By Staff
From staff reports
For the second straight time in as many games, all three W.S. Neal High School Eagle basketball teams suffered losses Tuesday on the road at Jackson.
The B-team Eagles suffered their sixth straight loss of the season as they lost to Jackson 52-35 to drop to 4-11.
The W.S. Neal Lady Eagles suffered their third straight loss and fell to 8-10 overall and to 0-5 in area play with a 47-39 loss to the Lady Aggies.
In varsity action, the W.S. Neal boys dropped a 58-46 loss to fall to 12-9 overall and to 0-5 in the class 4A area standings.
W.S. Neal was set to take on B.C. Rain Friday night in their final area game of the season and their final road game of their five-game road trip.
All three Eagle teams will return to action on Tuesday at home at 4:30 p.m. when they take on the J.U. Blacksher Bulldogs.
On Friday, Jan. 29, the Eagles will play their final home game of the season against Flomaton at 4:30 p.m. The final regular season game for the Eagles will be Monday, Feb. 1, on the road at Pleasant Home. Game time is set for 4:30 p.m.
The area tournament for the Lady Eagles will begin Thursday, Feb. 4 and the boys will begin play on Friday, Feb. 5.
The venue for the area tournament will be at the No. 1-seeded team (team with best area record in regular season) in the area after all games are played.
As of press time, the venue would be at UMS-Wright for both the girls and the boys area tournament.
In the area tournament, the No. 1 seed will play the No. 4 seed in the area and the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds will play against each other.
The winners of the girls game will play Saturday, Feb. 6 back at the host site while the boys championship game will be play Monday, Feb. 8.
The top two teams from the tournament advance to the sub-region round of the playoffs with the champion hosting the tournament and the runner-up traveling.
Area 1 will play area 3 teams in the sub-region round that includes Andalusia, Clarke County, Hillcrest, and Thomasville.
Jackson 58,
W.S. Neal varsity 46
Trailing by three points after three quarters of play heading into the fourth quarter Tuesday night in Jackson, the Eagles of W.S. Neal were outscored 20-11 in the fourth quarter to lose by 12 points, 58-46 to the Jackson Aggies in an area game.
The loss in the area game Tuesday night dropped W.S. Neal’s area record, all but solidifying them the No. 4 seed in the upcoming area tournament.
W.S. Neal led 9-8 after the first quarter of play, but saw their lead turn into a nine-point deficit at the halftime break as Jackson outscored them 22-12 in the second quarter to trail 30-21 heading into the locker rooms.
W.S. Neal was able to cut into the Aggie lead by six points in the third quarter following a 14-8 scoring advantage, but fell in the fourth quarter to suffer the loss.
Sam Ewing, Jeremy Nicholson, and Ashton Elliott all led the Eagles in the loss with nine points each. Bob Elliott added seven points and T.J. Davis and Rashad Crook had four points each.
Tra Dixon and Monterrius Culliver both had two points each in the loss.
W.S. Neal was 9-of-16 from the free throw line in the loss while Jackson was 13-of-26.
Jackson 47,
W.S. Neal Lady Eagles 39
Just like in the boys game, the W.S. Neal Lady Eagles were outscored 20-11 in the fourth quarter to suffer an eight-point loss to Jackson.
The loss kept W.S. Neal winless in the area at 0-5.
Unlike the boys who were losing after the third quarter, the Lady Eagles held a 28-27 lead after the third quarter only to fall by nine points in the fourth quarter and fall in the game.
Both teams scored 13 points each to open the game in the first quarter, but Jackson outscored W.S. Neal 10-6 in the second quarter to trail 23-19 at the halftime break.
In the third quarter, the Lady Eagles outscored Jackson 9-4 to lead by one point, 28-27, heading into the fourth quarter of play.
Freida Folmar led the Lady Eagles in the loss with 19 points and was joined in double figures by Keyvonnia Kyles who added 10 points in the loss.
Tiana Smith had three points and Angelique Askew, Briana Hawthorne, and LaTeesha Day all had two points in the loss. Megan Andrews added one point.
The Lady Eagles shot 15-of-22 from the free throw line in the loss while Jackson was one better for 16-of-22.
Jackson 52,
W.S. Neal B-team 35
The losing streak for the W.S. Neal B-team Eagles grew to six games Tuesday night as they dropped a 52-35 loss to the Jackson Aggies.
With the loss, W.S. Neal fell to 4-11 overall.
W.S. Neal trailed 9-6 after the first quarter before cutting the lead to two points at halftime, 15-13, after outscoring the Aggies 7-6 in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, both teams came out firing as the quarter saw 39 points scored in it with Jackson holding a 25-14 advantage to extend their lead to 40-27 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Jackson outscored W.S. Neal 12-8 to earn the 17-point win.
The Eagles were 1-of-3 from the free throw line while Jackson was 8-of-15.
Jaquan Tucker led the Eagles with 12 points and Dalton Evans added 11 points in the loss.
Jalen Harrod and Josiah Nettles both had six points for the Eagles.
Following the B-team Eagles Friday night game at B.C. Rain, W.S. Neal had only three games left to play in their 2009-2010 season, which will end Monday, Feb. 1 on the road at Pleasant Home.