Girls’ Basketball Opens Holiday Festival Tonight
By Alan Parish - FF/S
It has been 21 years since Darlington’s girls’ basketball team has won the Rome-News Tribune Holiday Festival. This year the Lady Tigers look to end that drought.
The team is 6-1 heading into the tournament, with their only loss coming to Class 5-A North Cobb. To win this years’ tournament the Class A Lady Tigers will have to beat another much larger school, as Class 4-A Rome has won two straight Holiday Festivals. Darlington’s only loss in the 2010 tournament came at the hands of the Lady Wolves.
Darlington will open play in the Festival tonight against Pepperell, at 7:00 p.m. at Berry College. The Lady Tigers will be heavy favorites and a win sets up a potential rematch with Model on Wednesday in the semifinals. They beat the Lady Blue Devils 59-55 on November 25; it was the first time any of the current players or coaches had defeated Model in their careers.
After going 25-5 last year, the Lady Tigers have their strongest team in possibly a decade. They are led by lone senior Lindsay Evans, who leads the team in most statistical categories. She had a huge night in the Lady Tigers’ last outing, a win over Armuchee. She scored 17 points, had 14 rebounds, 8 steals and 5 assists. Evans is leading Darlington in minutes played (23.6 per game), 3-point baskets (11), assists (39), rebounds (50) and steals (30); and is second on the team in points per game (11.7).
Junior post player Terar Stewart leads the team in scoring (15.7 points per game) and rebounds per game (7.3). The Lady Tigers’ starting line-up is rounded out by sophomore Maggie Beth Atha and juniors Bailey Brock and Sidney Stout. Atha is third on the team in scoring with nearly 9 points a game and is second in assists with 21 this season. Stout is fourth on the team in scoring with 6 points per game and is an 80 percent free throw shooter, which leads the Lady Tigers. Brock leads the team in 3-point shooting percentage (36 percent).
The Lady Tigers’ also rely on major bench contributions. Junior Alea Vick, sophomore Sarah Manning and freshman Rachel Simon are all averaging more than 14 minutes per game. Simon has been especially impressive, leading the team in blocks (6), second on the team in free throw shooting percentage (67 percent, minimum 10 attempts) and third on the team in rebounding.
2011 Rome News-Tribune Holiday Festival Bracket
2011 Rome News-Tribune Holiday Festival Schedule
