Milestone victory

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: January 5, 2017

Girls roundup: Weaver withstands late Piedmont rally to beat Lady Bulldogs for first time since 2006; also reports from Faith-Donoho, Sacred Heart-Spring Garden

The Donoho defense looks like it has every option for Faith’s Kristin Covington (15) covered.

Thursday’s Games
Alexandria 58, Etowah 55
Anniston 65, Munford 23
Donoho 52, Faith Christian 40
Jacksonville 37, Hokes Bluff 33
Lincoln 46, Wellborn 32
Pleasant Valley 71, Ragland 28
Spring Garden 82, Sacred Heart 26
Talladega 59, Cleburne County 29
Weaver 59, Piedmont 56
White Plains 39, Ohatchee 31

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

WEAVER – Tayanna Perry, the only senior on the Weaver girls basketball team, had hoped during the course of her career she would beat all the regulars on the Lady Bearcats schedule at least once, but she was running out of time if she was going to cross Piedmont off the list.

That is no longer an issue.

With Perry giving them a presence inside, the Lady Bearcats opened a fourth-quarter lead then held on down the stretch to beat the Lady Bulldogs for the first time since 2006, 59-56.

Sydney Prater scored a career-high 27 points for Piedmont and the Lady Bulldogs staged a furious rally in the final two minutes of the game to set up a potential game-tying shot, but couldn’t avoid the loss.

“We have never beaten Piedmont,” Weaver coach Gary Atchley said. “Their program has been the one we’ve been trying to excel to be like and maybe we’re getting over the top of the mountain finally. I know we’ve got a long way to go, but that was a huge win for our girls right there. They played their guts out.”

Perry and Caleigh Cortez both scored in double figures for Weaver, the No. 10 seed in the upcoming Calhoun County Tournament (Piedmont is No. 4). Cortez was the Lady Bearcats’ leading scorer with 15 points. Perry had 11 points, with eight coming in the second half.

“She’s the only senior,” Atchley said of Perry. “She’s been getting her butt whupped by these teams that we’ve been beating this year for five years. She deserves that win more than anything. She was hungry tonight.”

Perry called it her best game.

“It feels good,” she said. “Since it’s my senior year, we got to do something we never did before. Coach was talking about ever since he coached he never beat them. That motivated me to play harder.”

Weaver (7-8) trailed after each of the first two quarters, but led by two entering the fourth. The Lady Bearcats had a 57-50 lead with 1:30 to play, but Breanna Brazier and Prater both hit 3-pointers to bring Piedmont (5-7) within one with 52 seconds left.

Prater scored 16 points in the second half. She scored eight of Piedmont’s first nine points of the third quarter and it was her basket with 1:25 left in the third it that tied the game at 39 before Weaver went on a 10-2 run to take the upper hand.

Cortez hit a free throw with 44.7 seconds and another with 11.4 to play to make it a three-point game. Brazier put up a 3-pointer in the closing seconds that missed the mark and the Lady Bearcats rebounded and ran out the clock.

On the cover: Weaver coach Gary Atchley plots out some strategy during a timeout.

Big second half pushes Donoho past Faith

Donoho’s Lauren Holbrook (40) dominated the floor in the Lady Falcons’ game with Faith Christian. She scored 19 points and grabbed 16 second-half rebounds. (All photos by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)

There is a saying among Donoho fans that when you get the Faith Christian together with the Falcons you always draw a crowd. That was no exception in Spruill Gym as there was standing room only for a game between schools just a few miles apart.

The Lady Falcons delighted their home crowd with a furious second-half rally to score an important 52-40 area victory.

Donoho (8-6) dominated the third quarter by pounding the ball down low to Lauren Holbrook who scored 10 points and hauled in 11 rebounds in the quarter.

“We just had to remind them of how we play against man coverage and we came out and played well in the second half,” Donoho coach Melissa Smyly said. “The rebounding of Lauren Holbrook was huge for us. We had the height advantage on Faith and we just kept trying to get it down low to her.”

Holbrook had 19 points in the game and grabbed 16 rebounds in the second half. Constance Hodges and Campbell Hagan added 10 points apiece.

Faith was led by 13 points from Sydnee Johnson and 11 from Kristin Covington. A big second quarter gave the Lady Lions (3-15) a 23-20 halftime lead.

“It is kind of like a rivalry with our best friend,” Smyly said. “We love them to death. Coach (Bradley) Dawson is such a good friend and it is such a positive thing for all of us. Look at this crowd here tonight.” – Brant Locklier

Spring Garden swamps Sacred Heart

SPRING GARDEN – The Spring Garden Lady Panthers aren’t used to having three-game losing streaks. They don’t have one anymore.

The second-ranked Lady Panthers put their losing streak behind them in a big way by blowing past the Lady Cardinals 82-26 in a Class 1A Area 10 game.

Eleven of Spring Garden’s 12 players scored in the game, led by Tiyonna Rogers’ 17 points. Macy Reedy connected on five treys and finished with 15 points. Savannah Dempsey (12) and Payton McGinnis (10) also scored in double figures for the Lady Panthers (11-5, 5-0)

“I was proud of how we showed up,” Spring Garden coach Ricky Austin. “We’ve been feeling a little sorry for ourselves. We’ve lost three in a row, which is uncharacteristic of us, how we lost them and how sloppy we were. I thought we showed a lot of excitement. I said to them you’re responsible for your own energy and your own enthusiasm. I want to see it.

“Those girls have a switch. You don’t have to flip it. They can flip their own switch, but sometimes we just have to remind them they can.”

Spring Garden went on a 19-0 first-quarter run and led 33-3 at quarter’s end. They led 52-13 at halftime and 76-19 after three.

Abbie Vingers, Ayanna Foster and Maya Harris led Sacred Heart (4-7, 3-3) with eight points each. – Shannon Fagan

Keandra Finley drives for two of her 18 points in Anniston’s area victory over Munford.

Foster’s breakout game powers Anniston

Toniah Foster enjoyed her first double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds helping Anniston overwhelm Munford 65-23 for another area victory.

The Lady Bulldogs, installed as the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Calhoun County Tournament on Wednesday, also got a game-high 18 points and six rebounds from Keandra Finley and 15 points and four boards from Miajah Bullock.

THURSDAY’S GIRLS BOX SCORES
Weaver 59, Piedmont 56
PIEDMONT (5-7) – Breanna Brazier 4 0-0 10, Kaitlyn Ridley 1 4-6 6, Lulu Jackson 3 2-5 8, Camron Logan 0 0-2 0, Cassidy Jackson 0 0-0 0, Sydney Prater 11 4-5 27, Rebecca Smart 2 1-3 5. Totals 21 11-21 56.

WEAVER (7-8) – Caleigh Cortez 4 7-11 15, Tayanna Perry 4 3-7 11, Rayne Beck 2 1-2 5, Emily Reed 4 0-0 9, Amira Carter 1 0-0 2, Mariah Thompson 4 1-2 9, Abby Gaines 3 2-5 8. Totals 22 14-30 59.

Piedmont 16 14 10 16 — 56
Weaver 11 16 15 17 — 59

3-point goals: Piedmont 3 (Brazier 2, Prater); Weaver 1 (Reed). Fouled out: Smart, Beck. Total fouls: Piedmont 21, Weaver 16. Officials: Hughes, Maske, Killingsworth.

Donoho 52, Faith Christian 40
FAITH CHRISTIAN (3-15) – Logan Boyd 1 0-1 2, Kassidy Nix 0 0-0 0, Emily Sills 2 0-0 4, Shelley Phillips 0 2-2 2, Montana Huie 1 2-2 4, Sarah Christjohn 0 0-0 0, Zana Christjohn 0 0-0 0, Kristin Covington 4 0-0 11, Sydnee Johnson 6 1-4 13, C.J. Setters 1 0-0 2, Regan Crosby 0 0-0 0, Sarah McVeigh 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 5-9 40.

DONOHO (8-6) – Virginia Hutto 0 0-0 0, Campbell 5 0-0 10, Emma Wiedmer 0 0-0 0, Samantha Strunk 0 0-0 0, Savannah Frickey 1 4-7 6, Regan Phillis 0 0-0 0, Meghana Giri 0 0-2 0, Hadley Smith 0 0-0 0, Constance Hodges 4 2-7 10, Jenna Stremmel 2 0-0 7, Lauren Holbrook 8 3-6 19. Totals 21 9-22 52.

Faith Christian 8 15 4 13 — 40
Donoho 14 6 18 14 — 52

3-point goals: Faith 1 (Covington); Donoho 1 (Stremmel).

Spring Garden 82, Sacred Heart 26
SACRED HEART (4-7) – Abby Vingers 3 2-5 8, Sophia Allen 1 0-0 2, Sydney Marion 0 0-0 0, Nhi Nguyen 0 0-0 0, Ayanna Foster 3 2-4 8, Jacque Beyerle 0 0-2 0, Iemyiah Harris 3 1-2 8, Amarie Curry 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 5-13 26

SPRING GARDEN — A.J. Broome 1 0-0 2, Katie Williams 0 2-2 2, Deanna Lambert 0 2-4 2, Macy Reedy 5 0-0 15, Kerstin Bryant 4 0-0 9, Kristin Tierce 0 1-2 1, Alexis Adkinson 0 2-2 2, Savannah Dempsey 5 0-0 12, Payton McGinnis 3 4-5 10, Tiyonna Rogers 6 5-7 17, Madison Jennings 3 1-2 10, Breanna Rogers 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 17-24 82.

Sacred Heart 3 10 6 7 — 26
Spring Garden 33 19 24 6 — 82

3-point goals: Sacred Heart 1 (Harris); Spring Garden 11 (Reedy 5, Bryant, Dempsey 2, Jennings 3). Total fouls: Sacred Heart 18, Spring Garden 14. Officials: Hunter Allen, Clay Calkins, Rusty Burroughs.

Jacksonville 37, Hokes Bluff 33
HOKES BLUFF – Kendall Johnson 3-5 3-4 9, Tylynn Register 2-8 3-4 7, Amanda Noah 2-3 2-2 7, Logan Black 2-5 0-0 5, Margaret Wetzel 1-1 0-0 3, Gracie West 1-2 0-0 2, Sydney Ball 0-4 0-0 0, Kelsee Otwell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-28 8-10 33.

JACKSONVILLE (10-6) – Aniyah Robinson 3-9 6-6 13, Kyra Williams 4-10 1-3 9, Aniya Jefferson 3-4 1-2 8, Kayla Broom 2-4 2-4 6, Tatiyana Thomas 0-1 1-3 1, Maddie Hall 0-0 0-0 0, Essence Hutchinson 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-30 11-18 37.

Hokes Bluff 6 7 15 3 — 33
Jacksonville 6 7 13 11 — 37

3-point goals: Hokes Bluff 3-11 (Register 0-2, Noah 1-1, Black 1-2, Wetzel 1-1, West 0-1, Ball 0-4); Jacksonville 2-10 (Robinson 1-4, Williams 0-2, Jefferson 1-1, Broom 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Hutchinson 0-1). Rebounds: Hokes Bluff 22 (Johnson 8); Jacksonville 18 (Broom 7). Fouled out: Register. Total fouls: Hokes Bluff 15, Jacksonville 10.

White Plains 39, Ohatchee 31
WHITE PLAINS (9-6) – Rian Chandler 0 0-0 0, Hanna Dyar 2 2-2 6, Hannah Barno 1 0-0 3, Jordan Sabree 2 3-8 7, Landry Bussey 2 3-5 7, Chasity Nelson 0 1-2 1, Ary Rosario 1 0-0 2, Grey Young 1 0-0 3, Shelby Wood 3 4-6 10, Jocelyn Harris 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 13-23 39.

OHATCHEE (3-10) – Ashley Phillips 0 1-5 1, Jazmine Adams 4 0-0 11, Tori Vice 1 1-2 4, Ally McCoy 1 2-2 4, Kourtney Shuler 2 1-2 6, Marli Hanks 0 0-0 0, Maggie Phillips 2 0-0 4, Regan Snow 0 1-2 1, Kacie Cooper 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 6-13 31.

White Plains 7 12 7 13 — 39
Ohatchee 6 10 12 3 — 31

3-point goals: White Plains 2 (Barno, Young); Ohatchee 5 (Adams 3, Vice, Shuler). Total fouls: White Plains 11, Ohatchee 19.

Pleasant Valley 71, Ragland 28
RAGLAND – Summer Hazelwood 3 0-0 7, Savannah Kay 1 0-0 2, Nora Echols 0 0-0 0, Makenzie Campbell 3 0-0 6, Hailey Hoss 0 0-0 0, Makenley Oliver 3 0-0 7, Samantha Dey 1 1-2 3, TyAsia Howard 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 1-2 28.

PLEASANT VALLEY (10-8) – Lindsey Pritchett 2 2-4 6, Mac Parris 8 2-2 22, Atleigh Brannon 3 3-4 11, Emma Hood 2 2-5 6, Mikala Simpson 5 3-6 14, Courtney Upton 3 0-0 6, Karmyn Sparks 1 0-0 2, Kara Perry 2 0-0 4. Totals 26 12-21 71.

Ragland 6 9 10 3 — 28
Pleasant Valley 19 26 19 7 — 71

3-point goals: Ragland 3 (Hazelwood, Dey, Oliver); PV 7 (Parris 4, Brannon 2, Simpson). Total fouls: Ragland 13, PV 5. Officials: Battles, Clingan, Howell.