picking up some game experience in the final quarter.
This Tuesday night (after press time), the Gatewood Girls will face WCA again, this time in Watkinsville, where they hope to improve their playoff positioning with another win over the Lady Lions. After that, just one region game remains on the team’s regular season schedule, this Friday at 6 p.m. when they host Brentwood, out of Sandersville.
Gatewood will host the GIAA Region 2 AA playoffs for the girls’ teams the following week, Feb. 13 and 16; however, Westminster will not participate due to an international trip that several players will be taking as a long-planned school event.