Jackson Progress-Argus

The players from the girls team put their hands in the center of the huddle before the end of a time-out Monday night vs. Locust Grove High School.

Both the boys and girls Jackson High School basketball teams’ seasons ended Monday night in the opening games of their respective region tournaments, with both teams going down to Locust Grove.

Jackson Boys

The Jackson boys’ season finished on a sour note Monday night as they were downed 60-54 by a Locust Grove team that they had beaten less than two weeks before. The loss knocked Jackson out of the region tournament ending its season with a 3-23 record.

Head Coach Dary Myricks said it was turnovers that led to his team’s demise, as they became sloppier with the ball as the game progressed.

“Turnovers killed us,” Myricks said. “We played a great first half and an awful second half. We had seven turnovers at halftime, and who knows how many in the second half.”

Myricks said he was disappointed that the seniors on the team had to endure such a rough season, but that they were still pivotal in the improvement the team made over the course of the season.

“LaDarian [Spivey], Pheanious [McKibben], and all the seniors, I just hate the way it ended for those guys,” Myricks said. “I hate for them the way this season went, because they are all great kids and they all work hard. They meant a ton to this team. Seniors are the backbone of this program, and they stepped up and were great for us.”

Spivey, the team’s leading scorer for the past two seasons, was voted by the region 4-AAA coaches to the second team All-Region Team.

Despite the poor results, Myricks said he was proud of the effort his players gave throughout the season, and he think the program is in good hands with the young players that will be back next year.

“There’s a lot of good young kids here that, if they go out and work hard and have a great offseason, they can come back and do some great things,” Myricks said. “Brandon [Hardy] is really young -- he’s just a sophomore, which is great because it’s nice to have a really strong post player who can step out and shoot the ball. We only had four seniors in this program, so we have a lot of kids coming back and I think they will be able to do good things for us.”

Jackson Girls

The Jackson girls team was eliminated from the region tournament Monday night by Locust Grove High School 46-25. Like the boys team, the Jackson girls beat Locust grove on Jan. 31, less than two weeks prior.

The team struggled mightily down the stretch of the season as coach Corey Johnson’s squad faced an attrition battle due to injuries and departures. He said he was left with a very young team, with many not prepared for the competition that varsity basketball represents.

“A lot of the girls on the team have never even played organized basketball, let alone varsity basketball,” said Johnson after the loss. “That’s not a knock on them. They just shouldn’t have been thrown into this position, but we needed bodies. It’s unfortunate that these girls were in this position, but I’m very proud of the courage and tenacity that they all played with.”

One of the bright spots for the team was its sophomore point guard, Latara Grier, who was named to the second team All-Region Team by the region’s coaches. Despite her efforts Jackson finished with a 2-22 record, with both wins ironically coming against Locust Grove.

Johnson said that while the girls have a lot of work to do, they can only get better, and said he hopes the members of his team work hard in the offseason.

“What they really need to do is work hard in the weight room and play more games,” said Johnson. “They need to develop the muscles it takes to do things correctly on a basketball court like pass and shoot. Also, they need to play. They need to find pick- up games, whether it’s at the rec center or a driveway somewhere, they need to play basketball. If they can do those things, I think there will be huge improvements.”