Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

GHS Squads To Play Here In Regionals

By virtue of beating Blevins Tuesday, Gurdon managed to make it to the regional tournament.

The Lady Devils posted a 52-49 win over the Lady Hornets, while the senior boys dropped Blevins 69-53.

LADY DEVILS 52

LADY HORNETS 49

Gurdon's senior girls had a fight on their hands in the first round of the 7AA tournament at Stephens, but managed to advance with a win over Blevins.

The Lady Devils pulled to a 13-11 lead at the end of one and were down 28-27 at halftime as Blevins rallied in the second quarter.

Gurdon reasserted itself in the third period to take a 42-38 lead and held on for the win, though being outscored 11-10 in the fourth.

Vonesha Young led Gurdon's attack with 15, while Sonia Beasley added 10.

Blevins's leading scorer was A. Jordan with 16.

Gurdon was five of 10 at the line, while Blevins hit six of 14.

DEVILS 69

HORNETS 53

The Devils had a slightly easier time in their game as they sent the Hornets to baseball season at Blevins.

Gurdon jumped out to a 17-12 lead at the end of one, and pushed this to a 39-21 halftime advantage.

There was no letup on the Devils' part as they stretched their lead to 55-39 by the end of the third.

Gurdon hit 10 of 23 free throws, while Blevins netted six of 18 from the line.

Norris Glen led the way for the Devils with 21, while Derek Anderson tossed in 18 and Cameron Rhinehart scored 13.

Marcell Johnson led Blevins with 17.

GURDON 63

LEWISVILLE 75

For three quarters, the game between Gurdon's senior boys and Lewisville's Red Devils was nip and tuck.

Neither team could do more than stagger its opponent until the fourth quarter when Lewisville exploded for 25 points to post a 75-63 win.

Lewisville's team was a mixture of trees and shrubs as there was no middle ground on height. The players were either tall or short.

Size, though, didn't matter to Gurdon as the Devils came to play. The Devils were aggressive, focused and quick from the outset as they took an 8-4 lead with 5:05 to go in the first.

Lewisville, however, hadn't made the trip to Stephens just to roll over and play dead.

While Gurdon took advantage of Red Devil mistakes, Lewisville put together a solid performance and cut the lead to 10-9 with 3:24 left.

Lewisville outscored Gurdon 8-6 in the remaining time to take a 17-16 lead at the end of one.

Gurdon recaptured the lead to start the second quarter, as the Devils showed more patience on offense.

In fact, Gurdon built its lead to 23-18 as the team began playing Devil-ball, a form of controlled chaos.

For awhile Lewisville appeared to be dumbfounded and on the ropes.

With 4:30 showing Gurdon led 27-20 and was threatening to put the game on ice.

What became the pattern for the game set in as Lewisville fought back, primarily using the three-point shot. One of the Red Devils must have been auditioning for the National Basketball Association as most of his trey attempts were from NBA range.

With 2:50 left in the half, Lewisville had battled back to take a 28-27 lead, building this to a halftime advantage of 34-31.

Gurdon's problems began in the third period as the shooters went cold. The Devils managed to stay within three at 36-33, but Lewisville pulled away to a 40-35 lead with 5:08 left.

This was stretched to a 43-36 advantage with 3:16 showing.

But, Gurdon never said quit. Instead of giving up and taking the easy way out, the Devils fired up their afterburners and cut the gap to one at 45-44 with 0:46 to go.

The Red Devils also turned up the heat, scoring five points in the last 0:46 seconds to take a 50-46 lead into the final eight minutes.

Lewisville opened the fourth quarter by stealing the ball and scoring. The Red Devils pulled to a 58-46 lead before Gurdon's offense got on track.

Gurdon was unable to get the lead back in single digits for the remainder of the game, much of which was spent at the free throw line.

LADY DEVILS 51

LADY RED DEVILS 67

There was plenty of activity on the court when the senior girls played, but in the end Lewisville managed to put more points on the board with the final being 67-51.

Neither team was careful with the ball early on as there were several turnovers.

Gurdon pressed early, but trailed 6-4 with 4:58 showing in the first.

Lewisville began pulling away at this points, pushing its lead to 11-4 with 3:59 to go.

The Lady Devils battled back to cut the lead to 14-12, and trailed 15-12 as the period came to an end.

Gurdon opened the second by losing the ball on the inbound play and compounding its mistake by fouling a Lewisville player in the act of shooting.

This put the Lady Red Devils in the bonus as they also added a point to their lead to make it 16-12.

Lewisville opened its lead to eight at 20-12, with Gurdon fighting back, somewhat, to cut the gap to 26-18 with 3:33 left in the half.

It was a bruising game all over the court as these two teams were physical up and down the hardwood.

Halftime arrived with Lewisville ahead 32-23.

The second half was more of the same as the squads fought up and down the court, with Lewisville the more successful at putting the ball in the hole.

Period three ended with the Lady Red Devils up 50-38.

Gurdon Coach Sandra Hatley went to the bench heavily in the final period, substituting four at a time to keep fresh legs in the game.

Leading 56-42 with 4:10 remaining, Lewisville began working the clock, passing the ball around the court to let seconds tick off.

The Lady Devils never gave up and tried everything they could to get back in the game and make it to the finals against Genoa Central.

However, they came up short as the Lady Red Devils hung on for the win.

Genoa went on to beat Lewisville 45-37 in the finals to win the girl's district title.

Lewisville's boys were whipped 84-70 by Stephens in the finals Saturday night.

This year's regional tournament will again be held at Gurdon High School.

Action opens Wednesday at 4 p.m. with Murfreesboro's girls taking on the Lady Roadrunners of Stephens. Genoa and Horatio will finish girls play at 7 o'clock.

In boys play, Stephens and Dierks hit the court at 5:30 p.m. with Mount Ida and Nevada locking horns at 8:30.

On Thursday, play again starts at 4 p.m. with Lewisville and Mt. Ida playing for the girls, followed by Gurdon and Caddo Hills at 7 o'clock.

The boys hit the court at 5:30 p.m. with Gurdon and Foreman taking center stage. The final game of the night will see Lewisville and Mineral Springs in action at 8:30.