Dragons Open Region Play With Tough Loss To LaFayette

Last Tuesday, the Dragons traveled to LaFayette High School to take on the Ramblers in the opening game of region play. The Dragons came into the ball game riding high after going undefeated in the annual Thanksgiving tournament in Ellijay and looked to continue that momentum into region play.

LaFayette got up early on the Dragons in the first quarter as several turnovers for Pickens lead to Rambler points and LaFayette would take a 19-14 lead into the 2nd quarter. Pickens continued to find consistency on offense in the 2nd quarter as the Ramblers outscored the Dragons 19-11 to take a halftime lead of 38-25. The Dragons started their comeback in the 3rd quarter as they outscored LaFayette 15-10 to cut the lead to 48-40 as we headed to the final quarter of play. Pickens cut the lead down as little as 4 but the Ramblers would pull away late in the 4th to come away with the win 63-55.

Leading the way for Pickens:

Shannon Brooks: 14 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal

Holden Roop: 13 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 stesls

Trent Rizoti: 13 points and 9 rebounds

Walker Lawrence: 8 points, 1 assist, and 5 rebounds

Travis Huffman: 3 points, 1 assist, and 3 rebounds

Clay Wigington added 2 points and 5 rebounds and Sam Davis had 2 points and a rebound

The Dragons, like the Nettes were scheduled to travel to Cartersville Friday but due to the Semi-Final state playoff game being hosted at Cartersville, the game has been rescheduled for the 18th. Tip off for the Dragons is at 6:30 pm. Pickens will be back home this Saturday as they host West Hall in non region action. tip off scheduled for 3:30 pm.

The first quarter started off back and forth as both teams tried to find a rhythm offensively as the Lady Ramblers took a 13-11 lead after one. The scoring picked up a little bit in the second quarter as both teams scored 17 points a piece and LaFayette would take a 30-28 lead into halftime. As we started the 2nd half, a light kicked on for the Nettes offense.

The Nettes offense poured in 36 points in the third and the defense held the Lady Ramblers to just 12 points to take a commanding lead of 64-42 heading to the 4th quarter. Pickens outscored LaFayette in the 4th, 12-11 and got the win 76-53.

Leading the way for Pickens were:

Haley Kalson: 26 points, 2 assists, 8 rebounds, and 1 steal

Taylor Wigington: 12 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals

Makayla Payne: 9 points, 6 assists, 8 rebounds, and 1 steal

Autumn Young: 7 points, 1 assist, 5 rebounds, and 1 steal

Ashley Nelson: 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals

Mackenzie Hampton: 6 points and 3 rebounds

McKenna Kemp added 4 points and Shelby Cook chipped in 2 points, 1 assist, and 4 rebounds

The Nettes were scheduled to travel to Cartersville for a game Friday but due to the Semi-Final state playoff game being hosted at Cartersville, that game has been rescheduled for the 18th and tip off will be at 5 pm. The Nettes will be back home this Saturday as they take on West Hall in non region action. It’ll be an early tip off as the game is scheduled to start at 2 pm.