Anniston girls clinch area
- Updated: January 14, 2015
Girls roundup: Bulldogs show depth, defense in routing Alexandria; J’ville has ‘foul’ experience at Gadsden City
By East Alabama Sports Today
Anniston clinched another area girls basketball championship Tuesday night, but don’t think it marks the end of the journey. For coach Eddie Bullock, it’s just the beginning.
The Bulldogs locked up the Class 5A Area 12 title with a 66-21 pasting of Alexandria. It earned them the right to host the area tournament, where they’re expected to run through the same set of teams they routed during the season before embarking on a more demanding run to state championship glory.
“The area is the most important thing to me,” Bullock said. “You get in that area (tournament), it’s always important to play at home. So, you want to win the area.
“I’ve had to go away and play twice since I’ve been coaching. We won it once and lost it once. I’d much rather play the area (tournament) here because it takes a lot of pressure off you to play in front of your own crowd. It definitely gets harder from here.”
There was really nothing hard about Tuesday night. The Bulldogs (15-5) opened a 17-2 lead after the first quarter and could name the score.
All 11 players got in the game and 10 scored. Kiyana Bullock had 17 points and 14 rebounds, Raven Cooley had 15 points and Carsheuna Curry had 12 rebounds. Davia Palmer had five steals and five assists.
“This team right here I compare to my 2009 team; I went about 10 deep in that bench,” Bullock said. “I’m trying to do the same with this bench because we don’t have that one dominant post person we can get the ball to.
“You can’t live and die by the jump shot. A shooter can be off, so what we try to do is go deep in the bench just to see who’s going to be on that night. You never know (who it’ll be). I try to give at least nine of them an opportunity to show what they’re ready to do.”
Gadsden City 55, Jacksonville 46
GADSDEN CITY – A 22-5 scoring disparity at the free throw line and 20 turnovers conspired to do in Jacksonville against a team likely to be ranked No. 1 in Class 7A when the next statewide poll is released.
The Golden Eagles were called for 21 fouls in the game, leading the Titans to hit 22 of 33 from the free throw line. Leading scorers Haley Troup (20 points) and Brooke Burns (16) were a combined 15 of 16 in the game. Jacksonville was 5 of 7 as a team.
It was a one-point game at halftime before Gadsden City pulled away in the third.
Dasia Kirksey had 14 points for Jacksonville and was the Golden Eagles’ only double-figure scorer.
GIRLS BOX SCORES
ALEXANDRIA (6-11) — Kaitlyn Brown 4 2-2 12, Lexi Pressley 0 0-0 0, Connieya Bradford 2 0-2 4, Tamera Prince 0 0-0 0, Molly Parker 0 0-0 0, Allison Bonds 0 0-0 0, Jaycee Cooper 0 0-0 0, Timberlyn Shurbutt 0 2-2 2, Shelby Lowery 0 1-2 1, Gracie Muncher 1 0-0 2. Totals 7 5-8 21.
ANNISTON (15-5) – Miajah Bullock 4 1-2 8, Raven Cooley 5 2-2 15, Corlina Welch 0 1-2 1, Davis Palmer 2 1-2 5, Takia Shears 2 0-0 4, Carsheuna Curry 3 0-0 6, Alice James 0 0-0 0, Kiyana Bullock 8 1-3 17, J’Kyra Clemons 0 1-2 1, Mattie Logan 2 0-0 4, Jemya Bullock 2 0-0 4. Totals 28 7-13 66.
Alexandria 2 8 7 4 — 21
Anniston 17 19 22 8 — 66
3-point goals: Alexandria 2 (Brown 2); Anniston 3 (Cooley 3). Total fouls: Alexandria 10, Anniston 11. Officials: Roberts, Allen, Lemmon.
Gadsden City 55, Jacksonville 46
JACKSONVILLE (16-3) — Dasia Kirksey 6-10 2-3 14, Destiny Easley 4-8 0-0 9, Virginia Poe 3-15 0-0 8, Angel Kidd 1-6 3-4 5, Darrien Martin 1-6 0-0 3, Ataliya Morgan 1-4 0-0 3, Sierra Stone 1-2 0-0 2, Quenteeria Mooney 1-1 0-0 2, Nicole Goodson 0-1 0-0 0, Kyra Williams 0-2 0-0 0, Brandi Canady 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-56 5-7 46.
GADSDEN CITY — Haley Troup 6-16 7-8 20, Brooke Burns 4-8 8-8 16, Taylor Tucker 3-7 2-3 8, Tansley LaCount 2-3 2-4 6, Ebony Malone 0-3 3-6 3, Takara Blount 1-4 0-0 2, Robin Treadwell 0-0 0-4 0, Kyana Rigby 0-3 0-0 0, Janithia Graham 0-1 0-0 0, Yakila Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-45 22-33 55.
Jacksonville 7 12 9 18 — 46
Gadsden City 6 12 18 19 — 55
3-point goals: Jacksonville 5-22 (Easley 1-3, Poe 2-10, Kidd 0-1, Martin 1-4, Morgan 1-3, Williams 0-1); Gadsden City 1-9 (Troup 1-5, Burns 0-1, Tucker 0-2, Blount 0-1). Rebounds: Jacksonville 39 (Kirksey 8, Stone 7); Gadsden City 36 (Burns 9). Total fouls: Jacksonville 21, Gadsden City 7. Fouled out: Poe, Stone.
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