Zach Miles
Sports@covnews.com
COVINGTON, Ga. - The Newton Lady Rams fell short on Friday night’s contest 54-34 against the Archer Lady Tigers at home. The Lady Rams were unable to produce any offense all night long in a game decided by two huge runs from the Lady Tigers.
After two and a half minutes of scoreless basketball to start the game, senior guard Ashanti Wright nailed a three-pointer from the left elbow followed by a layup from Archer forward Maya Jackson. The 3-2 lead with a little over four minutes remaining in the first quarter by the Lady Rams would be the team’s last lead in the game.
A back-and-forth first half was capped off by an 8-0 run by the Lady Tigers, including a three-pointer and running floater down the middle from the junior point guard Cazia Nelson who finished as the team’s leading scorer with 13 points.
The late first-half surge gave the Lady Tigers a 25-14 lead over the Lady Rams heading into the locker room and a surplus of momentum.
Both teams came out of the half a little sluggish until another Lady Tigers run all but wrapped up the victory.
With two and a half minutes left in the third quarter, the Lady Tigers used fast break points to propel into a 15-0 run that extended into the start of the fourth quarter.
Lady Rams head coach Tiffani Johnson urged her team to drive the lane drawing fouls towards the latter half of the game, but it was too little, too late.
All night the Lady Rams struggled to generate much offense, but Wright hit a pair of three-pointers to give her 10 points on the night and the leading scorer for the team.
The Lady Rams also saw tremendous consistency from fellow senior Tijunna Freeman at the free-throw line as she went seven-for-eight earning all seven points from the charity stripe.
The Archer Lady Tigers (10-8, 2-3 Region 8AAAAAAA) snapped a two-game losing streak and are looking to improve in the Hudl Classic against Brookwood on Saturday night.
As for the Newton Lady Rams (11-7, 3-2 Region 8AAAAAAA), the loss drops the team to third place in the region and only one game ahead of the Lady Tigers. The Lady Rams have now lost five of their last eight games and will seek to bounce back on Tuesday as the team will travel to play Grayson.
