Graceville Takes Two Out of Three From Sneads

By Clint Cox

Graceville played host to Sneads in a basketball triple header on Tuesday night. In girl’s varsity action the Graceville Lady Tigers posted a 61-39 win over the Lady Pirates. These two squads met just a week ago in Sneads and in a closely contested battle Graceville won that game by four points. This contest however saw Graceville jump out to an early lead and led from start to finish. The Lady Tigers led 18-4 at the end of the first quarter and then held a 33-16 halftime lead. Graceville expanded their lead to 20 points going into the final quarter as they led 45-25. Graceville, which improved to 7-0 on the season, was led by Mychea Williams with 17 points. Jessica McClendon and Wynnterra Pittman both added 12 points each for the Lady Tigers. Sneads was led by Joni Bonine with 23 points. Both girl’s squads will be in action on Thursday as Graceville will be at Cottondale and Sneads will be at Malone. On Friday Graceville will host Enterprise and Sneads will host Vernon.

The night capper featured the boy’s varsity squads hitting the floor. Sneads took an early lead but Graceville came back to take the lead and the Tigers held a 20-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Tigers expanded that lead to 31-18 in the second quarter but Sneads then mounted a rally. With back to back buckets from Will Holmes and a bucket by Jamar White the Pirates trailed just 31-26 with two minutes to play in the first half. But Graceville got back to back buckets to push the lead back to nine points. The Pirates however would not go away as they fought back to trail 35-32 at the half.

Graceville came out in the second half and jumped out to a 9 point lead on the outside shooting of Kevin Potts . But again the Pirates rallied and with two minutes to play in the third quarter Terrance Pittman’s layup gave Sneads a 48-47 lead. A 3 pointer by Potts though gave the lead right back to the Tigers. Sneads used the final minutes of the quarter to take a 58-54 lead going into the final quarter. The fourth quarter was race horse basketball as both squads were up and down the floor. Sneads expanded their lead only to see Graceville reclaim the lead at 66-65 on a basket by Cameron Dozier with five minutes to play. The Tigers went up by six on a basket by Craig Myrick and a free throw by Dozier with four minutes left. Miller gave the Tigers an 8 point lead on a layup and Myrick put them up by 10 with a basket with 2 ½ minutes remaining. The Tigers then went on to an 87-78 win before their home crowd.

Graceville placed three players in double figures as Dozier led all scorers with 24 points. Potts hit 18 and Myrick chipped in 14 points for the Tigers. Sneads placed four players in double figures, led by White with 21 points and Holmes with 16. Pittman hit 13 points followed by Jeff Bell with 10 points. The Graceville boys will next play on Thursday at Chipley and then host Malone next Tuesday. The Sneads boys will be at North Florida Christian on Thursday and they host Vernon on Friday.

Sandwiched between the two varsity games was a boy’s junior varsity contest. In a tightly contested matchup Sneads won 47-42. Neither squad led by more than 3 points in the first half and the score was tied 20-20 at the break. Sneads pulled ahead in the second half and held on for the 5 point victory. Sneads was led by Sharone McMillian with 20 and Devin Hayes with 12. Graceville was led by Marquis White and Malik Franklin, both 13 points.