A Royal Season comes to an end

Monday-The Jay Lady Royals’ season ended at Ponce de Leon in the regional championship game for the second year in a row, 62-48. Ponce (22-2) came out firing on all cylinders, rarely missing any first quarter shots while Jay (21-5) struggled most of the night to connect from the field.

Trailing 17-10 going into the second quarter, things got worse for the Lady Royals as the Pirates hit three 3 pointers on their way to 18 points. Offensively, Jay only could muster seven in the second. They trailed 35-17 at halftime.

Jay came out after halftime and worked the ball inside, scoring 17 in the third. However, Ponce’s hot shooting continued and the lead remained at 18 going into the fourth.

The Lady Royals would make a run in the fourth, getting within 10 points of the Pirates with five minutes left to play, but that’s as close as it would get.

Presley Hawthorne led the way for Jay with 14 points.

JHS 10 7 17 14-48

PHS 17 18 17 10-62

(A. Nelson 10, P. Hawthorne 14, C. Baker 3, G. Lewis 2, C. Gilbreath 7, H. Locklin 8, M. Grimes 4)