Basketball Recap: Thomas County Central Takes a Loss

Thomas County Central played a tough matchup on Monday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They had to suffer through a 60-25 loss at the hands of the Coffee Trojans. While losing is never fun, the Yellow Jackets can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 239th, while the Trojans are ranked 28th).

Jaida Rice

Points (Career)

02/03/25 vs Coffee	11
01/10/25 vs Houston County	9
01/03/25 vs Northside	8
12/28/24 vs Mitchell County	8
12/26/24 vs Lincoln	8

Thomas County Central's loss came despite strong showings from Nia Hayes and Jaida Rice. Hayes posted nine points in addition to six rebounds and three steals, while Rice scored 11 points and six boards. The dominant performance gave Rice a new career-high in points.

Even though they lost, Thomas County Central smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in four consecutive games.

Paris Riley had an outrageously good game for Coffee as she went 9 of 20 to rack up 18 points along with eight steals and five rebounds. Riley has been hot for a while, having posted two or more steals the last 14 times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jasmine Porter, who went 6 for 9 on her way to 15 points in addition to seven steals and six boards.

Thomas County Central dropped their record down to 10-13 with the defeat, which was their fourth straight at home. As for Coffee, the win (which was their tenth in a row) raised their record to 21-1.

Thomas County Central wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next contest, a 37-24 loss against Northside on the 7th. As for Coffee, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 54-15 victory against Fitzgerald on the 5th.