Indians Are Region Runner-up
The Vidalia Indian basketball team took part in the Region 3AA Tournament last week at Toombs County High School. The Lady Indians fell to Tattnall County and then won over Toombs County to secure the #3 seed heading into the State Playoffs. The boys cruised to a win over Windsor Forest and then fell to Toombs County in the Championship Game to take the #2 seed into the playoffs.
Girls vs. Tattnall
In the girl’s game, the Lady Indians fell behind 18-0 to start the game, but then went on a 30-9 run to close the half out. VHS trailed 22-12 at the end of the first quarter and then outscored the Lady Warriors 18-5 in the second quarter to take a 30-27 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, Tattnall went back on top and was leading 46-41 by the buzzer. In the fourth, the Indians battled but fell in the end, 57-55. The loss sent the Lady Indians into the consolation game against the Lady BulldogsofToombsCounty.
Boys vs. Windsor
The VHS Indians jumped out to a 20-10 lead in the first quarter of the game over the Knights of Windsor Forest. Vidalia added to that lead in the second quarter of the game and were on top 34-22 at the end of the first half.
With 2:43 left in the third quarter of the game, the Indians were on top 4230. VHS led 50-33 with 1:35 left in the third after two baskets by Jacaree Washington. Cori Mincey made it 55-34, and then a three by Mincey gave the Indians a 58-36 lead at the end of the third quarter.
VHS cruised to a 69-47 win over the Knights to move on to the Region Championship game against the Bulldogs of Toombs County.
Mincey led the way for the Indians with 19 points, followed by Washington with 16 and Jayon Clements with 14.
Girls vs. Toombs
The Lady Indians faced off with the Lady Bulldogs of Toombs in the consolation game of the Region Tournament.
It was a slow start for both teams as the Lady Indians were on top 12-7 early in the second quarter of the game. VHS was on top 14-9 and then pushed the lead to 19-9 late in the first half.
In the third quarter, the score was 21-14 with VHS out in front. Toombs trailed 31-22 late in the third quarter and was down 35-22 early in the fourth. Brinley Miller added a three-pointer to make the score 35-25, but VHS pushed the lead to 4328.
It was 54-34 later in the fourth quarter and the Lady Indians went on to win the game 64-41.
That gives the Lady Indians the #3 seed heading into the State Playoffs out of Region 3AA.
Boys vs. Toombs
Toombs kicked things off with a three-pointer by Quintero, but Cori Mincey threw down a dunk to make it 3-2 early. Jayon Coleman gave VHS the lead, and then DJ Wallace made it 6-3 with a pair of free throws. Wallace gave the Indians an 8-3 lead with 5:20 left in the first quarter as VHS came out of the gate hot against the #4 ranked Bulldogs.
Quintero closed the lead to 8-6 with another three, and then Dominic Eason tied the game with a nice move in the paint, 8-8. VHS took the lead back and was on top 14-8 with 2:04 left in the first quarter. By the end of the first quarter, the Indians were out in front of the Bulldogs, 1610.
After a few early baskets in the second quarter, Eason closed the VHS led to 19-14, but it was 23-14 with 5:10 to play in the first half after a basket by Dugan Johnson for VHS. Eason hit a basket and then Gavin Fletcher hit a three for Toombs to make the score 25-21 with VHS in front by just four.
Eason added a basket and a free throw with just over a minute to play in the first half as Toombs made it 25-23. That was the score at the end of the first half with the Indians out in front.
The big story in the second half of the game for Toombs was that they rebounded the ball much better than in the first and that was the difference in the game.
Early in the third quarter Toombs took the lead and then were in front 3027. Quintero hit two three pointers to push the TCHS lead to 36-30, and then a three by Eason made it 3931. The score at the end of the third was 42-30 as the Bulldogs had pushed their lead to 12 points.
Eason hit another three early in the fourth quarter, and then Eason and Quintero took over as they began to get their shots to fall. Toombs went on to win the game over the Indians, 5535.
VHS didn’t have any players in double figures on the night with Coleman scoring 9 in the loss.
Toombs was led by Eason with 27 points with Quintero adding 20 in the win.
With that, the Bulldogs will head into the GHSA State Playoffs as the #1 seed out of Region 3AA, and the Indians will be the #2 seed.
The Lady Indians were at Spencer on Tuesday after presstime. If VHS wins that game, they will move onto the second round where they will face the winner of the Washington County vs. Dodge County game later in the week.
The boys host Rutland on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. If they win that game, they will play later in the week against the winner of Cook County and Westside of Augusta.
