ATHENS—Ladondra Johnson scored 15 of her game-high 25 points in the first quarter Friday night to jump-start Cedar Shoals to a 66-55 victory over the Apalachee girls’ basketball team in a subregion 8-AAAA North contest at the Lady Jaguars’ gym.

The Lady Wildcats fell behind 10-2 over the first 4:15 of the game, then kept pace with the Lady Jaguars the rest of the way through the game.

After taking its 10-2 advantage, Cedar Shoals only outscored Apalachee 23-22 the rest of the way through the first half, and each team scored 31 points in the second half, with both of them scoring 13 in the third period and 18 in the final stanza.

“If we’re going to let the other team’s best player do whatever she wants to from the beginning, this is what happens,” Apalachee coach Michael Parks said after the game.

“I probably should have gone to our pressure defense from the beginning.”

Whitley Smith’s 12 points supported Johnson, who also grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds, while Candace Rushing added nine points for the Lady Jags and Ahsha Allen and Breeana Taylor tallied eight apiece.

Apalachee had its usual balanced scoring, with senior Porshia Cleveland leading the way with 22 points.  Lacresha Mayweather scored 12, Saboyce Shelton had 10 and Kiarra Sanford contributed seven.

Shelton grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds, while Mayweather and Cleveland picked off seven apiece.

The loss dropped the Lady ‘Cats to 10-12 overall and 2-6 in subregion play.  They were to have played cross-county rival Winder-Barrow Saturday at the Lady Bulldoggs’ Dogghouse in a makeup of the game that was postponed from Jan. 8.

They return to Athens Tuesday to face Clarke Central in the regular-season finale for both teams.  Tipoff for that game will be at 6 p.m.

Cedar Shoals improved to 15-8 overall and 4-5 in subregion play, a half-game behind Winder-Barrow after Friday’s games.  The Lady Jaguars will host the Lady Bulldoggs Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the final game of the regular season for both schools.

Trailing 48-37 entering the fourth quarter, Apalachee went on a 9-4 run to get within six points on Sanford’s free throw with 5:10 remaining in the game.

A Cleveland basket less than two minutes later trimmed the lead to six again at 54-48, but the Lady Jaguars responded with an 8-2 run to get their lead back to 12 on a three-point play by Johnson with 1:46 left.  The Lady ‘Cats got no closer than nine the rest of the way.

After Johnson scored eight points in the game-opening 12-2 surge, Apalachee scored six unanswered points to cut the lead to four.
Then, in the last 2:30 of the quarter, Cleveland and Johnson traded three baskets apiece as Cedar’s lead alternated between three and five points until the end of the period, when the Lady Jags led 19-14.

Cedar Shoals opened the second period with an 8-4 spurt to take a nine-point lead, but a three-point play by Mayweather cut the margin to six.  The Lady Jags then finished the half on an 8-3 run and led 35-24 at intermission.

The Lady Jaguars went on a 7-2 run to open the third quarter and take their biggest lead of the game, 42-26, with 4:23 left in the period.

They would attain that 16-point margin on three other occasions during the period before Apalachee, with Cleveland scoring six points, finished the quarter with a 7-2 spurt and got back within 11 entering the final eight minutes.

Apalachee made 17 of 23 free throws in the game (73.9 percent), including eight of 11 by Cleveland and six of seven by Shelton, but Cedar Shoals scored a whopping 29 field goals to only 19 for the Lady ‘Cats.

CEDAR SHOALS 66, APALACHEE GIRLS 55
Apalachee          14     10     13     18—55
Cedar Shoals      19     16     13     18—66
Apalachee—Kiarra Sanford 3 1-2 7, Saboyce Shelton 2 6-7 10, Lacresha Mayweather 5 2-3 12, Aliya Ballard 1 0-0 2, Ryan Burke 1 0-0 2, Porshia Cleveland 7 8-11 22, Amy Kelley 0 0-0 0, Amanda Hamilton 0 0-0 0.  Totals 19-59 17-23 55.
Cedar Shoals—Ladondra Johnson 11 3-5 25, Ahsha Allen 4 0-0 8, Whitley Smith 5 1-2 12, Candace Rushing 3 3-6 9, Varlissa Heard 1 0-0 2, Ty Davis 0 0-0 0, Bernae Echols 0 0-0 0, Quinnesha Turner 0 0-0 0, Brittney Smith 1 0-0 2, Taylor Thomas 0 0-0 0, Breeana Taylor 4 0-0 8, Malira Craig 0 0-0 0, Fredrea Gilbert 0 0-0 0.  Totals 29-66 7-13 66.
3-pointers—Apalachee 0, Cedar Shoals 1 (W. Smith).  Rebounds—Apalachee 37 (Shelton 9), Cedar Shoals 45 (Johnson 17).  Turnovers—Apalachee 21, Cedar Shoals 19.  Personal fouls—Apalachee 12, Cedar Shoals 18.