Lady Indians basketball looking good late in the season

The Lumpkin County varsity girls basketball team improved to 13-8 overall and 4-5 in Region 7-AAA action, putting the team in a tie for fourth place in the region standings, when the Lady Indians bounced back from a close loss to East Hall to start the week with a two-game win streak against Fannin and White counties to end the week.
The Lady Indians’ busy three-game week began with Lumpkin traveling to East Hall to take on the Lady Vikings at Valhalla on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
Despite several chances late in the game to take the lead, the Lady Indians weren’t able to find the right shot in the final minutes of the contest to pull out a victory and fell to the Lady Vikings for the second time this season by a final score of 39-37.
Freshmen Kate Jackson and Lexi Pierce led the offensive charge for the Lady Indians in the loss. Jackson finished the game with 17 points and Pierce contributed nine points.
Junior guard Isabel Davenport was held in check for the majority of the game by the East Hall defense, but was still able to add seven points in the defeat.
The loss dropped the Lady Indians’ overall record to 11-8 and their region record to 3-5.
The Lady Indians looked to bounce back from the loss to East Hall when they hosted the Fannin County Lady Rebels for a conference matchup at the Longhouse at the LCHS gymnasium on Friday, Jan. 17.
Lumpkin got off to a hot start and outscored the Lady Rebels 16-8 in the first quarter to take an early advantage. Fannin County edged out the Lady Indians 10-9 in the second quarter, but Lumpkin still held on to a 25-18 advantage at halftime.
Things went south for the Lady Indians in the third quarter, as the Lady Rebels found their rhythm and went on a 21-13 run. The result of the dismal quarter for the Lady Indians was a 39-38 lead for Fannin County going into the final quarter of play.
However, the Lady Indians turned things around in the fourth quarter and outscored the Lady Rebels 15-8 to capture a 53-47 victory.
“We squandered the lead and then had to comeback,” said LCHS head girls basketball coach David Dowse. “I don’t know that we had been in that situation all season, so to be down 47-40 late in the game and for the girls to battle back to earn the victory was really big for us. We’re hoping that this win will kind of catapult us through the remainder of the season and into the region tournament.”
Davenport led the team with a dominant 26-point performance. Pierce contributed 14 points, Madisyn Echols added six points and Jackson finished with four points.
The win improved the Lady Indians’ overall record to 12-8 and their region record to 4-5.
The following day the Lady Indians kept the good times rolling when they defeated the White County Lady Warriors in a non conference game at the Longhouse on Saturday, Jan. 18.
Lumpkin built an 11-4 lead over White County in the first quarter before the Lady Warriors chipped away at the lead. By the end of the quarter Lumpkin still held a 13-6 advantage, but the Lady Warriors had stolen the momentum.
That momentum shift led to White County going on a 10-5 run in the second quarter which cut the Lady Indians’ lead to 18-16 at halftime.
Davenport put the team on her shoulders in the second half and dropped 17 second half points on the Lady Warriors to help Lumpkin outscore White County 13-11 in the third and 22-8 in the fourth. While Davenport heated up offensively, the Lady Indians’ defense tightened the screws on the Lady Warriors and made life as difficult as possible on both sides of the court.
The end result was a decisive 53-35 victory for the Lady Indians.
Davenport, who scored just two points in the first half, finished the game as Lumpkin’s top scorer with 19 points. The sensational second half by the junior guard put her just five points away from reaching the 1,000-point mark for her career.
Freshmen Jackson and Pierce continued their stellar seasons with 12 points apiece and Makenzie Caldwell finished the game with eight points.
The victory improved the Lady Indians’ overall record to 13-8 with three regular season games remaining before the Region 7-AAA tournament.
At press time, the Lady Indians were set to host Greater Atlanta Christian at the Longhouse for an all-important Region 7-AAA matchup on Tuesday, Jan. 21. No official results were available.
The LCHS varsity girls basketball team will take to the hardwood again this Friday, Jan. 24, when they travel to Dawson County to battle it out with their neighboring region rival for their penultimate game of the 2019-2020 season. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m.