Newton Citizen

Conyers -- The Heritage girl's basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak Friday in Conyers and got their first Region 8-AAAA victory, holding off Loganville, 44-43. The Patriots blew a nine-point lead, but hung on for a much-needed win, which followed a 50-29 loss to rival Salem on Tuesday.

"It was good to finally get a win again because the girls were starting to get down on themselves," said Heritage coach Chris Pennamon, whose team improved to 10-7 and 1-2 in league play. "We still got some things we need to fix, (but) it was a good one to get back on track."

Aujana Dawkins led the Patriots with 14 points and Adelia Hardaway added 11. Loganville fell to 7-9 and 0-2 against region foes.

A few miles down the road, Class AAAA No. 7 Rockdale had trouble getting any offense going and lost at home to Miller Grove, which snapped the Bulldogs' four-game winning streak. The non-region contest was a rematch from last season's first round of the Class AAAA state playoffs, won by Miller Grove, 45-38.

"We just couldn't get any offense going ... both teams couldn't get any offense going," Rockdale coach Sherri Williams said. "Defense was the strength. Miller Grove had a solid defense as well as us. We just tried to run a new play that we implemented, and it just wasn't executed."

Rockdale (14-2), which got 21 points from Tennessee State signee Brianna Lawrence and bounced back with a 63-47 win over Stephens County on Saturday at Salem High School, will host Heritage on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

"Big rivalry game," Pennamon said. "Coming into the Rockdale game, we just got to stay focused and try to do what we do best, which is play good (defense).