The Quitman Bulldogs lost a heart-breaking game to the Harmony Eagles on Friday, Jan 26. The Bulldogs led many times during the game, but couldn’t quite hold on to the finish, losing 52-45.

The game started slow with the Bulldogs unable to score on their opening possession. Harmony gained a single point from a free throw during their first possession. Both teams were sluggish in the opening minutes and struggled to hit their shots.

Senior Carter Smith finally found his groove midway through the quarter and drove to the basket for two. After an attempt and miss from Harmony, Smith got the ball back and scored two more with a jump shot. Harmony answered with their own basket, but Quitman bounced back with a triple. Quitman’s Payton Sapp scored another three pointer and the quarter ended with Harmony up by one, 11-10. 

Things heated up the second quarter as Harmony opened with a triple. The Bulldog’s Payton Sapp responded with his own triple. Harmony scored again and then Quitman’s Smith shot for three and missed but rebounded his own shot and drove to the basket for two points. Payton Sapp went on to have a great quarter scoring a two-pointer and another triple. Jace Peek also scored a basket. Bryson Hobbs scored a free throw and then with 0.8 seconds left in the first half, Daniel Kernes threw the ball in to Hobbs under the basket who lobbed the ball up for an easy two points as the buzzer sounded, giving the Bulldogs the upper hand with a two point lead going into halftime, 25-23. 

The Eagles returned to the court for the second half with a vengeance, scoring four baskets and a free throw before the Bulldog’s Sapp landed a triple. The quarter was a defensive battle, but Carter Smith landed two baskets. Quitman played defensively, in particular Klayton Meadows who took a couple of hard falls and was fouled. He struggled at the free throw line, though, and Quitman ended the quarter trailing 39-31. 

The fourth quarter started with a bang for Quitman with Daniel Kernes scoring three points in the first few seconds. Quitman fought hard the last quarter and outscored the Eagles 14-13, but that would not be enough to earn them a win. The Bulldogs’ Smith scored six points in the fourth quarter, and Jacob Breding and Jace Peek scored two points each.