Published Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Local teams enter final week of regular season

The Newnan Times-Herald

The Northgate Vikings and Lady Vikings close out their regular seasons with games at home tonight while Newnan and East Coweta play on the road before meeting in Sharpsburg on Friday.

Northgate hosts Villa Rica in games that were postponed because of snow back on Jan. 8 as Newnan visits Pebblebrook and East Coweta travels to Westlake.

The East Coweta boys will take on the state's third-ranked team on its own floor without the services of coach Ronnie Vandiver who was ejected from last Friday's game at Mundy's Mill.

Vandiver sat out (as mandated by GHSA rules) Saturday's game and will miss one more before returning to the bench for Friday's regular-season finale against Newnan.

The Indians played the Lions, ranked third in Class AAAAA, extremely well when the two teams met in Sharpsburg on Jan. 13 before Westlake came away with an 80-72 win.

The Lions are coming off their 63-54 win at Newnan on Friday which ran their impressive record to 21-2 overall and 15-1 in region play.

The Westlake boys have a six game winning streak going and have won 10 of their last 11.

The Indians lost their games against Mundy's Mill on Friday and Whitewater on Saturday and are 8-14 overall and 5-11 in region play with two league games left.

The challenge isn't any less daunting for the Lady Indians who face the 10th ranked Lady Lions who beat Newnan on Friday, 74-27, and are now 17-3 and 15-1.

The East Coweta girls beat Whitewater on Saturday, 34-28, matching their best defensive effort of the year to run their record to 7-16 and 5-11.

The Lady Lions downed the EC girls, 66-35, in Sharpsburg on Jan. 13.

Both Westlake teams have wrapped up top seedings heading into next week's region tournament.

Newnan, after rebounding from its Westlake loss Friday with a 61-44 win over Riverdale at home on Saturday, takes on a Pebblebrook team it beat by 20 points on Jan. 28 in the Max Bass Athletic Center.

Pebblebrook lost to Riverdale on Friday and heads into the Newnan fray with a 9-12 overall record.

The Pebblebrook girls beat Newnan in their first meeting, 41-33, and are 5-12 and 4-10.

The Lady Cougars lost on Saturday to Riverdale, their sixth straight loss and eighth in their last nine games.

The Newnan girls are 6-16 overall and 4-14 in region play.

Both Northgate teams lost at McIntosh over the weekend, the Vikings, 63-38, and the Lady Vikings, 35-33.

The Villa Rica boys lost to Lithia Springs on Friday, 75-62, and come in at 15-9 and 4-7 in region play.

That Wildcat loss on Friday came after they dropped a double overtime, 106-100, game to Banneker last Tuesday.

The Villa Rica girls were beaten by Lithia Springs in their last outing, 58-51, and are 13-10 overall.

The Lady Cats' loss was their third in the last four games and fifth in their last seven.