Champs, Plains & simple

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: December 30, 2016

White Plains wins Cleburne County Holiday Invitational girls title, pulling away from the foul line; Wood named MVP

White Plains’ Shelby Wood (22) didn’t score much in the championship game but she was named tournament MVP for the leadership she provided on the floor throughout the week. (Photos by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

HEFLIN — Free throws and layups usually prove the difference in big basketball games.

Friday night, White Plains made a lot of the former and Weaver missed a lot of the latter and the result was White Plains winning the Cleburne County Holiday Invitational title with a 40-23 victory.

It made such a difference Weaver was successful in shutting down White Plains’ biggest threats — MVP Shelby Wood and Hannah Barno — and still lost by 17.

The Lady Wildcats were 17 of 21 from the line for the game. Five different players made at least two. Landry Bussey was 9-for-10 and finished with 11 points.

“Free throws and layups are what wins games and that’s what we preach on every day,” Wood said. “If you don’t do the little things you can’t win anything. … You have to own it on the line.”

Jordan Sabree was White Plains’ leading scorer with 12 points. Wood was held to two free throws and Barno to one 3-pointer.

The Lady Wildcats were 13 of 16 from the foul line in the second half, when they pulled away from an 18-16 halftime deficit. It was 9 of 10 in the fourth quarter. At one point in the second half 13 of their points in a row came from the free throw line.

“It’s definitely been a process,” White Plains coach Joi Watts said. “We’ve talked about just girls basketball in general where you’ve got to make your layups and you’ve got to make your free throws. That’s just been something we’ve been preaching since Day One.

“I know a month ago we weren’t finishing as well and we weren’t hitting our free throws, so that’s something we focused in on. We’ve told them you’ve got a chance at the line, you’ve a chance to score some points.”

While the Lady Wildcats hit virtually every time they stepped to the line there was no formal count on how many layups Weaver missed, but coach Gary Atchley was confident it was a bunch.

The Lady Bearcats put up 47 in beating host Cleburne County the night before to earn its spot in the finals, but Friday night they didn’t score half that many. They were held to only five points in the second half — one in the fourth quarter — and had only one field goal in the final 14 minutes of the game.

“The games we lose, we lose because of short shots – we don’t hit them,” he said. “I thought we executed the game plan pretty good the first half. Our goal was to stop Barno and Shelby; we held one to three and one to two and we lost by 17 points, would you have ever thought that? The other girls stepped up and played well.”

Cleburne County Holiday Invitational
Girls Championship
White Plains 40, Weaver 23
WEAVER – Caleigh Cortez 4 0-2 8, Tayanna Perry 1 0-0 2, Rayne Beck 0 0-0 0, Emily Reed 1 0-0 3, Anna Howell 0 0-0 0, Amira Carter 2 0-0 4, Hannah Roberts 0 0-0 0, Mariah Thompson 1 1-2 3, Abby Gaines 1 0-0 3. Totals 10 1-4 23.

WHITE PLAINS – Rian Chandler 1 0-0 3, Hanna Dyar 1 0-0 3, Hannah Barno 1 0-0 3, Jordan Sabree 5 2-5 12, Landry Bussey 1 9-10 11, Chasity Nelson 0 0-0 0, Ary Rosario 1 2-2 5, Shelby Wood 0 2-2 2, Jocelyn Harris 0 2-2 2. Totals 10 17-21 40.

Weaver 9 9 4 1 — 23
White Plains 10 6 11 13 — 40

3-point goals: Weaver 2 (Reed, Gaines); White Plains 3 (Chandler, Barno, Rosario). Fouled out: Thompson. Total fouls: Weaver 16, White Plains 10. Officials: Burroughs, Howell, Hollingsworth.

Faith Christian 29, Vincent 17
VINCENT – Alexis Ware 1 0-0 2, Kayla Maxwell 0 0-0 0, Aniyah Norwood 0 2-6 2, Makayla Cohill 0 1-2 1, Jalyn Kelly 5 0-0 10, Zhari Posey 1 0-0 2, Jada Kelly 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 3-8 17.

FAITH CHRISTIAN – Emily Sills 1 0-0 2, Shelley Phillips 2 0-1 6, Montana Huie 0 0-0 0, Kassidy Nix 0 1-2 1, Kristin Covington 3 0-0 6, Sydnee Johnson 5 0-0 10, C.J. Setters 0 0-0 0, S.K. McVeigh 0 0-2 0, Logan Boyd 1 2-4 4. Totals 12 3-9 29.

Vincent 4 6 4 3 — 17
Faith Christian 9 1 8 11 — 29

3-point goals: Faith Christian 2 (Phillips 2). Total fouls: Vincent 15, Faith Christian 12.

Cleburne County 41, Wellborn 38
WELLBORN – Taliyah Kirby 0 0-0 0, Vanessa Carter 6 3-7 15, Anayla Lowe 2 0-4 4 Loni Welch 0 0-0 0, Katessa Carter 2 0-4 4, Titianna Weathers 2 2-4 6, Allison Thrasher 1 0-2 2, Markeisha Jones 3 1-2 7. Totals 16 6-23 38.

CLEBURNE COUNTY – Shawntavia Boyd 4 5-6 13, Olivia McDaniel 0 0-0 0, Erykah Ware 3 6-8 12, Lauren Brown 6 0-0 12, Haven Freeman 0 0-0 0, Alex Casey 0 1-2 1 Tatiana Ervin 0 0-0 0, Kendall Houston 0 0-0 0.

Wellborn 10 16 13 9 — 38
Cleburne County 9 10 13 9 — 41

Fouled out: Akles. Total fouls: Wellborn 13, Cleburne Co. 18. Notes: Boyd had 9 rebounds and 4 assists; Ervin had 5 rebounds and 2 steals; Ware had 3 steals and 4 assists.

Munford 48, Ohatchee 28
OHATCHEE – Jazmine Adams 2 0-0 5, Teri Vice 0 0-0 0, Ally McCoy 1 0-1 2, Kourtney Shuler 2 0-0 6, Marli Hanks 0 1-4 1, Maggie Phillips 3 0-1 6, Regan Snow 0 0-0 0, Kacie Cooper 0 2-2 2, Mandy Jennings 3 0-2 6. Totals 11 3-10 28.

MUNFORD – Nelyah Carlisle 0 0-1 0, Aalyah Hendrix 0 0-0 0, Saymela Caldwell 0 0-2 0, Morgan Ashley 3 1-2 9, Patricia Holliday 1 0-0 2, Kennedy Reeves 0 0-0 0, Kamara Sudduth 0 0-0 0, Vivica Zimmerman 2 2-4 7, Justine Calhoun 1 0-3 5, Tatanna Jamson 4 4-6 12, Shundrea Gooden 6 2-3 14, Janiya Williams 0 0-0 0, Alexis McKenzie 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 9-21 48.

Ohatchee 6 6 4 12 — 28
Munford 11 12 12 13 — 48

3-point goals: Ohatchee 3 (Adams, Shuler 2); Munford 3 (Ashley 2, Zimmerman). Fouled out: Cooper. Total fouls: Ohatchee 16, Munford 13. Officials: Aaron Kelley, Jeff Wynn, Rusty Burroughs.