JCA girls keep their cool
- Updated: January 6, 2015
Girls roundup: Oxford wins area opener; Ohatchee, Spring Garden keep rolling
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE – Brooke Lee saw something in her Jacksonville Christian girls basketball team Monday that bodes well for the rest of the season.
A game the Thunder had early control of was starting to slip away and a pressing defense that once gave it trouble suddenly became a non-issue. The Thunder regained its composure, stretched its lead and pulled away to beat Faith Christian 73-45.
“I think that showed, honestly, my girls’ maturity through the season,” Lee said. “Before, especially when they would see a team press, we just went into freak-out mode. In one of the timeouts they called they came over and said we could break this press, we’ve got this press.
“They knew they could break the press. They felt confident in it. Nobody freaked out. They were confident not only in themselves but each of their teammates. I think they really stayed level-headed tonight.”
The Thunder (9-5) broke out a box-and-one on Madison Stephens and held Faith’s main threat scoreless in the first quarter while opening a 16-2 lead. It was only the sixth quarter Stephens had been held scoreless all season.
But the Lions’ scoring machine found her touch in the second quarter and scored 11 points to bring her team back to within five at halftime. She finished with 21 points.
JCA ran the same defense on Stephens in the closer first meeting and she went for 17. It also pulled it out against Ohatchee’s Joria Steger with some success, but Morgan Lee killed it from the outside.
“You can tell their team kind of goes off how Madison is doing it seems like,” Lee said. “The last time we played them it came down to a buzzer beater so this is really good for us to kind of take from there.
“One of the things we did better this game is we gave a lot better help for the girl playing man on her (Briah Cupp and Raiah Espana) so she didn’t get many easy looks. And another thing we did better this time is we rebounded. We really pressed the boards a lot better than before.”
Faith got as close as 29-27 early in the third quarter. But, then, JCA got the next 11 points from Sarah Crook and Kayla Barnes and weren’t threatened the rest of the night.
Barnes scored a double-double with 16 points and 10 steals. Jordan Barnes also had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Joeley Cupp led the Lions’ offense with 18 points.
JCA is now 4-1 against Calhoun County teams this season. Faith is 3-8.
Oxford 57, Chelsea 29
OXFORD – Confident freshman Alex Gomez played what coach Tonya Peoples called “her best game of the year” and junior Jordan Smith scored a double-double as the Yellow Jackets (7-7) won their area opener.
Smith scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting and grabbed an equal number of rebounds, while Gomez scored 10 points and grabbed five boards. Three other Jackets had at least eight points.
“It’s a good start,” Peoples said. “We’ve got a young bunch of kids. We want to keep moving forward. It was a good team win.”
Ohatchee 54, Lincoln 10
LINCOLN – Joria Steger, the inside element of Ohatchee’s inside-outside dymanic duo, overwhelmed the undermanned Bears with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Morgan Lee, the outside component, had 12 points for the Indians (14-4). Courtney Poole had nine points and eight steals, while Hannah Howell had eight points and seven steals.
Spring Garden 52, Collinsville 39
SPRING GARDEN – Darian Gaines led three scorers in double figures with 18 points and shared six 3-pointers with Madison Sides as the fourth-ranked 1A Lady Panthers (18-2) led wire-to-wire.
Tykeah Rogers added 17 points to the win and Sides finished with 11. Kendreia Moore led 2A Collinsville with 15 points, while freshman Trinity Garner had 12 (11 in the fourth quarter).
The Lady Panthers travel to Gaylesville Tuesday looking to remain unbeaten in area play (currently 5-0).
GIRLS BOX SCORES
Jacksonville Christian 73, Faith Christian 45
FAITH CHRISTIAN (4-12) – Emily Sills 1 4-4 6, Madison Stephens 7 6-18 21, Montana Huie 0 1-2 1, Cornelia Simpson 0 0-0 0, Reagan Crosby 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth McCullough 1 0-0 2, Logan Boyd 3 0-0 7, Jaz Groce 1 6-6 8. Totals 13 17-30 45.
JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN (9-5) – Joeley Cupp 7 0-1 18, Olivia Jones 1 0-0 2, Briah Cupp 1 1-2 3, Sarah Crook 3 4-7 10, Raiah Espana 0 0-2 0, Jordan Barnes 5 1-2 13, Kayla Barnes 5 4-5 16, Sidney Hancock 2 3-6 7, Josie Howell 2 0-0 4. Totals 26 13-25 73.
Faith 2 22 10 11 — 45
JCA 16 13 21 23 — 73
3-point goals: Faith 2 (Stephens, Boyd); JCA 8 (Cupp 4, J. Barnes 2, K. Barnes 2). Total fouls: Faith 20, JCA 22. Fouled out: Boyd, Crook, K. Barnes.
Oxford 57, Chelsea 29
CHELSEA (1-9) – Denise Niven 0 0-1 0, Cameron Martindale 1 0-2 2, Allie Miller 1 0-0 2, Patty McGee 1 0-0 3, Catherine Shoop 0 0-0 0, Vallerie Cramer 8 0-0 16, Hope Richard 1 0-0 2, Whitney Thorpe 2 0-0 4. Totals 14-50 0-3 29.
OXFORD (6-7) — Anna Bolton 1-5 0-0 2, Makayla Kidd 3-10 2-4 8, Winter Taylor 3-13 1-1 9, Makayla Lowery 0-2 0-0 0, Tremeria Britt 3-10 1-2 9, Ebony Kelley 1-6 1-4 3, Alex Gomez 4-10 2-2 10, Jordan Smith 5-7 0-2 10, Alexus Davis 2-5 0-0 4, Grace Mitchell 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 23-71 7-15 57.
Chelsea 6 4 9 10 — 29
Oxford 16 9 13 19 — 57
3-point goals: Chelsea 1-10 (Niven 0-1, Martindale 0-1, Cramer 0-1, Thorpe 0-1, McGee 1-6); Oxford 4 (Bolton 0-2, Kidd 0-3, Taylor 2-5, Britt 2-4, Gomez 0-1). Rebounds: Chelsea 29, Oxford 35 (Smith 10, Kelley 7). Total fouls: Chelsea 13, Oxford 10.
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