Sophomore Anna Newton scored 25 points in three quarters of play to lead Bulloch Academy to a 58-26 beat down of Edmund Burke Academy in non-region girls’ basketball action Friday night.
    The forward netted 22 points in the first half and junior center Taylor Collins added 14, including a six-for-six performance from the free-throw line, for the victory. Newton was 9-of-15 from the charity stripe. As a team, the Lady Gators were 24-of-38.
    Bulloch (15-4) started out with a tenacious back-court press which caused massive problems for the Lady Spartans (4-10). The Lady Gators couldn’t
convert the turnovers into points in the early minutes though. Slowly, the Bulloch girls began to get better, working hard on defense with quick guards Rachel Gilbert, Lauren Dennard and Mary Margaret Reeves and tough play by forward Haley Burke. Bulloch slowly pulled away from the Waynesboro squad.
    But Collins collected her second foul at the 3:39 mark and BA head coach Paul Webb benched her to keep her from collecting more. This put the load on Newton’s back and she responded by scoring 12. Her patented shot from the elbow with one second left put the Lady Gators up 19-7.
    In the second, the Lady Gators shot poorly from the field in the early minutes. But they warmed up on both offense and defense, going on a 9-0 run in the waning minutes to take a 34-11 lead by intermission. Newton added 10 more. BA’s full-court pressure devastated the Lady Spartans.
    In the third, Bulloch backed off to half court and that seemed to hurt EBA worse. Collins pumped in 10 points before she was off again to the bench, this time by collecting her fourth personal. But BA had taken a huge lead, and Webb went deep into his bench personnel, mixing starters with freshmen.
    Gilbert hit a pair of free throws for a 29-point lead, 48-19, with two minutes left. By the buzzer, the BA girls led by 31, 53-22, and the running-clock rule took effect in the fourth quarter. Amanda Bragg led EBA with seven points and Jennifer McDaniel had six.        In the fourth, Webb’s freshman team got loads of playing time as he rested his starters, who have an important Region 4-AAA game tonight in Dublin against the second-ranked Trinity Christian Lady Crusaders. The TCS girls are 21-2 overall and 5-0 in region play.

Bulloch 70, Edmund Burke 43
    Eleven players scored in Bulloch’s 27-point drubbing of the young Spartans.
    BA head coach Chandler Dennard went to his bench early and often in the rout, even giving his younger players quality first-quarter minutes. Bulloch (13-4) took a 15-8 lead by the end of a sloppy first eight minutes.
    The Spartans (3-12) had no intentions of surrendering. They marched their way to within three points, 19-16, early in the second quarter when Haden Wade had an old-fashioned three-point play at the 6:20 mark.
    That was as close as they would ever get.
    Senior Davis Howell hit back-to-back three-pointers to fuel a 12-0 run. The quick Gator man defense kept the tempo fast and furious as they ran the score to 31-16. Bulloch outscored EBA 21-16 in the second quarter to take a 36-24 halftime lead.
    The Gators pulled away in the third, taking a 20-point lead on Zach Altany’s layup off a Ross Rainey steal at the 1:34 mark. Altany led BA with 19 points on the night. With seconds left, Forrest Spence had a sweet pick-pocket steal and went coast-to-coast for the layup for a 51-31 lead at the buzzer.
    Bulloch kept its 20-point lead throughout the fourth quarter. The Gators outscored the Spartans 19-12 in the final eight minutes for the win.
    Jon Jon Evans led Edmund Burke with 11 points while both Wade and Ben Murray had 10 each. Other leaders for Bulloch were Howell with eight, Brandon Walker with eight, Ellis Lane with seven and Rainey with six.
    The Gators travel to Dublin tonight to face Trinity Christian School in region action.
    In Friday afternoon games, the Lady Gator B-team nipped Edmund Burke 20-19. Freshman Danielle Atkinson hit a free throw with one second left in the game for the win. She also led BA with five points and Page Spence had
four.
    In the boys’ B-team game, Bailey Smith and Forest Spence scored eight each to lead the Gators to a 38-19 win over EBA.
    Both BA B-teams are in action at Trinity this afternoon.