Varsity Basketball

Girls – The Lady Patriots did something Friday night they haven’t done all season, they scored more points in each successive quarter they played in their win against Taliaferro Co 58-42.

Jessica Pulliam working under the boards.
 

        OC had three players in double digits against the Leopards.  Sophomore Jessica Pulliam had a career night with 21 points and seven rebounds.  Pulliam stayed busy under the basket most of the night scoring on offensive rebounds or being fed the ball when OC pulled Taliaferro away from the basket. 

        Trenetta Smith had another outstanding evening putting 16 points on the board along with five rebounds and three steals.  Smith’s specialty was the fast break.  When she wasn’t putting in baskets she was getting fouled and providing leadership for the Patriots. 

        Following Smith and Pulliam was Latoria Royal who had 11 points for the game and quick on the fast break going to the line seven times during the game. 

        OC managed only nine points shared between Smith and Pulliam in the first quarter but held Taliaferro to four first quarter points. The Patriots improved in the second quarter with Pulliam putting up seven of the 13 points OC scored.  Royal had four and Itika Howard put up two.  At halftime OC was ahead 22-18. 

        OC put to rest my theory that the goal at the locker room end of the gym is jinxed by scoring 16. Smith, Royal and Pulliam stayed busy scoring for OC but Taliaferro too, stepped up the heat putting in 16 points of their own. 

        The fourth quarter was OC’s best not only for the game but for the season putting in 20 points to cap the game.  Amber Turner and Tanisha Eberheart, who had been subbing all night finally found the basket scoring five and three respectively for OC. 

        It was a well-deserved victory for the Lady Patriots going into the Christmas break.  OC hosts Jefferson on Friday, January 4^th.  Both the JV an varsity will play starting at 4pm for the JV and 7pm for the varsity.

        You can see the game pictures here:  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8801208

 

Boys – The boys, like the girls, scored more points in each successive quarter against Taliaferro Friday night but it was not enough to overcome a 15 point half time deficit losing to the Leopards 71-67.

        Taliaferro started out on fire while the Pat’s couldn’t seem to get anything to fall. Dylan Pulliam had a three as did Clay Ogle who also had a basket.  These two players accounted for all of OC’s eight first quarter points.  The Leopards on the other hand had 20 points in their pocket.  It didn’t look good for the home team.

Three points from Xavier Eberhart.

        The second quarter was only a basket better but the scoring was spread out a little more.  Besides Pulliam and Ogle, Jay Fleming was on the board with four, Xavier Everhart had two, Quen Laguines and one while Jared Culver had a three pointer.  OC went to halftime 15 points down to the Leopards 33-18.

        Head boys basketball coach Tony Derricotte must have taken me seriously when I suggested he work on a Devine remedy on the goal at the locker room end of the gym.  The Pats hit the floor a new, more determined team and were actually scoring well on that end of the court for the second half. 

        OC senior Xavier Eberhart had his best quarter of the night scoring 8 OC points before having to leave with a shoulder injury.  Culver too had a good quarter putting 6 points on the board.  Fleming had one from the foul line and substitute Nathan Mallonee had two for the Pats.  In all OC had 21 third quarter points.  Even though OC was still behind 50-39 they had outscored Taliaferro by nine.

        The fourth quarter was a continuation of the third for OC.  Ogle finally found the range for a couple of three pointers that added to the 11 he scored for the quarter.  Culver got hot at the foul line missing only one out of seven attempts plus a three pointer that gave him ten for the quarter.  Fleming put up four more for OC as well.  Pulliam, who is a starter, hurt his knee about midway through the quarter and didn’t come back. 

        OC outscored Taliaferro 28-21 in the fourth quarter but it wouldn’t be enough with OC losing by four.  Still, it was a great come-from-behind effort on OC’s part.  They played hard and nearly won despite losing Eberhart in the third and Pulliam in the fourth.  It was a good game to watch.

        On the night, Ogle had a season high of 20 points followed by Culver who had 18.  Eberhart had 10, Fleming put up 7, both Laguines and Pulliam had five and Mallonee came off the bench for two. 

        OC hosts Jefferson on Friday, January 4^th.  The JV boys start at 5:30pm and the varsity starts at 8:30pm.

        You can see the game pictures here:   http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8801208

       

 

Varsity Basketball - OC vs Banks Co

Girls – The Lady Patriots hosted the Lady Leopards of Banks Co Tuesday night.  Banks Co came away with the win 65-27 showing why they are 9-1 overall in Region 7-AAA.

Baldwin and Son

        Both teams started out slow in the first quarter.  Banks put 12 on the board followed by OC’s six, all of which came from Trenetta Smith, OC’s leading scorer. 

        Banks really took off in the second quarter putting 26 more points on the board before halftime.  OC scored seven more from Itika Howard and Latoria Royal as well as Smith. 

        The third quarter really hurt OC with only single foul shots going in for Royal and Emily Barnett.  The fourth quarter was OC’s highest scoring with 12.  Smith had five, as did Jennah McElheney and two more from Jessica Pulliam.

        Both Smith and Pulliam had four rebounds each and Royal came in with three. 

        OC plays Taliaferro Co (0-4) this Friday at 6pm in Lexington.

You can see the pictures of both games here:  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8797769

 

Boys – The Patriots lost a close one to Banks County Tuesday night 41-39. OC had several new faces on the bench including Sean Atkinson, Tanner Bowman, Jarrett McElheney, Matt Beyatt, Peyton Carlisle and Jim Beatty. 

Quen Laguines

        Of course, OC’s starters, Dylan Pulliam, Clay Ogle, Quen Laguines, Jay Fleming and team captain Xavier Eberhart lead the way for the Patriots.  Along with OC’s regular starters, Nick Mathews, Derk Jones, Jared Culver and Leonard Collins saw considerable playing time. 

        The game was close from the get-go with OC leading at the end of the first quarter by one 12-11.  Laguines was the man for OC putting in eight of OC’s 12 points.  He had help from Pulliam and Ogle. 

        By halftime OC was behind by four, 26-22.  Ogle took over from Laguines putting in five of OC’s ten second quarter points.  Culver had a three pointer and Fleming, who fought all night under the basket had two.

        The Patriots put ten more on the board in the third with Laguines again leading the way with five followed by Ogle with a three pointer and Fleming with another two.  OC was behind by only one at the start of the fourth 33-32. 

        OC and Banks fought for each and every point right to the final buzzer.  Eberhart finally got started and put five of OC’s seven fourth quarter points on the board.  Ogle had the final two.  OC got the ball with only 2.5 seconds go to but Eberhart’s long half court heave was just short resulting in OC’s one basket loss to the Leopards.

        Besides the scoring Fleming, Laguines and Pulliam all had four rebounds each.  Laguines had a couple of steals, too. 

        OC faces Taliaferro Co (0-4) Friday night at home Friday night at 7:30pm. 

You can see the pictures of both games here.  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8797769

Varsity Basketball - OC vs Oconee

Girls – The Lady Patriots hosted the Oconee Lady Warriors Saturday in a AA vs. AAA match-up.  Oconee came away with the win, which was no surprise, 64-31. 

Itika Howard

        It took a while for OC to get started finishing the first quarter down 16-3.  However, the second quarter saw OC put 11 points on the board to go into halftime 32-11, Oconee. 

        In the third quarter Trenetta Smith started finding the range by scoring 10 of OC’s 11 points.  OC put another nine points up ending the game with 31.

        Smith, once again, was high scorer for OC with 14, on rebound and three steals (perhaps more that I missed).  Amber Turner had eight points on the night followed by Itika Howard with three, Jessica Pulliam and Tanisha Eberheart had two apiece.  Morgan Dunsford had one point from the foul line.  Latoya Royal pulled down five rebounds for OC. 

        OC (1-5) hosts Banks Co (6-1 in AAA) on Tuesday, December 18^th at 6:00pm.

        You can see pictures of both games here:   http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8794689

 

Boys – The OC boys played a close, tough game against Oconee Saturday afternoon but eventually came out on the short end 56-45.  The game however was much closer than the 11 point difference would indicate.

Jay Fleming

        There were changes to the roster with apparently three players leaving the team.  Dr. Darrell Wetherington, OCHS principal said at the game Saturday that head boys basketball coach Tony Derricotte would be opening tryouts again Monday to fill the vacancies and add several new players to the team.  One new player dressed out for the game, Nick Mathews.  Mathews, who plays baseball for OC in the spring (and will be playing baseball for Piedmont College next year), found court time Saturday.

        The game started well enough for ending the quarter behind by only seven, 18-11.  The second quarter was a good one for the Patriots scoring 15 points to Oconee’s three, which gave OC a 26-21 halftime lead. 

        OC stayed close in the third quarter but fell behind at the end going into the fourth behind by six 42-36.  The same can’t-score-a-basket-itis afflicted OC’s shooting from the floor when the scored the fewest points of the game resulting in a 56-45 loss to Oconee. 

        Honest to goodness you’d think that Coach Derricotte, having an extra special relationship with the Good Lord, could get the locker room end of the court fixed so we could score baskets as well as we do on the other end.  Failing that, I know a voodoo woman down near Sparta with a bag of chicken bones that might help.

        All kidding aside, it was if an invisible hand was knocking the ball away from the basket in the third and fourth quarter for OC.  Nothing would fall.

        Xavier Eberhart was OC’s high scorer with 12.  Following Eberhart with eight points each was Quen Laguines and Clay Ogle.  Ogle had two, three pointers in the second quarter.  Jared Culver put six points on the board; Drek Jones and Dylan Pulliam both had a basket.  Mathews scored one, three pointer.  Laguines had 5 rebounds; Eberhart had four with two each by Pulliam and Ogle.  These guys could have more by my mis-counting. 

        Even though OC lost it wasn’t a blowout and the team played well throughout the game.  OC hosts Banks Co Tuesday, December 18^th at 7:30pm.

        You can see pictures of both games here:  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8794689

       

Varsity BasketballGirls – The OC girls traveled to Commerce Tuesday to play the Lady Tigers in a rematch following a Lady Patriot 44-40 victory at home November 27th. This time, however, instead of a four point win OC fell to Commerce by three, 38-35.

Girls – The OC girls traveled to Commerce Tuesday to play the Lady Tigers in a rematch following a Lady Patriot 44-40 victory at home November 27^th.  This time, however, instead of a four point win OC fell to Commerce by three, 38-35.

The Athens Paper wrote, “Oglethorpe County (1-4) was led by Trenetta Smith (14 points), Latoria Royal (11 points) and Itika Howard (six points).” 

The OC girls play again Saturday, December 15^th at home at 4pm. 

Boys – The OC boys played Commerce Tuesday and were defeated 61-31.  The Athens Paper said that Clay Ogle led the way for OC with ten points.

OC travels to Athens Academy Friday to play the Spartans Friday, December 14^th at 7:30pm.  OC hosts Oconee Saturday, December 15^th at 5:30pm.   

Middle School and High School Basketball

Middle School Basketball v St Joe – Girls: The middle school Patriots hosted St. Joseph Thursday afternoon at the middle school.  There was a nice crowd for the event. 

The Lady Patriots, however, fell to St Joe girls 33-19.  But the game was closer than the score indicates as there was only 6 points separating the two teams at the start of the 4^th quarter.  Unfortunately, everything St. Joe threw at the basket in the 4^th quarter seemed to go in and nothing OC put up would go through.

Tipoff

Addison Farmer was top scorer for OC with 6 points followed by Shermiah Baughns with 4.  Alexis Wymbs, Gina Mattox and Destinie Taylor had 2 points each.  Also, Cori Rollins, Courtney Tittle, Brittany Howard, Tori Wiggins, Candice Weaver, Brianna Wood Z’kyia Jewel and Demana Heard all saw playing time against St. Joe. 

You can see the pictures here:  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8781980

Boys:  The middle school boys had a big win over St. Joe 44-14.  In fact, OC held St. Joe to just 3 first half point and it wouldn’t be until the 4:20 mark of the fourth quarter before St. Joe put any more points on the board.  Even with three, three pointers an one plain basket it was too little too late for St. Joe.



Cody Boyd

Zain Foust was high scorer for OC with 9 followed by Cade Overstreet and Jerry Bailey with 8 each.  George Gresham had 5 with Taylor Goettie and Cody Boyd each scoring 4.  Jeffery Glenn Chevas Miller and Jonah McElheney finished the scoring for the Patriots with a basket each.  Matt Wells, Chris Carter, Isaac Hulin and Stacy Taylor all found playing time in OC’s win. 

OC took the lead scoring first and never gave it up.  By quarter OC had 6 in the first, 13 in the second, 9 in the third and 14 in the fourth quarter. 

The middle school Patriots face Athens Christian on Monday, December 10^th at home at 4:30pm. 

You can see the pictures here:  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8781987

Varsity and JV Basketball – OC hosted all four basketball teams from Elberton Friday night.  All four games were losses for OC with the JV girls, 51-23 Elbert; JV boys, 100-30 Elbert; varsity girls, 66-29 Elbert; and varsity boys, 101-44 Elbert.

One has to give a high-five to the Oglethorpe players for displaying a degree of class and character that Elbert lacked in Elbert’s desire to score 100 points in a game.  Moreover, with 3:40 left in the girls varsity game and with the outcome assured, the Elbert coach called a timeout to discuss tactics with his girls.  This begs the question what could the Elbert coach possibly tell his team they didn’t already know while holding a comfortable 35 point lead?

I may be accused of being a whining looser, and had our kids thrown a fit, showed out or had immature tantrums it would be understandable considering they were outclassed on the court.  But to their great credit they didn’t.  We may not win many basketball games but our coaches teach our kids what’s really important in life.  Scoring 100 points on a team that loses by six is one thing, scoring 100 points on a team that loses by 60 shows, what?  Big Whoop.  

OC faces the Commerce Tigers in Commerce Tuesday, December 11th with the girls starting at  6pm.  The boys game is at 7:30pm.

You can see the JV an Varsity Girls pictures here:  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8783750

You can see the JV and Varsity Boys here:  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8783755