Tallulah Falls drops pair with Rabun in region tilt

GIRLS

The Lady Indians saw their two-game region win streak come to a halt with a 84-47 home loss on Tuesday to Rabun County.

After sticking close with a 16-16 first quarter in which Denika Lightbourne scored 14 points, #2-ranked Rabun County then pulled away in the second after outscoring TFS 31-10. That left the Lady Indians reeling, down 47-26 at the break.

From there, the visitors continued to stretch the lead until the final horn produced the 84-47 score.

Lightbourne led Tallulah Falls with 30 points, while Breelyn Wood added 7. Molly Mitchell had 6 and Tanisha Seymour 4 in the loss.

TFS is now 6-12 overall and 2-2 within Region 8-A DI play. The girls return to action on Friday at home against Elbert County.

BOYS

#6-ranked TFS took on Rabun County Tuesday in a crucial region matchup, and dropped a third consecutive game by way of a 68-56 defeat

Lincoln Hall had a game-tying 3-pointer in the first to keep TFS close. After Rabun went ahead 8-5, Anfernee Hanna had an acrobatic 3-point play to knot the game up more than midway through the quarter. After a 6-0 run by the visitors, the Indians got new life when both Krystian Jankiewicz and Hanna splashed from downtown. However, Rabun County led 18-14 after one.

The Wildcats pulled ahead with a quick start to the second, taking a commanding 10-point lead before Diego Crotta’s back-to-back 3-pointers, and another by Vlad Popescu ended the run and made it a 26-23 game. TFS eventually tied the game on Crotta’s third triple of the night, making it a 30-all score. Rabun hit a buzzer-beating layup to go up 32-30 at the half.

Out of the break, Hanna notched a layup to tie the contest at 32. Crotta hit yet another deep shot to even the game at 35, and a Hanna lay-in made it 37-35. TFS held a slim 3-point lead before Rabun reclaimed the advantage, though Hanna again tied it at 41 momentarily. Rabun took a 47-41 lead heading into the final stanza.

The Wildcats again went up by 10 early in the fourth. Though TFS would bridge that gap, the Indians never got closer than within 5 points the rest of the way.

Hanna closed with 16 and Crotta 12 points, while Hall and Popescu added 11 and 8 points, respectively. Jankiewicz had 5 and Zakhar Valasiuk 4.

The Indians move to 13-5 overall and are 2-2 in region play.