THOMASVILLE – It was the perfect start to the new year for the Brookwood Warriors with back-to-back dominating performances on the basketball court. On Friday night the Warriors had one of the most dominating performances you’ll see in an 84-17 win over Westwood. The following night, Brookwood traveled to Deerfield-Windsor for their first region contest of the season and secured the 50-24 victory.

Against Westwood, Brookwood clearly outclassed and out-talented the Wildcats. They started out quickly with a bevy of dunks from Walker Jackson, including a beauty of an alley-oop from sophomore Jordyn Jean. Brookwood’s defense smothered Westwood, giving the Warriors plenty of transition baskets and leading to a 35-0 score after the first quarter. At one point, the Warriors were up 51-0 in the second quarter and the Wildcats didn’t score three first points until 4:29 left in the first half. 

The first half ended 59-8 and Brookwood never let up. They held Westwood scoreless once again in the third quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 13-0. Brookwood went on to win the game 84-17.

“I think there’s a lot of times when you play teams like that where it’s pretty easy to get complacent and just kind of ride your talent,” said Brookwood head coach Nate VanDuyne. “So, I think the fact that we came out as locked in and as focused as what we did, you get up by that margin, without letting them score, that’s pretty impressive. You don’t see that very often.”

On Saturday, the Warriors headed up to Albany for their first region contest of the season against Deerfield-Windsor.

“Deerfield has always been that region rival that it’s kind of just a battle of wills to where we want to play with a lot of pace and put a lot of points on the board and they want to do the opposite,” Vanduyne said.

Brookwood had a rocky start to the game, going down 9-1 and allowing 12 points in the first quarter. The Warriors locked in after the first buzzer, however, and held the Knights to just 12 points through three quarters. The game ended in a final score of 50-24 and served as a picture of what Brookwood is capable of under pressure. To keep it simple, they still dominate.

“I think it’s massive because it’s tone setting,” VanDuyne said about their first region win. “By many accounts, we think that Deerfield is probably potentially the second-best team in our region. So, to do that on their court, that makes a statement. But I think it’s bigger than that for us. We’ve talked about not just winning but winning by fulfilling the standards we’ve set for ourselves and I think it’s important that you come out in that first one and you do what you say you’re going to do.”

VanDuyne was quick to comment on the Warriors’ goals and what they want out of this season saying, “We have goals with this team that go beyond our region”.