A Record-Setting Week in 1971

The week of February 15th - 20th of 1971 was a busy week for the basketball teams from Region 4A. Records were set right and left!

4-A South Sub-region of 1971 was held in Fayetteville. The Lady Vikings had a bye until the finals by being ranked first in sub-region. The Vikings had a bye until the finals also. We traveled up to Fayetteville to scout the semi-final games on Feb. 17th. Manchester vs Fayette Co. was the most unusual boys' game I've ever seen. They had to play 10 overtimes! It went on and on; it lasted two and a half hours! The article I saved says some spectators began to leave at the 7th overtime with three seconds left and the score 91-88 Manchester, but Fayette came back with three points in three seconds and the game continued. Manchester finally pulled it out 105 to Fayette's 103. I don't know if it was a record of overtimes played, but it was something to see! Our boys beat Manchester the very next night to win the sub-region championship

On February 18th, 1971 the Lady Vikings got the winning streak tested by Haralson County in the finals of sub-region. They gave us a good game and we ended up victorious by 2 points. We tied the state record of consecutive wins with that victory over Haralson County - 118 games in a row.

We loaded our caravan after that game, and moved on. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Rome, which was close to Rockmart, the location of our region tournament on Friday and Saturday. On the way to Rome, our group of cars had two fender benders. No one was hurt, fortunately, but it was the first wreck I remember in all those years of traveling to games.

The state record was held by Baxley, a city where our teammate Edie Smith Baxley lives now. Baxley's record of 118 wins occurred between 1947 and 1949 over a three year period. It's interesting to note that when their streak was happening teams could play 35 games a year and could win 118 games in just three years. It took the Lady Vikings four years to reach that many games, and we'd had a complete turnover in players.

At the region tournament the very next night in Rockmart, on Friday, February 19th, 1971, the Lady Vikings had a chance to break that state record. Most important was winning the game so that the Lady Vikings could continue on to the state tournament. We beat Model that night by a score of 53 - 29, so we had the state record at 119-0 and we had assured our trip to the state tourney.

In the region 4-A finals, we played Cartersville, a good team that featured two six-foot girls. We won by four points - 57-53.

The Vikings won region also that year, beating Model and Manchester.

1971 was the first time in Taylor County High School history that the boys' and girls' teams both brought home the region trophy.