Lady Dogs falter in second half to allow Wilco comeback

Published 10:10 am Friday, January 10, 2025

The GMC Prep girls basketball team was cruising right along through two quarters against visiting Wilkinson County Tuesday.

But basketball is a four-quarter game.

By halftime the winless Lady Dogs had already reached 20 points, which was a noteworthy feat considering they entered the region contest averaging just 21.2 per game. Down 20-14 at the break, the also-winless Wilco Lady Warriors turned up the defensive intensity and won the second half by a lopsided 26-3 tally to leave Cordell Gym with their first victory of the season, 40-23.

It was a fast start for the GMC Prep girls under first-year head coach Nolan Baugh. Senior softball standout Hannah Garner scored on the very first possession, and freshman Bella Stubbs put back an offensive rebound from the left side to make it 4-0 GMC two minutes in. A three off the fingertips of sophomore Allie Deason completed the opening 7-0 run before Wilco’s Taliyah Hill produced her team’s first points from the middle of the lane about midway through the opening period. The first frame ended with the Lady Dogs up 10-6.

The home team kept up its scoring pace in the second. While that was happening though, the visitors were starting to find their footing. Stubbs kicked off a 6-0 burst when she dribbled into the lane from the left elbow and made her shot following an under-the-basket inbounds pass. The freshman was in the right place at the right time a little later when a Wilco player saved the ball from going out under her own defensive basket. Stubbs stood waiting and put that one in the hoop as well to finish off her team-high six-point night and give the Lady Dogs a 16-7 advantage. The Lady Warriors would cut into that margin by halftime with the help of senior Ry’Kira Curry’s and-one. GMC Prep still led 20-14 at half.

Wilco under former Baldwin girls head coach Jenean Cooper-Bolston, who took the Bravettes to the Final Four in 2009, clawed its way back into contention in the third. Down two with three minutes to go, the Lady Warriors flirted with their first lead of the game on back-to-back missed 3s that just barely went begging. A pair of free throws, though, knotted things up at 23 points apiece at the 2:40 mark. The charity stripe was a major source of production for Wilco through those final two quarters. Cooper-Bolston’s team went 12-of-21 from the line in that timeframe. They took over the lead with two minutes left in the third and never let it go. GMC, meanwhile, was experiencing a turnover fest on offense as possessions rarely ended in shot attempts.

Coach Baugh was encouraged by what his team did early Tuesday, but he would like to see that same effort through an entire game. Ten points per quarter, like what the Lady Dogs did in the first half, is usually enough to stay competitive in a varsity girls basketball game. Three points across two quarters – with none in the fourth – will almost never get the job done.

The Lady Warriors were led in scoring by senior Demetria Sims’ 18 points, all of which came in the second half with five stemming from consecutive and-ones early in the fourth (one free throw good, one not). Hill and Curry pitched in nine and eight points respectively in their team’s first win.

The GMC girls are looking at a long road stretch over the next couple of weeks. The next time they are scheduled to be back on their home floor is Jan. 24 versus Hancock Central. Wilco will host Glascock County on Tuesday.