COVINGTON, GA- The Alcovy Tigers lost both the women’s and the men’s basketball games Friday night against their region rival, the Rockdale County Bulldogs. The Lady Tigers fell 74-21 and the Tigers fell 63-54.

Tigers

The closest matchup was during the boys game.

The Tigers found themselves tied at 41 apiece with just three minutes remaining in the game.

Both teams seemed to match one another in a back-and-forth final frame of action, but a 20-point quarter by the Bulldogs sealed the deal.

Afterward, head coach Mack Hardwich pointed to the small things that cost his team in the end.

“We missed too many free throws and turned the ball over too much to win,” Hardwick said. “But we stuck to our game plan well and I was happy about that.”

Be that as it may, the Tigers almost took themselves out of it with a sloppy start that saw them fall down 9-0 to open the game. However, Alcovy continued to chip away and took its first lead of the night with 2:45 remaining in the third quarter.

Leading scorer Ben Hodges as well as strong defensive play by Byron Howard were the main contributors for the Tigers all night. Bobby Smith also assisted in pivotal moments, too.

But down the stretch, the Tigers just couldn’t put anything together consistent to come out on top.

As a result, Alcovy drops to 3-10 on the season and remains winless in region play at 0-2.

Lady Tigers

The Lady Tigers team came in short-handed in their contest on Friday night. Two starters were in COVID-19 protocols and a third player was out with a family emergency. Couple that with a slow start and that spelled trouble for Alcovy.

As the opening quarter waned on, the Bulldogs gradually pulled away. By halftime the score was 43 - 15.

A main factor of the Lady Bulldogs’ dominance was their height towering over Alcovy’s players. Add in Rockdale County’s shooting ability throughout the game and that’s how it pulled away down the stretch.

The Lady Tigers leading scorers Kendall Banks and Tajah Jackson kept the scoring close for as long as they could as the Bulldogs began to pull further away.

For head coach Justin Hunter, the 53-point loss came down to two basics of the game.

“We’ve got to convert layups and we’ve got to do a better job getting back on defense,” Hunter said.

 Even so, Hunter expressed how proud he was of his team given the circumstances coming into the game.

His team is now focused on next week's region game against Evans High School on Jan. 11.