Four years ago the Morgan County girls basketball program didn’t have enough players to field a junior varsity squad. The Bulldogs had graduated 15 players from a 28-2 team and there weren’t enough bodies to fill two teams.
So the Bulldogs took girls who might ordinarily have been on the JV and put them on the varsity squad. Together they persevered and learned and got better. Today, many of those girls who took their lumps are at the heart of the No. 1-ranked team in Class AAA.
Morgan County is 21-3 and sailed through the Region 8-AAA schedule without a loss. The Bulldogs will begin play in the region tournament on Friday at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs. They will play the winner of the East Jackson-Jackson County game.
“It really hit home on Senior Night how many of these girls have played varsity basketball for our years,” said coach Joshua Reeves.
The Bulldogs have had an extended amount of time off. They drew the bye for the last weekend of the season and got a bye to the region semifinals. When the state playoffs begin next week, Morgan County is guaranteed a spot in the field.
Depth is no longer a problem on the team. Reeves feels comfortable using as many as 12 different players and has done so many times this season.
The team is led by guard Tatyana Davis, a 5-foot-9 junior, who leads the team in scoring with 19.6 points per game. Davis is an athletic player who Reeves called a “lightning bolt.” Davis is capable of turning on the offense when needed, like she night against Jefferson, when she had two points in the first half and 16 in the second half.
The other main scorer is Alexis “Pumpkin” Brown, a 5-6 senior guard who averages 16.2 points. She is the sister of former Morgan standout Tookie Brown, who now starts at Georgia Southern. She was an all-state selection a year ago.
The other most experienced player is senior Sydney Nash, a 5-7 strong forward who averages 14 points and 10 rebounds. She is one of the top rebounders in the classification.
Region 1-AAA changes site
The semifinals and final for the Region 1-AAA basketball tournaments have been changed from Jenkins to New Hampstead. The move was made to accommodate the large crowds that are expected to turn out for the event. Jenkins had earned the right to host the tournament by virtue of the school’s boys earning the No. 1 seed in their subregion.
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