COVINGTON, Ga. – Teams from Alcovy High School traveled a few miles down the road to face off against county rival Eastside High School on Saturday.
Action kicked off with the Lady Tigers and the Lady Eagles at 1:30 p.m. Coming off a loss on Tuesday, sophomore forward Ari Carter and the Lady Eagles handled business at home, winning their first game of the season 63-32.
On the men’s side, Alcovy and Eastside squared off in a competitive matchup that saw several lead changes. But it was defending All-Cov News MVP Nick Durham and his backcourt partner Jaqari Smith that put the Tigers over the edge and into the win column with a final score of 49-44.
Second half performance seals first win of season for Lady Eagles
The Lady Eagles were coming off of a decisive loss against Midtown on Tuesday. But that did not stop them from starting off strong, with a trio of three pointers from Carter, Jarilix Riveria and Jailyn Williams.
Contributions from Janae Hutcherson, Shamariah Gibbs and Chasity Maddox kept the Lady Tigers competitive, ending the first quarter trailing 10-17 to the Lady Eagles.
The second quarter was a different story, as the Lady Eagles outscored the Lady Tigers 13-6 to bring the score to 30-16 at the half.
Coming out of the intermission, the Lady Eagles wasted no time adding to their lead, with Oglethorpe commit Morgan Sandema and Carter taking turns making buckets to pad the lead to 43-27 in favor of Eastside.
The offensive onslaught continued into the fourth quarter, with Carter adding eight more points to break the 20-point mark. Ultimately, the Lady Tigers were unable to follow suit, scoring five points in the final quarter to drop the game 63-32.
Carter finished the contest with 23 points, a breakout game for the sophomore upstart. Hutcherson completed the game with 12 points.
Alcovy Lady Tigers head coach Justin Hunter said that this loss fell on the lack of offense produced by the Lady Tigers
“As the score indicates we were held low on the offensive end,” Hunter said. “We didn’t execute how we wanted to on offense.”
Hunter revealed that key player Kendall Banks will miss the remainder of the season due to injury. Despite this, Hunter said he wants to take this game and learn for it to prepare for region play.
“Each game is just preparing you for your region,” Hunter said. “...We just gotta go back, watch the film and see what to improve on.”
On the other end, Lady Eagles head coach Gladys King was pleased to see the performance of her squad, outlining the keys to success.
“Moving the ball around in our offense, going back over our defense… and just not freaking out,” King said. “I talk about playing within ourselves and doing the things that work for us. Not get so excited about the crowd, just relax and let’s play.”
With the win the Lady Eagles improve to 1-2. They play next at home against Rockdale County on Nov. 23. at 6 p.m. Meanwhile, the Lady Tigers fell to 1-2 and will play next at home against Redan on Nov. 19 at 6 p.m.
Durham, Smith lead fourth quarter charge to prevail in back-and-forth game
Both Eastside and Alcovy matched up bucket-for-bucket throughout the first quarter. Key plays from Josiah Johnson from the Eagles and Durham from the Tigers set the tone early, with the Eagles leading 16-12 to end the first quarter.
The second quarter saw the lowest offensive productivity on both sides. But the five-point performance and playmaking of Smith kept the Tigers in business, taking the lead with less than a minute to go in the second quarter. However, a pair of heads-up plays from Johnson gave the Eagles the 23-22 lead in the final seconds of the quarter.
While the third quarter went equal in both ways, the Tigers turned on the jets in the fourth quarter. A crucial technical foul called on Johnson for Eastside allowed Durham to tie the game up at 36-36 with 5:00 to go.
From that point it was all Alcovy, as Durham and Smith led the Tigers on a 10-3 run. Eastside did not give up, as sophomore and new starter Iverson Freeman gave the Eagles some life with four crucial points to keep the game close.
But it was too little, too late as the Tigers closed out the game with a 49-44 win.
Durham finished Saturday’s contest with 25 points, while Smith finished with 16. Johnson led all Eagles scorers with 14, while Gatewood finished with 11.
Eastside head coach Dorian Randolph said the game was lost due to crucial turnovers throughout the game.
Randolph also mentioned that the team needed to find their offensive stride, averaging just 47.3 PPG.
“We’re trying to figure that out,” Randolph said on trying to fix the offense. “It’s game 3 and we’ve got to figure that out, because we’re not scoring enough points.”
On the winning side Alcovy head coach Taylor Jackson knew that Eastside was going to give them a tough game, but also gave credit to his team for getting the job done.
“Just really really proud of our guys being able to find a way,” Jackson said. “In the locker room I told them, ‘Look what happens when you stay the course…’ If you just stay the course and believe in what we’re trying to do when everybody around you says, ‘Do something different, play fast, press up, all that stuff.” Look what happens at the end.”
The win was a special one for Jackson, as he won his 100th game as a head coach. Jackson’s Alcovy squad is now 3-1 and looking to build momentum heading into December.
The Eagles, who are now 1-2, will be back in action on Nov. 22 against Southwest Atlanta Christian at 7:30 p.m.
