Dark day for Anniston girls

Sylacauga freshman hits buzzer-beating 3-pointer

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

Derrick Crawford has seen the Sylacauga-Anniston girls basketball series develop into such an intense rivalry he was convinced the team that made the fewest turnovers down the stretch Tuesday night was going to win the game.

As it turned out, it was the team that made the last shot won.

Freshman Kayla Dark nailed a contested 3-pointer right before the buzzer to send Crawford’s Aggies to a 52-51 win over the Bulldogs.

“The last five contests between the two of us have been like that,” Crawford said. “We knew it was going to be a battle. It was just fortunate we were able to get that shot off right after that time out. I told them we were going to win this thing — somebody was going to make a big play. My freshman knocked it down.”

Over the past few years this matchup moved through the teams’ two eventual Division I signees, Anniston’s NeNe Bolton (Alabama) and Sylacauga’s Shakayla Thomas (Florida State), and if they were here Tuesday night, the final options would undoubtedly have involved them. But with both of them gone, the game developed into a test for the supporting cast they left behind.

Sylacauga’s Tierra Dark led all scorers with 32 points — 26 in the second half — while Kiyana Bullock and Raven Cooley emerged for Anniston, but it was the younger Dark sister who turned the lights out on the Bulldogs (2-1).

“We’ve got a lot of experience in both of those girls coming back from a state championship (game) year,” Crawford said. “We expect a lot out of both of them; they showed up and played well for us tonight.”

Dark’s winning 3-pointer was her fourth trey of the game but only one of the second half. It came after Bullock hit the second of two free throws with 6.8 seconds left to push Anniston’s lead to 51-49. The Bulldogs were only 1 of 4 from the foul line, including missing the front ends of two one-and-ones, in the final 57 seconds after Bullock’s inside bucket off the inbounds broke a 48-all tie.

“We played extremely hard, they just played a little bit smarter than us right there at the end,” Anniston coach Eddie Bullock said. “We practice running them off the (3-point) line, making them put the ball on the floor and that’s the mistake we made. It wasn’t so much (Dark) took the shot as we didn’t run off the line. We should have made her dribble and made her shoot on the move.

“When I saw it leave her hand, I knew (it was good). I’d seen it happen to us so many times, so when it leaves their hand I already know. I’ve been through it at least four times.”

Until Tierra Dark got going, Anniston appeared headed to a third straight win to start the season. With Bullock effective inside and Cooley scorching outside, they combined for 17 of the Bulldogs’ last 19 points of the first half to fuel a 24-19 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs were up 10 early in the third quarter, but Sylacauga (3-1) drew even heading into the fourth. There were seven lead changes and five ties in the quarter.

Bullock finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Cooley scored 14 points with three 3-pointers.

“We played hard, but they played harder,” Kiyana Bullock said. “We have to close out and we didn’t close out. We didn’t finish our job at the end. We’ve got to come back twice as hard.”

Lincoln Thanksgiving Tournament
Jacksonville 64, Ashville 45

LINCOLN – Sierra Stone scored 16 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead the Golden Eagles to their second win in the tournament.

Stone was 6 of 7 from the floor and was equally effective on both ends of the glass. She also had four steals and a blocked shot.

Angel Kidd and Virginia Poe both had 13 points and four rebounds. The Golden Eagles dominated the second half, pulling away from a 27-26 halftime lead.

Jacksonville forced Ashville into 25 turnovers in the game (17 steals), off which it scored 19 points.

“Destiny (Easley) and Darrien (Martin) did a good job wearing down their point guard,” Jacksonville coach Ryan Chambless said.

Creekbank Invitational
Southside 43, Ohatchee 35

OHATCHEE – Lindsey Hindsman led three scorers in double figures with 12 points and Southside made several big shots in the final two minutes to hold off Ohatchee down the stretch and win the Creekbank Invitational.

Mallory Smith and Kelsey Patterson both added 10 for Southside. Morgan Lee and Joria Steger scored 11 and 10, respectively, for Ohatchee.

The Indians got within two with two minutes to play, but couldn’t overtake their visitors. They were forced to foul and Southside was 7 of 9 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

Regular season
Jacksonville Christian 60, Donoho 25

JCA turned up the defense and opened a big early lead to set up its second straight win. Behind Kayla Barnes and Jordan Barnes, the Thunder opened a 14-2 lead and never looked back.

The Barnes combined for nine points in that early run. Kayla Barnes finished with 14 points, while Jordan Barnes had 10.

GIRLS BOXSCORES

Sylacauga 52, Anniston 51

SYLACAUGA (52) – Kiara Pope 1 0-0 2, Kayla Dark 5 0-0 14, Tierra Dark 12 8-10 32, Morgan O’Neal 0 0-0 0, Keria Looney 0 0-0 0, Briasia Richardson 2 0-2 4, Chantel Gamble 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 8-12 52.

ANNISTON (51) – Miajah Bullock 4 0-0 9, Raven Cooley 5 1-3 14, Carlina Welch 0 0-0 0, Daria Palmer 0 1-3 1, Carsheuna Curry 2 45- 8, Alice James 0 0-0 0, Kiyana Bullock 8 3-5 19, J’Kura Clemons 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 9-16 51.

Sylacauga 12 7 17 16 — 52
Anniston 10 14 12 15 — 51
3-point goals: Sylacauga 4 (K. Dark 4); Anniston 4 (M. Bullock, Cooley 3). Total fouls: Sylacauga 18, Anniston 12.

Jacksonville 64, Ashville 45

ASHVILLE (45) – Nikki Moss 4-12 2-2 10, Erieanna Gilbert 3-11 0-2 8, Chatara Stoudmire 3-11 2-3 8, Tori Williams 3-4 0-0 6, Hannah Ashley 1-6 3-4 5, Anika Bothwell 1-4 2-4 4, Lasondra Looney 1-5 2-4 4, Alexis Baskin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-54 11-19 45.

JACKSONVILLE (65) – Sierra Stone 6-7 4-6 16, Angel Kidd 5-16 3-5 13, Virginia Poe 5-16 3-7 13, Ataliya Morgan 3-5 1-4 9, Dasia Kirksey 3-10 0-0 6, Kyra Williams 2-6 0-0 4, Darrien Martin 1-2 0-0 2, Destiny Easley 0-1 1-2 1, Quenteeria Mooney 0-1 0-0 0, Malieah Patterson 0-0 0-0 0, Brandi Canday 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-65 12-24 64.

Ashville 10 16 6 13 — 45
Jacksonville 16 11 14 23 — 64
3-point goals: Ashville 2-10 (Moss 0-1, Gilbert 2-8, Looney 0-1); Jacksonville 2-16 (Kidd 0-4, Poe 0-5, Morgan 2-4, Williams 0-1, Martin 0-1, Easley 0-1). Rebounds: Ashville 43 (Moss 11), Jacksonville 48 (Stone 17, Kirksey 8). Total fouls: Ashville 18, Jacksonville 15.

Southside 43, Ohatchee 35

SOUTHSIDE (43) — Emilee Coker 1 0-1 2, Lindsey Hindsman 3 4-5 12, Blakely Alfred 1 0-0 3, Jessi Colvin 1 1-2 3, Mallory Smith 4 2-2 10, Kaylee Howell 1 1-2 3, Harley Simmons 0 0-0 0, Kelsey Patterson 4 2-2 10. Totals 15 10-14 43.

OHATCHEE (35) – Morgan Lee 4 2-4 11, Peyton Steinberg 1 0-2 3, Mack Harris 1 0-0 3, Madi Hanks 1 2-4 4, Joria Steger 4 2-4 10, Faith Walker 2 0-0 4. Totals 13 6-14 35.

Southside 10 10 9 14 — 43
Ohatchee 11 5 8 11 — 35
3-point goals: Southside 3 (Hindsman 2, Alfred); Ohatchee 3 (Lee, Steinberg, Mac Hanks). Total fouls: Southside 15, Ohatchee 14. Fouled out: Lee

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