The Pickens Dragons and Dragonettes ended regional play on Tuesday night against Cartersville, as the Dragonettes bested the Lady Hurricanes while the Dragons were defeated by the Hurricanes.
The opening game of the evening featuring the Dragonettes and the Lady Hurricanes saw momentum shift sides constantly, as a strong start by Cartersville (led 17-14 after the first quarter) was quickly topped by Pickens, who outscored the Lady Hurricanes 22-9 in the second quarter to lead 36-26 at halftime.

The Dragonettes didn’t let up in the second half, putting up a combined thirty-three points in the third and fourth quarter. While the Lady Hurricanes did find a much-needed rhythm on offense, it wasn’t enough to top Pickens on this night, as the Dragonettes won the game by the final score of 69-61, giving the team a third place finish in the region with a 7-3 record.

Sarah Smith led the Dragonettes in scoring with nineteen points in the victory. Following close behind was Danielle Goss, who finished the game with sixteen points. Goss and Smith were also the top rebounders for Pickens, as Danielle recorded eight rebounds and Sarah recorded seven. Point guard Makayla Angel did almost everything that was asked of her on this night, finishing the game with nine points, five rebounds, and eleven assists.

Next on the schedule for the evening was the boy’s game, a matchup between two of the best teams in the 7B-AAA region. The Dragons had motivation going into this one, as a victory over the Hurricanes would result in a tie between the two teams for second in the region, which would mean a coin toss would determine the runner-up position.

Pickens started the game off like a team on a mission, holding a lead early on in the first quarter before the Hurricanes tied the game at 9. At this point the Hurricanes reeked havoc on the Dragons’ dreams of domination, going on a 21-2 run to end the quarter with a comfortable 30-11 lead.

The Dragons were able to improve their ball control and passing in the second quarter of play, but at the half still found themselves down by a score of 46-25.

Pickens refused to throw in the towel as the game wore on, but Cartersville’s consistency at driving to the basket and getting the tough points proved to be too much for Pickens to handle. The Hurricanes would go on to win the game by the final score of 82-71, insuring that the Dragons would also finish the season third in the region with a 5-5 record.

Sam Crawford gave an outstanding effort in the game, recording a team-high thirty-eight points and five rebounds in the loss. Wesley Easterwood and Spencer Jones also did their jobs in this one, as Wesley had eleven points and seven rebounds and Spencer had sixteen points and six rebounds.

The Dragons and Dragonettes have only one regular season game left on the schedule, as the White County Warriors and Lady Warriors travel to Jasper on Friday night for Senior Night. The girls’ game is set to tip off at 7:00 with the boys’ action following at approximately 8:30.