Pee Dee Academy breakouts with win

Pee Dee Academy broke into the New Year, playing three region basketball contests on the road.
Both varsity squads came out on the upside of the busy schedule, however, taking two out of three games.
Head Coach Jerry Coleman’s Lady Golden Eagles had a rough start to the week, facing Trinity Collegiate.
The Lady Titans forced 35 turnovers, in route to a 44-28 win to push the Golden Eagles to 0-2 in the region.
The Lady Golden Eagles would come out stronger in Kingstree on Friday night. Katelyn Browne took charge early down low, scoring two quick inside hoops. Jeffre Rogers would control the outside in the early going, hitting one from deep on the baseline, followed by another jumper. C.C. Causey drained a 12-footer and went coast-to-coast on a steal, setting up a 12-point lead before the Stallions got on the scoreboard.
A lay-up from Ginni Reaves McMillan and two free throws from Brittany Ellis finished the first quarter with the Golden Eagles in firm control, 17-3.
The lead swelled to 19 by intermission and Pee Dee cruised to a 51-24 victory.
Browne and Causey led the winning effort with 13 and 12 points respectively.
That left the week’s rubber match to be played at Byrnes on Saturday. The Trojans have not been able to down the Golden Eagles in over ten seasons, but their squad came out revved up for this one.
Two quick Katelyn Browne scores had Pee Dee ahead early. However, that would be all of the offense in the first quarter as the Trojans controlled the boards a 5-4 lead into the second quarter.
That was as far as Byrnes would be able to hang in. Taylor Williams connected on a baseline jumper to start the second, then “the Rogers sisters,” Katherine and Jeffre both made field goals for a 10-6 lead, which increased to ten at the break.
The 36-21 final pushed the Lady Eagles record to 11-4 overall and 4-2 in region play.
Katherine Rogers led the way with 12 points, followed by Browne with 10.
The boy’s week got off to quite a start as they battled the Titans of Trinity in a classic duel that ended up in the third one-point affair in as many games between the two.
Early on, however, that did not seem to be the case. A Bradley George jumper was all the offense Pee Dee put together, falling behind 11-2 in the first seven minutes. Trinity put together a 9-0 run before Kevin Driggers connected to pull the road team within 11-5 in the opening quarter.
The Golden Eagles, getting a pair of baskets down low from Brett Hester and a pull-up from Kevin Thomas had cut the deficit to seven at halftime.
In the third, Pee Dee came out a new team. Charlie Fincannon dished out assists to Thomas for two scores down low along with a score himself on a runner and foul to tie the score. Another driving hoop by Fincannon had the Golden Eagles up two, but Trinity would grab the lead by one heading into the fourth quarter.
Pee Dee fell behind by seven with three minutes to play, but Fincannon added two more baskets to pull the Golden Eagles to a single possession. Trinity went up by four, but George nailed a trey with 15 seconds to play.
Pee Dee’s defense held on the next possession and a foul resulted, sending Cody Gibson to the line with two seconds to play. Gibson would hit one of two to send the game to overtime.
Trinity buried a late trey to send the game into a second overtime. Free throws had Pee Dee up three late, but Trinity again managed to bury another outside shot to tie the game with 15 seconds left.
Fincannon went to the line and broke the tie with a free throw. The Golden Eagles defense came up with a steal to seal the deal, winning by a score of 45-44. It was Pee Dee’s first double overtime win in 25 years.
Fincannon led the scoring with 22.
This past Friday PDA jumped out to a 15-point lead against Williamsburg, and then held off a late Stallions rally for the 41-30 victory. Kevin Driggers played like a man amongst boys down low, scoring 16 points. Fincannon followed closely behind with 12 points in the win.
The boys took their two game win streak to Florence for a rare Saturday get-together with their oldest rivals, the Byrnes Trojans. With the addition of Kendall Bergman, the 6’7 transfer from Trinity, the Trojans looked on paper to have too much to handle.
But, the Golden Eagles showed early they wouldn’t back down. Bradley George came out on fire, nailing a trey from the wing, pull-up jumper, and another three pointer. However, Pee Dee still trailed by a point in the first quarter.
George came out in the second and picked up right where he left off, hitting two more from “downtown.”   
The two teams were tied at halftime, but Byrnes ran off 13 consecutive points to break away.
The Golden Eagles suffered a 45-38 defeat, resulting in 3-8 record on the year, and 2-4 in region play.