Wellborn wakes up
- Updated: February 8, 2017
Girls roundup: Lady Panthers bounce back from another slow start; Alexandria rallies in final 90 seconds to take out Douglas; more games, box scores
Wellborn’s Katessa Carter (11) helped the Lady Panthers regain the momentum with back-to-back steals that she turned into points. (Photo by B.J. Franklin/GunHo Photos)
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
WEAVER — As these games at the end of the season grow in increasing importance, so Wellborn girls basketball coach Shanese Morgan knows does the need for her team to be sharp from the jump.
The Lady Panthers got away with it Tuesday night, but it won’t be often going forward they can afford the slow starts that have dogged them the past few games.
They got past Ohatchee 50-37 in the opening game of the Class 3A Area 9 tournament, but it wasn’t easy in a game that had the potential to end their season. They were down 13-8 midway through the second quarter.
The win sends them to play top-seeded host Weaver – for the fourth time this season – Thursday. The Lady Panthers (20-10) stopped the Lady Bearcats’ emotional run through the Calhoun County Tournament to reach the championship game.
“We started off slow and like I keep telling the girls you can not come in slow,” Morgan said. “We’ve been having that problem for the last couple of games, so Thursday my goal is for us to come out playing hard and not coming out slow.
“We were slow on defense, we were slow on offense. We had a bad shooting first half. We put up a lot of shots we just didn’t make them. We just can’t start start off cold Thursday. Weaver is a good team. We just can’t do it.”
Ohatchee puts its defensive skills on display early in the game and held Wellborn to single-digits in points most of the first half. If the Lady Indians could’ve scored more while getting stops they might be the team moving on.
“We can defend people,” Ohatchee coach Bryant Ginn said. “Our problem right now is we can’t score. That’s something we’ve got to work on.”
Wellborn finally got on track late in the second quarter. Aliyah Thrasher’s second 3-pointer of the game and back-to-back steals by Katessa Carter in the 1-3-1 touched off an 18-2 run that carried into the second half and gave Wellborn control of the game.
“When she got those two steals … after that we kept rolling and got their confidence back up,” Morgan said. “And then we went into a man defense and that really made us more aggressive on defense and in turn gave us confidence on offense.”
Vanessa Carter kept the run alive in the third quarter with a couple early baskets in the half. Carter scored 10 of her 15 points in the second half.
Spring Garden 86, Sacred Heart 38
SPRING GARDEN – Right now, Spring Garden senior shooting guard Savannah Dempsey is in her comfort zone, and that’s bad news for the third-ranked Lady Panthers’ opponents.
On Friday, Dempsey sank eight 3-pointers in a 34-point win on Senior Night. On Tuesday, she delivered six treys – all in the first half – of the Lady Panthers’ win in the Class 1A, Area 10 tournament semifinals.
The third-ranked team in Class 1A will now face Jacksonville Christian for the are tournament title Friday at 7 p.m. JCA held on to defeat Donoho 63-54.
The Lady Panthers (20-7) were all seeing the floor well. They made 17 3-pointers as a team, seven in the first quarter while jumping out to a 29-7 lead. Six of the nine Spring Garden players who scored hit at least one.
“Can we save some of those?” coach Ricky Austin joked. “I kind of sensed it at shoot around today. We had a lot of energy (there) and they shot the ball extremely well. You go back to Savannah. When has she not shot the ball well this year? She really got us going early. She’s really in a zone right now … She’s doing everything she can to step her game up like a senior should, and I’m proud to see her do it.”
Dempsey led the Lady Panthers with 18 points. Kerstin Bryant and Tiyonna Rogers both finished with 14 points, with Rogers also pulling down 10 rebounds. Macy Reedy sank three treys and finished with 13 points. Payton McGinnis had eight.
Myiah Harris led the Lady Cardinals (6-15) with 11 points. Ayanna Foster added 10 points and Abbie Vingers finished with nine.
While Austin was proud of Dempsey and the other Spring Garden shooters, he was more impressed with defensive effort his team turned in. The Lady Panthers had 14 steals in the game, converting many of those into points in transition.
“I know we made 17 threes, but I had more fun watching our defensive effort tonight,” Austin said. “I really liked that part of our game. I like when you can get their switch flipped on defense. I thought we played physical and aggressive, and you have to do that if you want to advance this time of the year.” – Shannon Fagan, Cherokee County Herald
Alexandria 44, Douglas 42
BOAZ – Sarah Kilgore’s free throw with 13 seconds left capped a 7-0 run in the final 90 seconds that lifted the Lady Cubs to a come-from-behind victory in their Class 5A Area 13 tournament opener.
The Lady Cubs trailed by four with 1:28 to play. Molly Parker nailed her third 3-pointer of the game to get them within one, then Bre Bradford hit a pair of free throws to give Alexandria the lead for good. It still wasn’t over when Kilgore hit her free throws, but Douglas didn’t get up a good shot to win or tie in the time remaining.
“The defense was great all night,” Alexandria coach Craig Kiker said.
Kilgore finished with a team-high 12 points. Bradford and Parker had 11 each; Bradford scored all her points in the second half.
TUESDAY GIRLS BOX SCORES
Class 3A Area 9
Wellborn 50, Ohatchee 37
OHATCHEE – Ashley Phillips 2 0-0 5, Tori Vice 2 1-2 5, Ally McCoy 3 5-6 13, Kourtney Shuler 4 0-0 10, Marli Hanks 1 0-1 2, Maggie Phillips 1 0-0 2, Regan Snow 0 0-2 0, Kacie Cooper 0 0-0 0, Mandy Jennings 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 6-11 37.
WELLBORN (20-10) – Taliyah Kirby 1 2-3 5, Vanessa Carter 6 0-0 15, Anaya Lowe 0 0-2 0, Loni Welch 0 0-0 0, McKenzie Raines 0 0-0 0, Katessa Carter 3 4-7 10, Amaya Myles 0 0-0 0, Itiania Weatherly 2 1-4 5, Jayla Lowe 0 0-0 0, Aliyah Thrasher 2 3-4 9, Markeisha Jones 3 1-2 7. Totals 17 11-22 50.
Ohatchee 11 4 7 15 — 37
Wellborn 8 11 15 16 — 50
3-point goals: Ohatchee 5 (Phillips, McCoy 2, Shuler 2); Wellborn 5 (V. Carter 3, Thrasher 2). Fouled out: McCoy, Cooper. Total fouls: Ohatchee 19, Wellborn 13. Officials: Dupree, Battles, Hunter.
Class 5A Area 13
Alexandria 44, Douglas 42
ALEXANDRIA – Destiny Heathcock 1 0-0 2, Kayleigh Steen 0 0-0 0, Kameron Simpson 0 0-0 0, Sarah Kilgore 3 5-7 12, Bre Bradford 3 5-5 11, Kaitlyn Harvey 0 1-2 1, Molly Parker 4 0-0 11, Allison Bonds 1 0-0 3, Shelby Lowery 2 0-2 4. Totals 14 11-15 44.
DOUGLAS – Anna Lee Corker 4 2-4 10, Vanessa Craig 2 0-0 4, Kayleigh Rogers 7 1-2 15, Tabitha Cohns 1 2-4 4, Bailee Sims 1 0-0 2, Adison Wood 0 0-0 0, Caelyn Wigley 1 0-0 2, Crissy Cruz 0 0-0 0, Nalalie Baugh 0 0-0 0, Kelley Thomason 2 0-0 5. Totals 18 5-10 42.
Alexandria 9 11 12 12 — 44
Douglas 9 13 11 9 — 42
3-point goals: Alexandria 5 (Kilgore, Parker 3, Bonds); Douglas 1 (Thomason). Fouled out: Crain. Total fouls: Alexandria 15, Douglas 19. Officials: Coley, Ortiz, Smith.
Class 1A Area 10
Jacksonville Christian 63, Donoho 54
JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN – Kylie Cupp 4-0-10, Haley Moses 7-2-16, Briah Cupp 5-2-12, Kayla Barnes 4-4-13, Sidney Hancock 6-0-12. Totals 26-8-63.
DONOHO – Campbell Hagan 2-1-5, Samantha Strunk 2-0-4, Savannah Frickey 6-1-14, Meghana Giri 1-0-2, Constance Hodges 4-2-10, Jenna Stremmel 2-0-5, Lauren Holbrook 6-2-14. Totals 23-6-54.
Jacksonville Christian 10 17 18 18 — 63
Donoho 9 11 22 12 — 54
3-point goals: JCA 3 (K. Cupp 2, Barnes); Donoho 2 (Frickey, Stremmel). Fouled out: Frickey. Total fouls: JCA 12, Donoho 14. Officials: Williams, Hardeman, Phil.
Spring Garden 86, Sacred Heart 38
SACRED HEART (6-15) – Abbie Vingers 3 1-4 9, Sophia Allen 1 0-0 2, Sydney Marion 0 0-0 0, Ayanna Foster 4 2-5 10, Angel Nguyen 1 0-2 3, Jacque Beyerle 0 0-0 0, Andrea Torres 0 3-4 3, Myiah Harris 4 2-2 11, Amarie Curry 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 8-17.
SPRING GARDEN (20-7) – A.J. Broome 1 0-0 2, Katie Williams 2 0-0 4, Macy Reedy 4 2-5 13, Kerstin Bryant 5 0-0 14, Kristin Tierce 0 0-0 0, Alexis Adkinson 1 2-3 4, Savannah Dempsey 6 0-0 18, Payton McGinnis 1 5-5 8, Tiyonna Rogers 4 5-8 14, Madison Jennings 3 1-2 9. Totals 2715-23 86.
Sacred Heart 7 6 12 13 — 38
Spring Garden 29 21 20 16 — 86
3-point goals: Sacred Heart 4 (Vingers 2, Nguyen, Harris); Spring Garden 17 (Reedy 3, Bryant 4, Dempsey 6, McGinnis, Rogers, Jennings). Fouled out: Allen. Total fouls: Sacred Heart 19, Spring Garden 19. Officials: Harden, Wolford, Williams.
Vanessa Carter scored 10 of her team-high 15 points in the second half as the Wellborn girls team woke up from another slow start. (Photo by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
To see more B.J. Franklin photos from the Ohatchee-Wellborn game, visit www.bjfranklin.smugmug.com
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