By PATRICK CASEY
The South Walton Seahawks hosted a pair of important district games on Friday night against the Port St. Joe Sharks with both varsity squads coming away with victories.
The South Walton girls held on for a 46-44 win that helped them into the lead of the District 4, Class A standings as senior Casey Perot scored 19 points.
On the boys side, the Seahawks raced out to a 21-7 lead after one quarter of play and held a double digit lead for most of the night to take a 63-49 decision to take second place in the district with two contests left to go in the race.
The girls contest saw both squads struggle with turnovers in the first half as South Walton posted a 23-20 advantage while forcing 15 turnovers from the visiting team.
The Sharks rallied with a surge in the third quarter to take a 33-28 lead into the fourth only to see South Walton get to the free throw line and make a comeback of their own. The Seahawks hit 9-of-16 shots from the charity stripe and got a key three-point shot from senior Katie Logan to improve to 12-10 on the year and finish the district slate with a 9-1 mark.
South Walton made 11-of-38 shots from the floor but hit on 20-of-36 free throws in the game to avenge their lone district loss of the year, a 46-32 defeat in Port St. Joe on Dec. 13.
Savannah Hiers had 11 points in the game and kept the Seahawks in the contest early with three long shots from behind the arc.
Port St. Joe countered with three players in double figures as Teiyahna Hutchinson scored 17 with Halie Jasinski going for 11 and Brooklyn Quinn adding 10. The Sharks hit 17-of-37 shots from the floor but had 22 turnovers in the game and made only 7-of-23 shots from the free throw line to lose their first district game of the season.
Coach John Davies saw his squad hit four shots from behind the arc in the opening quarter as Paxton Dixon scored 10 of his 18 points early in the contest to help the Seahawks get off to a hot start.
Wyatt Kemper took over in the second quarter as he scored 10 of his 22 points in that period to propel the Walton County squad to a 40-25 halftime lead.
Both teams struggled to get into a flow on offense in the second half as lots of fouls slowed the pace of the contest. The Seahawks finished the quarter up 50-39 and made enough shots the rest of the way to take a fairly comfortable win.
John Woolf added 10 points for South Walton as the squad made 21-of-48 shots from the field to go with 16-of-21 at the free throw line.
Port St. Joe could not find their long distance shooting touch for most of the night and had several players in foul trouble by halftime to slow their comeback effort.
Sophomore Sergio Clemons led the Sharks with 17 points and Marquez Johnson and T.J. Williams added 10 apiece. Port St. Joe hit on 18-of-53 shots from the field and 10-of-13 from the free throw line but had 19 turnovers in the game as they fell to 8-10 overall and 2-4 in district play.
South Walton moved to 11-8 overall and 6-2 in the district and will wrap up the district portion of their slate with games at Liberty County and Bozeman this week.
Team Notes: The South Walton girls will be either the #1 or #2 seed which will give them a first round by in the upcoming District 4, Class A tournament that will be held in Bristol. Kevin Craig is in his tenth season at the helm of the girls program and holds a mark of 184-90 in that time. John Davies is in his seventh season at South Walton and holds a record of 84-97 with the boys.
South Walton Sweeps Port St. Joe
By PATRICK CASEY
The South Walton Seahawks hosted a pair of important district games on Friday night against the Port St. Joe Sharks with both varsity squads coming away with victories.
The South Walton girls held on for a 46-44 win that helped them into the lead of the District 4, Class A standings as senior Casey Perot scored 19 points.
On the boys side, the Seahawks raced out to a 21-7 lead after one quarter of play and held a double digit lead for most of the night to take a 63-49 decision to take second place in the district with two contests left to go in the race.
The girls contest saw both squads struggle with turnovers in the first half as South Walton posted a 23-20 advantage while forcing 15 turnovers from the visiting team.
The Sharks rallied with a surge in the third quarter to take a 33-28 lead into the fourth only to see South Walton get to the free throw line and make a comeback of their own. The Seahawks hit 9-of-16 shots from the charity stripe and got a key three-point shot from senior Katie Logan to improve to 12-10 on the year and finish the district slate with a 9-1 mark.
South Walton made 11-of-38 shots from the floor but hit on 20-of-36 free throws in the game to avenge their lone district loss of the year, a 46-32 defeat in Port St. Joe on Dec. 13.
Savannah Hiers had 11 points in the game and kept the Seahawks in the contest early with three long shots from behind the arc.
Port St. Joe countered with three players in double figures as Teiyahna Hutchinson scored 17 with Halie Jasinski going for 11 and Brooklyn Quinn adding 10. The Sharks hit 17-of-37 shots from the floor but had 22 turnovers in the game and made only 7-of-23 shots from the free throw line to lose their first district game of the season.
Coach John Davies saw his squad hit four shots from behind the arc in the opening quarter as Paxton Dixon scored 10 of his 18 points early in the contest to help the Seahawks get off to a hot start.
Wyatt Kemper took over in the second quarter as he scored 10 of his 22 points in that period to propel the Walton County squad to a 40-25 halftime lead.
Both teams struggled to get into a flow on offense in the second half as lots of fouls slowed the pace of the contest. The Seahawks finished the quarter up 50-39 and made enough shots the rest of the way to take a fairly comfortable win.
John Woolf added 10 points for South Walton as the squad made 21-of-48 shots from the field to go with 16-of-21 at the free throw line.
Port St. Joe could not find their long distance shooting touch for most of the night and had several players in foul trouble by halftime to slow their comeback effort.
Sophomore Sergio Clemons led the Sharks with 17 points and Marquez Johnson and T.J. Williams added 10 apiece. Port St. Joe hit on 18-of-53 shots from the field and 10-of-13 from the free throw line but had 19 turnovers in the game as they fell to 8-10 overall and 2-4 in district play.
South Walton moved to 11-8 overall and 6-2 in the district and will wrap up the district portion of their slate with games at Liberty County and Bozeman this week.
Team Notes: The South Walton girls will be either the #1 or #2 seed which will give them a first round by in the upcoming District 4, Class A tournament that will be held in Bristol. Kevin Craig is in his tenth season at the helm of the girls program and holds a mark of 184-90 in that time. John Davies is in his seventh season at South Walton and holds a record of 84-97 with the boys.