November 23--The Vidalia High School Basketball teams opened the 2020 season in style on Saturday, with both teams winning their games on the first day of the STC Tip-Off Tournament at Parsons-Reid Gymnasium. The Lady Indians used 18 points from Treyunaa Roundtree and 13 points from Jaynia Bobbitt to defeat Jenkins County 55-34. Meanwhile, the Indians survived an eight-point 3rd quarter to defeat West Laurens 67-59. 

In the girl’s game, the Lady Indians scored 13 straight points to open the game and ended the quarter on a 21-6 run to lead 21-8. Jenkins County cut the lead to 11 points at the half (31-20), but that was as close as they would get as Sissy Anderson’s team would use smothering defense and an up-tempo offense to stretch the lead to 18 points (45-27) heading into the final quarter and cruised to the win. “I really liked our aggressiveness today,” said Anderson. “I wasn’t sure how we would come out of the locker room to start, but they came ready to play today, and it showed.”

In the boy’s game, Ty Dalley 18 of his game-high 34 points in the first quarter to give the Indians a 24-17 lead. They would stretch that lead out to 14 points at the break using their fast-break offense and tight defense to lead 45-31, with Bryson Whited scoring 8 of his 15 points in the quarter. But the 3rd quarter was completely different as Dalley sat most of the way picking up his 4th foul, which the Raiders took advantage of, closing the gap to just 5 points on a 7-0 run. But the Indians answered with a 7-0 run of their own to lead by 7 points 53-46.

In the final quarter, West Laurens would close that gap to 3 points, at one point, but that would quickly be erased when Dalley converted a three-point play following a lay-up on which he was fouled, and the Indians were able to hold on from there and win by eight. 

After the game, Vidalia Head Coach Tommy Dalley said that although his team was playing short-handed because of the football team being in the playoffs, he was excited about how his team competed and the outcome, “It was a great effort from our kids tonight. We were undersized and short-handed, so we had some young guys who got thrown into the fire. We can take a lot from the game and make some changes. Our older guys played really well, our staff has done a really good job of getting guys prepared. Personally, I was excited to be on the sideline coaching these guys and watching them compete.”

Both teams will be back in action on Tuesday night as the STC Tip-Off Tournament continues, with the girls playing Statesboro at 7:00 and the boys taking on Coffee. The action gets underway at 4:00 as the West Laurens girls take on Jenkins County, with the West Laurens Boys and Statesboro to follow at 5:30. Tickets are $7.00, and Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance by clicking HERE  & entering the CODE: VIDALIAINDIANS2020.  (Photos courtesy of Carroll Williams) (Courtesy of Vidalia City Schools)