Brookwood’s Mollie Vick drives the ball to the basket on Thursday.

THOMASVILLE — Brookwood’s basketball teams earned wins against visiting Grace Academy on Thursday night, with the girls putting on a dominating performance for a 79-20 win and the boys hanging on late for a 42-32 victory at Joe and Mary Beverly Athletic Center.

Brookwood’s girls built a 6-0 lead early in the first with a three from Mollie Vick and made free throws from Ann Murray Jackson and Erin Lewis. Brookwood eventually worked its advantage to a commanding 16-0 with four minutes left in the first quarter. Vick played a huge part in that early success, scoring 12 points in the opening period alone. 

The Cougars finally scored their first points of the game with 3:43 left in the first quarter, and even with a buzzer-beating three to end the period, they trailed the Warriors 30-8 going into the second.

Holland Walker had not scored to that point, but in the second quarter, she scored seven points to help her team take even more control. The Warriors blanked their opponents 26-0 in the third quarter, with the Cougars unable to make shots or hang on to the ball. At the half, Brookwood led 47-14. 

Brookwood mixed in their starters with some bench players in the third, and was easily able to stay ahead with by making most of its shots and continuing to taking advantage of Grace’s mistakes. The Warriors pulled all their starters from the game midway through a shortened fourth quarter. 

Vick finished her night with 16 points, which led the team. Ann Murray Jackson had 13 points, while Walker and Jordan Thompson had 11 and 12, respectively.

The boys game was much more contested. The Warriors jumped out to a 5-1 lead early with a three from Noah Owens, and eventually took a 13-4 advantage with 1:50 left in the first quarter. Owens scored nine points for Brookwood, but his role in the team’s first win of the year was much deeper than that. 

“Noah Owens had the assignment of defending their best player,” Brookwood boys coach Drew Giudice said. “He played him no catch for almost the whole time he was out there, really. He was the difference in the game defensively.”

Slowly but surely, Grace climbed back into the game after trailing 16-4 at the end of one, taking advantage of Brookwood turnovers along the way. The Cougars drew to within six points of tying the game, but the Warriors held a 22-15 halftime lead.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Cougars only trailed 30-25, and had some golden chances to take the lead late. Brookwood only made four of 13 free throws in the last quarter, which helped to keep Grace’s hopes for a comeback alive.

With his team leading by just five with 2:06 left win in the game, the Warriors’ JP Chapman came away with a steal and score. The Cougars answered back, but Owens made a layup to keep Brookwood’s lead at five with 1:11 left. Grace missed three straight free throw shots with time running down, and the Warriors came away with the close win. 

Chapman led the Warriors with 13 points on the night. Kurtis Brown finished with six points. The game marked the first victory of Giudice’s high school head coaching career.

“It’s exciting but I have the easy part,” he said. “They’re the ones on the court that have score and make plays and defend.”