Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

In Opening Round Action On Saturday; Boys Rop Bright Star; Girls Falter

There was a split decision for the two Nevada High School teams in the Southwest Arkansas Invitational Tournament this weekend.

The boys devastated Bright Star 82-56 in their game, while the girls were eliminated, 37-27, by Delight in their opener.

The Jays opened the first quarter of their game with Bright Star hotter than a mid-August afternoon. By the end of the initial eight minutes, the Jays led 36-5.

They slowed the pace somewhat for the remainder of the game, but made sure Bright Star's offense was never a factor.

At the half, the Jays were up 54-21, and led 71-34 at the end of three, as coach Glyndon Franklin cleared the bench to let all members get some playing time.

Tavoris Blakely sent four three-pointers through the hoop in scoring 24 to lead the Jays. Ricardo Young had two treys as he scored 12, while Joseph Young added 11 to the tally, with a trey on his stats as well.

From the line, the Jays were almost perfect as they hit 11 of 12 free throws.

Kevin Sprayberry led Bright Star with 18 points, while teammate Corey Shepard added 15.

Bright Star was horrendous from the stripe as they hit only seven of 17 attempts.

Things didn't go as well for the Lady Jays as they fell 37-27 to the Lady Bulldogs of Delight, and thereby eliminated from the tourney.

Nevada's girls opened the contest shooting cold and found themselves on the wrong end of a 10-6 score after one.

The problem is the Lady Jays didn't heat up in the second or third quarters either. At the half, they trailed 17-10 and were down 25-14 at the end of three.

Dilesha Easter led the Lady Jays with eight points on the night.

Nevada's girls also had a tough night at the line as they hit nine of 21 free throw attempts.

Shelia Norton led all scorers in the game with 10 for the Lady 'Dogs.

Then again, the Lady 'Dogs did no better from the charity stripe as they shot an identical nine of 21.

Because of inclement weather conditions, several games weren't played in the tournament, and who the senior boys play is not known.