Morgan Academy splits with Macon East

Published 1:46 pm Monday, December 20, 2021

Morgan Academy and Macon East split a basketball doubleheader last weekend.

The 10th ranked Lady Senators hammered Macon East 51-29. The Senators fell 56-54 at the buzzer.

Morgan Academy girls 51, Macon East 29: Bailey Brown scored 26 points and made eight steals as the Lady Senators cruised in their first game ranked in the AISA Top 10 poll by the Alabama Sportswriters Association (ASWA).

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The Lady Senators jumped out to a 8-0 lead and never looked back, improving to 8-4.

Keenan McHugh also had a big game for the Lady Senators, scoring nine points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Sarah Thomas had eight assists for Morgan Academy.

“Just proud of the way we are playing this year,” Lady Senators coach Lebo Jones said. “We play an exciting brand of basketball.”

Macon East 56, Morgan Academy 54: The Senators came oh-so-close to pulling off an upset victory over the Knights, defending AISA champions.

The Senators trailed 54-52 with 10 second left when Davis Vardaman was fouled after a lay-up with 7.6 seconds left.

Vardaman missed the free throw, but the Knights (10-2) rebounded and drove the length of the floor for a game-winning lay-up as time expired.

The Senators were down by five under 30 seconds left in regulation, but made a furious comeback.

Morgan Academy coach Matthew Allen said he’s proud of the Senators’ effort and expects improvement.

“We took the defending 2A state champs down to the wire and only lost by 2 in the last second,” Allen said.

“We are showing huge improvements and I hope we can keep growing. To all my players that see this I’m extremely proud of how hard they fought.”

Andrew Thomas led the Senators with 12 points. Vardaman finished 11 points. Cink Minter scored 10. Rhyne Williams and Cole Wilson each scored nine.

The game was tied 12-12 after one quarter, the Senators led 25-24 at halftime and 40-38 after three quarters.