Graceville Takes Two of Three From Blountstown

By Clint Cox

It was a triple header Cat fight in Graceville Tuesday night as Blountstown traveled to northwestern Jackson County for action on the hardwood. Graceville captured wins in the first two games but could not pull off the sweep, though they battled valiantly, they fell in the final game of the night. Game one featured Junior Varsity boys action and Graceville downed Blountstown by a score of 36-29. Rasheed Campbell and Isam Britt led Graceville with 10 points each.

The sandwich game was the girl’s varsity contest and Graceville cruised to a 49-29 victory. The Lady Tigers led 26-16 at the half and then doubled that 10 point margin in the second half. Mychea Williams led the way with 16 points and was followed by Jessica McClendon with 10 points. Zay Henderson also chipped in 9 points. The win followed a very successful trip for the Lady Tigers during the Christmas holidays as they traveled to Orlando to participate in the Lyman Holiday Classic. Graceville picked up 3 wins to advance to the Championship game where they fell to unbeaten Ocala Vanguard. After Tuesday night’s win Graceville improved to 14-2 on the season.

The night capper pitted the varsity boys and the first quarter was race horse basketball with Blountstown taking a slim 13-11 lead at the end of the quarter. Blountstown reeled off 6 unanswered points to start the second quarter and took a 19-11 lead. Graceville turned up the defensive pressure and Cameron Dozier’s basket with 4 ½ minutes in the second quarter narrowed the Blountstown lead to 21-16. But again Blountstown went on a run with 7 unanswered points to lead 28-16. Blountstown expanded that double digit lead by halftime to 39-21

Graceville kept fighting though in the second half and began to pick up some steam late in the third quarter. A basket at the end of the third quarter by Jacky Miles pulled Graceville back to within 12 points. Cameron Dozier opened the fourth quarter with a basket and Graceville keep on coming at Blountstown. They managed to cut the Blountstown lead down to 4 points with 5 ½ minutes to play on a basket and free throw by Byron Lasiter. Kevin Potts made it a two point game with a basket with 4 ½ minutes to play. Blountstown began to battle back midway through the final quarter as the teams began trading baskets. A Dozier basket with 2:30 left made it a 3 point game. 61-58, but that was as close as Graceville could get as Blountstown pulled back away in the final two minutes for a 71 – 63 victory. Dozier led Graceville with 24 points while Lasiter finished with 9 and Potts added 8.

The girls and boys will double date again this coming week as both will be in Panama City on Thursday to take on Bozeman and then both head to Cottondale on Friday night.