COVINGTON, Ga. — The Eastside Eagles gave the Walnut Grove Warriors all they could handle on Tuesday night. However, the Eagles came up short, falling to the top seed in Region 8-AAAAA 40-35.
The upset bid mainly fell apart in the third quarter.
After only surrendering seven points to Walnut Grove in the entire first half, Eastside was outscored 17-8 in the third frame. That run gave the Warriors a 26-24 advantage.
Head coach Dorrian Randolph highlighted how his team needs to improve on coming out in the second half more aggressive.
“The third quarter is always tough for us,” Randolph said. “When they get away from us on defense, that’s always it. And [Walnut Grove] made their shots, too.”
The biggest shot maker for the Warriors coming out of intermission was their leading scorer, Demyron Williams.
Williams, who finished the contest with 17 points, knocked down three, 3-pointers in the third quarter. That followed only a four-point first half by the senior guard.
Even though the game got away from the Eagles in the third quarter, they never seemed to quit fighting.
Evidence of that came in the closing seconds of the contest.
With just 20.8 seconds remaining, Eastside faced a 37-32 deficit. But that didn’t discourage Kassen Saunders from nailing a 3-pointer to draw the Eagles to within two points.
But it was a case of too little too late.
In the final 30 seconds, Williams went 4-for-4 at the charity stripe to help ice the game for the Warriors.
Afterward, Randolph commended his team’s grit and determination to hang tough with the No. 1 team in their region.
“This game is definitely a lesson for us,” Randolph said. “That’s the team you got to go through to go to state. We proved we can play with them because the first time they got us by 20. So, that’s what we’re going to take from this and build off of that.”
With the loss, Eastside drops to 10-10 overall with a 5-5 region record. Next up for the Eagles is a home date with Johnson High School.
For the Warriors, they traveled to Apalachee on Friday, Feb. 4 for another region contest as well. Walnut Grove will take an 18-4 overall record with it while also being 10-1 in region play.
Lady Warriors 59, Lady Eagles 46
Before the boys game tipped off, the girls teams of Eastside and Walnut Grove had an intense matchup. After leading by as many as 20 points, the Lady Warriors came out on top with a 59-46 victory over the Lady Eagles.
The first quarter featured both teams going back and forth, but it ended with Walnut Grove pulling away to a 20-11 lead.
Its lead grew 39-19 once halftime arrived.
Even so, Eastside never seemed to quit.
Slowly and surely in the second half, the Lady Eagles trimmed the lead. Once the third quarter ended, they trailed by 16 points.
During the fourth quarter, Eastside trimmed the deficit to single digits, but it seemed to run out of gas down the stretch.
Walnut Grove solidified its lead and came away with the win.
The Lady Eagles were led by senior Lizzie Teasley who tallied 17 points alongside Jailyn Williams recording nine points and Jazmine Flournoy finished with eight.
