The Malcom Bridge Lady Lightning held the Oconee County Lady Braves to just one point in the fourth quarter and beat the Lady Braves 32-17 last Wednesday at OCMS to sweep both regular season games against the Lady Braves. In the boys’ game, Jace Richards picked up his first win against Malcom Bridge as a head coach after the Braves came away with a 48-44 win.

VIDEO: Basketball Videos

“For me it’s huge,” said Richards, who is also the head coach of the Braves’ football team. “I told the boys I am proud of them and I will never forget it.”

The first time the two teams met on December 16, the Lightning won 52-44. Jalen Bonds had just three points for the Braves in that game.

Prior to last week’s game against MBMS, Richards said the team had a meeting.

“I talked first and expressed how I was feeling, then me and my assistant coach left and let our players talk,” Richards said. “I told them that they had to come together as a team.”

One player Richards has been waiting on to take over a game is Bonds.

“He has showed flashes of what he can do. He can be aggressive and take it to the hole,” Richards said. “I’ve talked to him about taking over a game, but it is up to him to do it, and he did that tonight.”

Bonds scored seven of the Braves’ 12 points in the fourth quarter and finished with a game-high 23 points. With the game tied at 42, Bonds hit both free throws with 1:56 left to give the Braves a 44-42 lead, and another free throw with 1:28 left to take a 45-42 lead.

With 21.5 seconds left and the Braves leading 45-44, Bonds hit both free throws to help put the Braves back up by three points. Ikwaan Jones hit a free throw with three seconds left to seal the win.

“It was a good game,” Bonds said. “I was feeling confident (before the game) but I didn’t know I would get that many. It felt great.”

Will Leverington added nine points and Jones had seven points for the Braves.

“A big quote for us this year is, ‘Losers let it happen, winners make it happen,’ and they came out determined tonight and made it happen,” Richards said.

Garrett Green and Will Martinez each led the Lightning with 10 points. Carter Warden had nine points.

“It was another hard fought game with two competitive teams. It was close all the way, but they earned it,” said Lightning head coach Randy Cain. Jalen had a great game for them and we just couldn’t find an answer for him. Our kids fought hard. I demand a lot out of them and they give me everything they have.”

The Braves started the game with a 10-4 lead, but the Lightning fought back to cut it to a 14-13 game heading into the second quarter, where the Braves continued to lead, building a seven-point lead with 1:39 remaining, but the Lightning came back once again and cut the Braves’ lead to 26-23 heading into halftime.

The Lightning took the lead after scoring four quick points to start the third quarter. After a 12-2 run which included two 3-pointers by Kyle Vaughn, the Lightning took a 35-28 lead with 2:41 left in the quarter.

The Braves closed the third quarter with an 8-2 run, and the two teams went into the fourth quarter with the Lightning clinging to a 37-36 lead.

The lead changed hands four times in the first 4:26 of the fourth quarter until a free throw by Shields tied the game at 42-42 with 2:17 left.

“Oconee had a quicker lineup than the last time and we were ready for it, but they had a good game,” Cain said. “It wasn’t our best game offensively, but Oconee was the reason for that. They defended hard against us.”

In the girls’ game, the Lady Braves led 5-4 with 2:06 left in the first quarter after a free throw by Taylor Andrews, but Ginny Channell scored with 1:49 left to give the Lady Lightning a lead they never gave up. The Lady Lightning led 10-5 at the end of the first quarter and they built a 17-10 lead with 55 seconds left after points by Rachel Cole.

Summer Collins hit a free throw with no time left on the clock to cut the Lady Lightning lead to 17-11 at halftime.

After a 3-pointer by Maria Colalancia cut the lead to 17-14 with 4:44 left in the third, the Lady Lightning called a time out.

“They weren’t playing up to their potential, but they responded in a positive way,” said Lady Lightning head coach Kevin Daniel.

Carmen Williams then got four quick points to increase the lead back to seven points. Melissa Weiler hit two free throws with 2:15 left in the third, which was the final points of the quarter by either team and the Lady Lightning went into the fourth with a 21-16 lead.

The Lady Braves didn’t score again until 0.5 seconds remained in the game. Channell scored seven points in the fourth quarter and Kelly Willis scored four points in the fourth quarter as the Lady Lightning outscored the Lady Braves 11-1 in the final six minutes to get their second win against the Lady Braves this season.

“This one is bigger because it came at their place, and it’s always good to win at someone else’s,” Willis said. “It was a team effort. We hit some shots that we needed to make to put the pressure on them, and we didn’t let their fans affect us. We tried our best to win, and we were not going to lose.”

Channell led the Lady Lightning with nine points. Willis added eight points and Sheila Bundy had five points.

“We have been making strides since Christmas,” Daniel said. “We’ve played through some adversity and we are still heading in the direction where we want to be.”

The Lady Lightning remained undefeated on the season with the win.

“Things have been falling in our direction, but I’ve been telling the girls to stay humble and continue to work hard because it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Daniel said.

Weiler led the Lady Braves with six points. Colalancia added four points.

“We played a strong three quarters, but they started to pull away in the fourth and we couldn’t catch up,” said Lady Braves head coach Chad Willingham. “It’s a big rivalry and we’ve got a good blend of seventh and eighth graders out there who are still learning to play as a team and are still developing. We still aren’t there yet, but we are learning. We look forward to seeing them in the tournament.”

Matthew Caldwell is sports editor of The Oconee Leader. He can be reached by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone at (706) 310-1104.

---