two to ranked Glenwood teams in Region

By STEVEN G. WATSON

Sports Editor

The Pike Liberal Arts varsity basketball teams took two hard hits from two ranked Glenwood squads Friday night.

The Patriots, still fighting for the top spot in the Region, took probably the hardest punch from the No. 5 ranked Gators. Their 49-46 loss was never really decided until the final second when Glenwood’s Ray Jones nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key break a 46-all tie.

Neither team ever led more than six points in the game as the Gators improved to 17-2 on the year. Glenwood was able to fight off any PLAS run early and didn’t give up its lead, however slight, until the final quarter on a 3-pointer from Clint Wallace with 6:40 left gave the Patriots a 40-37 lead.

The two teams fought back and forth hitting key buckets down the stretch until Jones hit a jumper to tie it at 67-67. Both teams had shots at the end to break the tie with both missing the front end of one-and-ones.

Layton Sanders got off a despiration shot after the Jones winner left just .7 seconds on the clock, but it fell short.

Glenwood’s Bo Wright led all scorers with 18 points while Jones finished with 14. Three Patriots finished in double figures with Josh Waldrop dropping in 16, Clint Wallace hitting for 13 and Nick Paul notching 10.

The PLAS girls’ game was also a close affair, but a verly low-scoring one as well. The Lady Gators would defend their No. 6 ranking, however, and go on to defeat the Lady Patriots 32-19.

Neither team could find the range in the second quarter. The two teams scored only three points combined leading to a 10-7 halftime lead for Glenwood.

The Lady Gators found some offense in the second half putting up 12 in the third and 10 in the fourth while holding PLAS to only 12 total second half points.

Shaunna Wheeler led Pike Liberal in her first game back after an illness with nine points. Sabrina Swindle had double-digits in rebounds with 11, but could only notch three points for the Lady Patriots.

­­­

In the PLAS junior varsity games, the JV girls pounded Glenwood 25-18 while the boys came up a little short on a 33-27 win by the Gators.

The Lady Patriots held the Glenwood JV to only two points in the third quarter and watched as Miranda Paul led the team with eight points and Tracey Brooks notched four.

Dustin Garrett, Andrew Folmar and Josh Barbaree all had five points for the Patriots.

Next up for Pike Liberal Arts is a home game with Lakeside Tuesday. The Lakeside girls are 17-0 on the year and ranked No. 2 in the State AISA polls. Tipoff for the JV girls game is set for 4 p.m. with all three others following.