By Brandon O’Connor

Reporter

The Grace Christian Academy boys’ and girls’ basketball teams opened their seasons in dominant fashion on Thursday with victories over Byne Christian School in Albany.

The Lady Cougars defeated the Saints 50-6. They were led by Abigail Mills and Mikey Harrell, who each outscored the opposing Saints on their own. Mills had eight points in the victory and Harrell had seven.

“I’m very proud of Abigail Mills, our leading scorer of the night,” girls’ head coach Mike Harrell said. “We had very well-rounded, balanced scoring tonight. The performance across our entire team was excellent. I’m very pleased with how these young ladies played tonight.”

Caroline Wells, Kate McRae and Carly Godwin each added six points in the win. Addie Elkins had five, Kaitlyn Holcombe and Emellia Woodrum had four and Mallie Andrews and Breanna Pritchett each had two.

The Cougars pulled away for a 57-27 victory over the Byne Christian School Saints thanks to a double-double by a Sam McRae. He led the Cougars with 26 points and 11 rebounds.  He also had three steals.

Clay Wells was second on the team with 12 points and Branch Austinson was third with seven.

“This was our first game of the season,” boys’ head coach Mallory McRae said. “We didn’t shoot as well as I would have liked. We need to take higher percentage shots. However, I was really pleased with the rebounding and defense. Looking forward to a great season.”

Jared Duke finished second on the team with five rebounds and Jeb Smith had two steals to round out the Cougar box score.

GCA returned to the court Tuesday evening with a road game against Robert F. Monroe in Quincy, Florida