Carver boys, girls basketball teams advance to region finals

As the host teams of the region 1-AAAA tournament, the Carver Lady Tigers and Tigers spoiled the party for others on Thursday.

Carver’s boys and girls basketball teams came away victorious in their region semifinal matchups. The Lady Tigers outlasted a hard-charging Shaw team 71-65, while the Tigers sealed the deal with a strong second half in their 68-62 victory over Westover.

The Lady Tigers started the afternoon off strong for Carver. The Lady Tigers, led by Alycia Reese, constantly hounded the Lady Raiders on defense in the first half to force costly mistakes.

“Defensively, we put pressure on them, but we didn’t play defense the way we play defense,” Lady Tigers head coach Anson Hundley said. “We were able to keep enough pressure on them to pull out the game.”

Carver built a five-point lead in the first half and built on it to hold a 49-43 advantage headed into the fourth.

Shaw threatened a late comeback thanks in large part to Kayla Bonilla, who finished the game with 23 points. But a missed 3-pointer in the final seconds left the Lady Raiders with no choice but to foul, which allowed the Lady Tigers to escape with a win.

Reese led the Lady Tigers with 25 points.

“She’s been a clutch player for us all year,” Hundley said. “I was telling them (late in the fourth quarter) to attack, and she told me she could make some. I told her if she could make it to make it, and she did.”

While the Lady Tigers held the lead for most of their victory, the same cannot be said of their male counterparts.

Westover used its 3-point shooting to its advantage through much of the first half. The Patriots continually picked apart Carver in the opening 16 minutes and headed to the locker room with a 26-21 lead.

At that point, Carver head coach Warren Beaulah said things began to change.

“We told our guys that we weren’t competing at the level that was going to get us into the region championship,” Beaulah said. “They bought into it and came out and chipped away at the lead. We said the first three possessions of the third were going to make a different game, and then everything started falling into place.”

By the looks of the Tigers’ play, Beaulah was right. Carver ended the third quarter on a run that cut the Patriots’ advantage to two points. The Tigers never looked back after the trio of Daniel Melvin, AJ Watts and Rodney Battle took the game over.

All three players ended in double-digit scoring for the Tigers, as Melvin led the way with 17 points, followed by Watts’ 16 and Battle’s 15. Like the Lady Raiders, the Patriots put pressure on Carver going into the final seconds but ultimately fell short of the win.

“We have at least three guys that are going to give us that consistent scoring,” Beaulah said. “When that happens, we have a pretty good chance to win.”

Thursday’s victories means Carver will be in the spotlight come Friday. The Lady Tigers will face Columbus at 7:00 p.m. The Tigers, meanwhile, play Americus-Sumter at 8:30 p.m.

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 11:30 PM with the headline "Carver boys, girls basketball teams advance to region finals."