Woodland girls and Cartersville boys drop tourney openers

The Woodland girls and the Cartersville boys both dropped their opening games in holiday tournament action Wednesday.

The Lady Cats lost to Chattooga in the first round of the Adairsville Christmas Clash.

The Hurricanes fell to host Pickens in their initial game at the Pickens Holiday Classic.

CHATTOOGA 39, WOODLAND GIRLS 27

The Chattooga girls defeated Woodland for the second time in an 11-day span Wednesday evening, 39-27. This time it was in a first round game at the Adairsville Christmas Clash.

The Lady Cats stayed close most of the way trailing 20-14 at halftime, but never gained the traction needed to overtake the Lady Indians.

Chattooga won the first matchup between the two teams on December 17, 50-27, at the Rome Holiday Tournament in a consolation game.

Wednesday, Makiya Parrish led Chattooga with 13 points. Addyson Daniel added 10.

Bailee Motes scored eight for Woodland. Kasidee Wall and Megan Schultz followed with seven apiece. Abby George contributed three points and Libby Morgan scored two for the Lady Cats.

Chattooga improved to 4-7 and will play North Laurel (Kentucky) in the semifinals Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Woodland (2-9) falls to the consolation bracket and will play Adairsville Thursday afternoon in a consolation semifinal at 1 p.m.

PICKENS 74, CARTERSVILLE BOYS 68

A slow start by the Hurricanes was costly Wednesday night as Cartersville rallied in the second half but couldn’t catch the host Dragons in a 74-68 loss.

The game was the first of three for the Canes Wednesday through Friday at the Pickens Holiday Classic in Jasper.

Pickens led 19-9 after the opening quarter and was up 41-26 at halftime.

Cartersville narrowed the margin to 55-45 by the end of the third quarter but the Dragons held on down the stretch for a six-point win.

“We competed hard after a rough first half,” said Canes coach Mike Tobin. “We’re improving and slowly getting our basketball legs back. Pickens was 12-for-14 from the free throw line and we missed 12 free throws. You don’t win many games missing double-digit free throws.”

Jaden Stewart led the Dragons with 18 points. Caleb Lanford scored 17 and Caleb Keith added 11 points for Pickens.

Romo Pace pumped in a game-high 23 points for the Purple Hurricanes. Jamauri Brice followed with 14 points. Kaden Baldwin and Parnel Gamble pitched in seven each. Monte Tolbert contributed six. Cad McCline totaled four. Jaylen Scott and Tyron Milner added three and two points, respectively.

“We have five more games to play before our region schedule begins,” noted Tobin. “We hope to be hitting our stride by then.”