Indians Win Region
The Indians basketball team of Vidalia High School are the Region Champions. The #4 ranked Indians defeated Jeff Davis and Woodville- Tompkins in the Region 2AA Tournament held at VHS last week to claim the title.
Vs. Jeff Davis
Vidalia had a bye as the #1 team in the Region and took on the Yellow Jackets in the semifinals of the tournament.
Jeff Davis took the early lead at 4-0. Jordan Powell put VHS on top board, but it was slow going for the VHS offense early in this game. They trailed 8-3 with 4:04 left in the first quarter. Ty Dalley tipped a ball back in to close it to 8-5, but a free throw from Jacobi Washington and then a three by Siricco Jones and VHS was in the lead, 9-8, with 1:53 left in the quarter. Another three by Jones made it 12-8 VHS, and then Bryson Whited hit a three as VHS pushed their lead to 17– 8. By the end of the first quarter, VHS was on top 17-10.
JD closed it to 17-12 early in the second, but Dalley and Whited made it 21-12. It was 25-16 with 3:30 left in the continued from page
half, but another basket by Powell pushed it to 29-18. Cori Mincey and Powell extended that lead to 35-18 as the Indians were pulling away with one minute left in the half.
At the buzzer the Indians led over the Yellow Jackets 35-20.
VHS quickly pushed the lead to 43-21 in the second half of the game. Powell tipped one in, and then a three by Jones and VHS led 48-23. It was 50-27 at the end of the third quarter.
A three for Dalley and it was 53-29 early in the fourth quarter of the game. VHS pulled away to a 65-35 lead by the one-minute mark of the game and went on to win over JD, 67-42.
Dalley led VHS with 19 points, Whited added 15, Jones and Powell each scored 10 in the win.
Vs. Woodville Championship Whited put the Indians on the board first with a three-pointer, and then it was 5-2 after a good move by Washington. It was a low scoring first quarter as the Indians led 7-6 with just 30 seconds on the clock in the first. At the end of the quarter VHS was leading 8-6 over Woodville. Dalley and Whited pushed that lead to 12-6, and then another three from Whited gave VHS a 15-9 lead. Washington made it 17-9 with 5:15 left in the half. Powell made it 20-9 with a three, and then hit another to make it 25-12 with just a couple of minutes left in the first half. Dalley added a three and at the end of the first half the score was 30-17 with VHS pulling away. With 4:30 left in the third it was 38-23. Jacaree Washington made it 41-24 with 3:16 left in the third with a big three-pointer that forced a timeout by Woodville.
They came out of the timeout and went on a small run to close it to 40-30 with 2:28 left in the third. VHS got some late baskets including a three by Powell to give them a 48-31 lead heading to the fourth.
Woodville kept fighting over the final period, though. With five minutes left it was 50-36. A great pass from Jacobi to Jacaree made it 54-38 with four minutes left, but with 2:40 left they had closed it to a 54-46 game as they hit a couple of big three-pointers.
But the Indians held on to get the win over Woodville, 56-48, to claim the Region Championship.
Leading the way for VHS was Powell with 17 points, Whited added 16, Dalley scored 11, and Jacaree posted 8 in the win.
Head Coach Tommy Dalley said, “I thought we played really well all night. We came out early and knew what we had to do. We wanted this so bad. They saw the pictures of the Region Champions on the wall, and they kept saying they wanted their picture on that wall as well. They got it tonight. Before we went out to play tonight, they all went in there and hit that wall, and it gives me chills knowing that they made that goal. Now it is time to suit up and see what we can do next.” In the first round of the State Playoffs the Indians faced off with Glenn Hills at home on Tuesday of this week after presstime. If they won that game, they will play next on Friday or Saturday of this week.
