Hawks third in district, go to Ripley


Thursday, February 19, 2009
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Hawks third in district, go to Ripley

By CLAUDE VINSON
Sports Editor

Photos by Lawrence White

Soaring Hawk
Kentona Shipp of Holly High (14) soars between three North Panola players on his way to the goal Friday night.

The scoring was slow at the start but picked up after Independence Wildcat Kyle Blount planted a trey.

But the Holly Springs Hawks answered with a pair from their own three-ball specialist Timothy Oliver. Holly High had the early lead in round one of the Region 3-3A Tournament at 14-9. They stepped up the tempo and increased the margin by 12 at intermission with a tally of 34-22.

There was very little fouling throughout the game. Holly High did all of their damage away from the line. The Hawks had another big quarter in the third, putting a lot of distance between themselves and the Wildcats. Independence could only muster two points in that eight minutes and fell behind 50-24.

Coach Naylond Hayes had the right combo on the floor for the final quarter. Kentona Shipp was on point and Shermaine Jones was on garbage detail. He was picking up everything the Wildcats threw away. The Wildcats were on a prolonged scoring drought until Londen Parker took one coast to coast and laid it in. It was cakewalk for the Hawks from that point on. They cruised to a 66-33 final.

Tough shot
Darius Dowdy gets bumped by a Cougar as he shoots.

Holly High got double figures scoring from Darius Dowdy (16) and Shermaine Jones (14). Oliver tripled up on threes.

Mario Shorty led the Wildcats with 14.

Hawks lose in semi-finals

Holly Springs beat Byhalia to the draw for two consecutive quarters in a low-scoring affair in the semis at Rosa Fort on Thursday.

The score was 19-12 at halftime. The Indians got the edge in the third quarter but were still behind 29-24. Their dozen points were not enough in that frame to take away the Hawks’ control, but the second dozen in the last quarter was. They held Holly High to six points.

“We had our chances to win it,” coach Naylond Hayes said later. “Twice we came up empty. We missed a crucial lay-up and two crucial free throws which would have given us the one-point win.”

The Indians got the victory at 36-35 and earned the right to move on to the finals.

Jonathan Bownes led the Hawks with 10. Shipp had eight.

Mario Parker paced the Indians with 12.

Hawks best North Panola

The Hawks squared off against the Cougars of North Panola on Friday evening and took a quick seven-point lead. But scoring fell off after that and the first quarter came to a close at 7-5 after Rodrigues Thomas hit a trey at the buzzer.

The Cougars were able to take a one-point lead briefly in the second quarter, but couldn’t hold on to it. There was a lot of banging going at the post positions. Holly High left the floor with a 21-19 lead at intermission.

Both teams were really burning rubber in the third. The Cougars had moved out to a seven-point lead and were determined not to give it up. They held on to the end of three with a 41-32 mark.

But the Hawks were not about to run up the white flag. Bownes was beginning to feel his oats. He hit six quick points and then tied it at 44 at the charity stripe. Then Shipp hit the opportune trey, giving the Hawks a 47-45 difference with about four minutes left to play. The Cougars could not head the Hawks after that and they went down 57-49.

Bownes hit 17 in the winning effort and Darius Dowdy hit 15. Timothy Oliver hit eight.

Thomas led the Cougars with 17 while teammate Alburch Russell had 10.

Holly High was scheduled to travel to Ripley to open play in the North Half on Tuesday.

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