VHS Indians Into Elite 8
The Vidalia High School basketball teams took part in the GHSA State AA Playoffs last week. The Lady Indians traveled to Augusta to take on the Lady Wildcats of Laney High School, while the boys hosted Glenn Hills and Lovett. The Lady Indians saw their season come to an end against a tough Wildcat team, but the boys rolled into the Elite 8 with two wins.
Girls vs. Laney
The Lady Indians were at continued from page
Laney on Wednesday of last week and saw their season come to an end.
Kaliya Walker got the Indians on the board first with a free throw, and Carleigh Wardlaw added a three for a 4-0 lead. Cristal Franklin made it 6-0, but a three from them closed it to 6-3. With just over four minutes to go it was a 10-7 lead for VHS.
The Wildcats went on a run as they took the lead and were on top 16-13 with just under a minute to go. Walker closed it to 16-15, but by the end of the first the score was 21-15 with Laney out in front of the Indians.
In the second quarter the Lady Indians went on a run as they closed the lead to 27-26 after a three pointer by Corianna Warner. Wardlaw tied the game at 27-27 after a free throw with just over two minutes left in the first half.
Hannah Nichols gave VHS the lead at 29-27 with two minutes left. Baskets by Walker and Warner and then a three by Nichols gave VHS a 36-32 lead at the end of the first half of action.
Walker and Warner gave VHS a 40-32 lead early in the third quarter. Laney closed it back down to 42-38, and then it was 42-40 with five minutes left in the third. Laney tied the game at 42-42 and took the lead 44-42 with 4:30 left in the third as the Indians went ice cold from the field.
Wardlaw tied the game at 44-44 with a pair of free throws, and VHS took the lead 46-44 with 2:40 in the third. Laney went back on top and pushed the lead to 53-46 with just over a minute left in the third. At the end of the period Laney had pulled out to a 56-48 lead.
It was 59-50 with six minutes left in the game. Franklin and Wardlaw got shots to fall, but the Wildcats were leading 66-55 with just a few minutes left to play. Laney took the win over the Lady Indians, 75-61.
Wardlaw led VHS with 15 points, Walker added 12, and Warner posted 11 in the loss. The Lady Indians finished their season with a record of 16-12 and won seven in a row toward the end of their regular season.
Boys vs. Glenn Hills
Vidalia hosted the Spartans in the first round of the State Playoffs on Tuesday night. Jacobi Washington got the scoring started with a layup, and then Bryson Whited added a three-pointer for a 5-0 lead. It was 7-4 a couple of minutes into the game, but a basket and free throw from Ty Dalley and a three from Siricco Jones put the Indians up 13-4.
Jones added another three as did Dalley to make it 18-6 with 2:07 left in the first. Antonio Barren made it 20-6, and by the end of the first quarter the Indians were already out to a 29-6 lead.
In the second period Whited added 2 threepointers as VHS pulled away to a 38-9 lead with 4:25 left in the half. With 3:03 left it was 42-13 and by the end of the first half VHS was leading 46-21.
In the third the Spartans got things going as they closed the lead to 46-30. With just over three minutes to go it was 55-32, and Cori Mincey added a basket for a 57-32 lead. Whited added another three for a 64-34 lead and at the end of the third the score was 66-37.
VHS was able to get lots of players in during the fourth with the big lead. Zaqual Stewart hit a couple of three-pointers, Dugan Johnson also added a pair of three’s as VHS ran out to an 85-57 win.
The Indians were led by Dalley with 18 points, Whited added 16, and Jones posted 11.
Boys vs. Lovett
On Saturday VHS hosted the Lions of Lovett in the second round of the State Playoffs. The Indians had to try to contain Christian Anderson from Lovett, a sophomore, who has already signed to play for the Wolverines of Michigan. VHS jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Lovett closed that to 5-4 and went on top 6-5 on a fast break. Whited hit a three from the top of the key to put VHS on top 8-6, and Jones made it 10-6 after good feed in from Konner Owens.
It was 13-9 after a three from Jones and Dalley hit a jumper from 15 feet to give VHS a 15-9 lead with 2:35 left in the first. Dalley added a three for an 18-11 lead and then a fast break with Owens finding Dalley put the Indians up 20-11 with 1:30 left in the first. Jones hit a three and near the end of the period Dalley got a runner in the lane as VHS led 25-17 at the buzzer. In the second VHS was leading 30-17 after a strong move in the paint from Jacobi Washington. Dally made it 33-17 with a three with 4:24 left in the first half as VHS was taking control of this game. Jacaree Washington hit a nice reverse layup in traffic underneath and then a steal and dunk by Jones gave the Indians a 37-22 lead with 2:22 left in the half.
Jordan Powell got a basket on a fast break and then Dalley found Whited on a fast break with a great pass from the floor after fighting for the ball to put the Indians on top 43-24. At the end of the first half VHS lead the Lions, 43-24.
Early in the third VHS was up 50-28 after Owens got a couple of shot to fall. Dalley made it 54-28, and then he added another layup and a three pointer as VHS pushed their lead to 59-31 with one minute left in the third. Jones got another three to go and it was 62-33. Lovett went on a small run at the end of the period to make the score heading to the fourth 62-39.
In the fourth they closed it to 64-47, but a three from Whited pushed it back to a 20-point lead. With four minutes left it was 77-54 after a pair of three’s from Dalley, and then Whited added two more three’s for an 85-59 lead.
With just over a minute to play Dalley found the mark again, and Whited followed suit as VHS led 91-66. Dalley put the exclamation point on the game with a dunk after a nice pass ahead from Owens as VHS took the win, 93-68.
Head Coach Tommy Dalley said, “Just a phenomenal defensive effort by our guys. I thought they really got after it. The guys really understood the game plan and just executed it really well with Jordan Powell and Antonio Barron locked in on Anderson. They frustrated him tonight. This is a special group. We just don’t want this to end.”
Dalley led the way with 34 points, and Whited added 27 points with 5 three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
The Indians held the Lions star Anderson to just 6 points in the first half of the game, and 25 points overall.
With the win, VHS is into the Elite 8. They played that game at home on Tuesday of this week against Northeast of Macon. If VHS wins that game, they play in the Final 4 on Friday of this week at 4:00 p.m. at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville against the winner of the Early County vs. Westside of Augusta game.
Konner Owens did another great job of finding the open man from his point guard position for the Indians as they battled Lovett.Photo by Mike Branch
