The Putnam County girls’ basketball team (13-2, 3-1 Region 4-AA) continued its success and winning streak this past week with region victories over Westside-Augusta and Washington County.
Entering this week, the Lady War Eagles have won seven straight contests, dating back to Dec. 16.
Putnam County head coach Derrick Arrington liked his girls’ effort after the holiday break ended.
The first-year coach told The Eatonton Messenger last week he’s seen progress since the start of the year “We’ve gotten better since the start of the year, but we’re not where we need to be yet,” Arrington said last week. “We want to compete and be in the conversation for the (state) playoffs.”
Arrington’s squad started its post-holiday schedule with a 78-27 win over Westside-Augusta. The Lady War Eagles proved to be dominant from start to finish, defeating the Lady Patriots by 51 points.
While the offense scored a team’s second-best 78 points, it’s the defense that was the story of the night. Putnam County held Westside to score less than 10 points in three of four quarters in the win.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Patriots scored 11 points against the Lady War Eagles’ reserve players. Those backups for Putnam County outscored Westside in the last eight minutes of the game.
It was never a contest as Lady War Eagle freshman Journey Waller had a productive night. She scored a team-high 28 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out three assists, and managed three steals.
“We’re playing with great tempo and are getting contributions from a lot of girls,” Arrington said. “Journey (Waller) and Kamyra (Aikens) are leading us in scoring right now, but we have other girls such as Eryianna (Little) who do important things that don’t show up on the stat sheet.”
Little posted a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 boards. Seniors Kamyra Aikens (11 points, five rebounds) and Halana Griffin (10 points, four rebounds) also contributed to the effort. They were the four Lady War Eagles in double-digit figures.
Putnam County’s game against Washington County this past Friday night was a different story, though. It was a defensive battle from the start, with the Lady Golden Hawks leading 16-15 at the half.
Washington County also held the lead by six points entering the fourth quarter; however, the Lady War Eagles turned it on, out-scoring the Lady Golden Hawks 19-7 in the final period.
They also found a way to stop Washington County’s duo of Emmya Gamble and Kandace Burden. The junior-senior pairing scored 25 of the Golden Hawks’ 38 points in the loss on Friday.
Waller scored a team-high 12 points, with most coming in the second half. Jaikarccie Smith added 10 points as the only other Putnam County player in double-digits. Aikens added eight points.
Putnam County returned to the court Tuesday against Thomson and will host Glenn Hills on Friday. The Lady War Eagles enter the week with a 3-1 mark in region play and are fourth in the standings.