Poor shooting and turnovers were the prescriptions for losses for the Vidalia High School Basketball teams on Tuesday night in the Southeastern Technical College Tip-Off Tournament at Parsons-Reid Gymnasium. In the girl’s game, the Lady Indians committed 26 turnovers while scoring only 2 points in the 3rd quarter to fall to Statesboro 58-29. In the boy’s contest, the Indians couldn’t overcome a poor 2nd quarter themselves, despite a late run, and fell to Coffee 50-46.
In the girl’s contest, the Lady Blue Devils jumped out to a 14-7 lead and extended the lead to 30-19 at the half. Down by only 11 points coming out of the half, the Lady Indians went ice cold in the 3rd quarter, as they didn’t find the bottom of the basket until the 1:26 mark in the quarter. By that time, Statesboro was on a 14-0 run and never looked back. The Lady Indians, who are now 1-1 on the year, were led by Janiya Bobbitt with 13 points.
In the boy’s game, the undersized and undermanned Indians opened the game on a 13-1 run to lead the Trojans 19-7 with 1:27 to go in the opening quarter. But Coffee went on a 6-0 run to close the quarter, and Vidalia led 19-13. That was a sign of things to come as Coffee opened up the 2nd quarter on an 11-2 run to take its first lead of the night, 24-21, with 3:02 to go in the half. The Trojans would extend that lead by 4 more points going into the intermission as the Indians were held scoreless the rest of the 3:02 and trailed 28-21 at the break.
The Indians began to claw their way back into the game, despite shooting below 20% from the floor. At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Indians had closed the lead to just 3 points 36-33, and then with 3:08 to go in the game, Zyqual Stewart hit a baseline 3 pointer to give the Indians their first lead since the 2nd quarter, 42-40. But Coffee proved too much in the end, taking advantage of the Indians’ lack of a big man inside and finished the game on a 10-4 run to get the victory 50-46.
With 26 points, Ty Dalley led the Indians, who will next play Tuesday against Tattnall Co. at home beginning at 7:30. The girls will open the doubleheader at Parsons-Reid with a 6:00 tip.(Courtesy of Vidalia High School)
