Oxford holds on

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: December 7, 2017

Girls roundup: Lady Jackets grab the lead, withstand several charges by Handley, includes 6 full box scores

Thursday’s games
Cedar Bluff 63, JCA 29
Cleburne County 60, Weaver 43
Spring Garden 87, Donoho 24
Jacksonville 61, Saks 35
Oxford 59, Handley 52
Piedmont 69, Clay Central 55
Plainview 64, Sacred Heart 31
Wellborn 73, Ashville 27

By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today

OXFORD – They never trailed, but the Oxford Lady Jackets had to fight for their lives Thursday night before finally putting away Handley 59-52 at the Oxford Sports Arena.

The Lady Jackets (6-3) had several good-sized leads and every time back would come Handley. Myrical Heard had 25 points and Tenegua Rhodes 22 as the Lady Tigers (1-2) were red-hot from the floor.

“Handley played their tails off tonight and at times they outplayed and outhustled us,” Oxford coach Melissa Bennett said.

Halaya Harmon buried a 3-pointer with four minutes to play that gave Oxford a 52-47 lead and some breathing room. Poor free-throw shooting – 1 for 9 in the final minutes –
hampered the Lady Jackets, but solid rebounding helped them keep the ball away from the Tigers.

“Halaya came in and really handled herself real well in the fourth quarter,” Bennett said. “She hit a big 3, settled us down and handled their press.”

Ashleigh Jackson ended the game with 12 rebounds and Justyce Smith hauled in 15 to lead the Jackets, and scored the last five points of the game.

“We challenged the girls to rebound tonight as we did not rebound real well in our last game,” Bennett said. ”We felt we had a bit of a height advantage tonight and we did.”

Jackson scored eight first-half points and eight rebounds as the Lady Jackets sprinted out to a 35-26 lead. The Jackets outrebounded Handley 23-13 in the first half and created 11 turnovers with their press.

Rhodes kept the Tigers in the game with eight straight points to cut an 11-point Oxford lead to 24-21 midway through the second quarter. She ended up with 14 first-half points.

THURSDAY’S GIRLS BOX SCORES
Oxford 59, Handley 52
HANDLEY (1-2) – Sara Welsh 0 1-2 1, Tenequa Rhodes 9 3-3 22, Alondra Veal 1 0-0 2, Brittany Badger 0 0-0 0, Amber Cofield 0 0-0 0, Addie Robinson 0 0-0 0, Destiny Green 1 0-2 2, Myrical Heard 10 1-4 25, Grace Rittenhouse 0 0-0 0, Daihja Vines 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 5-11 52.

OXFORD (6-3) – Anna Bolton 1 2-2 4, Makayla Kidd 5 0-0 12, Halaya Harmon 2 0-3 6, Ashleigh Jackson 7 0-3 14, Tremeria Britt 3 4-7 10, Akeira Robinson 0 0-0 0, Aumari Lindsay 2 0-0 4, Jamyia Byrd 0 0-0 0, Justyce Smith 3 3-10 9, Kayln Hendrix 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 9-25 59.

Handley 11 15 13 13 — 52
Oxford 14 21 9 15 — 59

3-point goals: Handley 5 (Rhodes, Heard 4); Oxford 4 (Kidd 2, Harmon 2). Rebounds: Handley 23 (Green 7); Oxford 44 (Smith 15, Jackson 12). Fouled out: Rhodes, Veal, Green.

Cleburne County 60, Weaver 43
WEAVER – Marley Tucker 1 0-0 2, Kylee Jordan 2 0-0 4, Rayne Beck 3 10-20 16, Emily Reed 1 0-0 3, Abby Gaines 4 0-0 11, Amira Carter 0 5-8 5, Kiese Hubbard 0 0-0 0, Kayleigh Hindsman 0 0-0 0, Caleigh Cortez 1 0-1 2. Totals 12 15-29 43.

CLEBURNE COUNTY – Alisia Person 2 1-3 6, Olivia McDaniel 0 0-4 0, Shanna Brown 0 0-0 0, Alex Casey 1 8-9 10, Brooklyn McDaniel 3 14-22 20, Haven Freeman 1 0-0 2, Tatiana Ervin 1 0-0 2, Kendall Houston 10 0-0 20. Totals 18 23-34 60.

Weaver 7 12 9 15 — 43
Cleburne County 10 13 18 19 — 60

3-point goals: Weaver 4 (Reed, Gaines 3); Cleburne County 1 (Person). Fouled out: Beck, Gaines, O. McDaniel. Total fouls: Weaver 27, Cleburne County 24.

Jacksonville 61, Saks 35
JACKSONVILLE – Kyra Williams 8-17 6-6 24, Kayla Broom 4-11 3-4 12, Essence Hutchinson 2-7 2-4 7, Maddie Hall 3-4 0-0 6, Patience Carr 1-6 2-3 4, Aniya Jefferson 1-6 1-3 3, Elizabeth Poe 1-4 0-2 2, Brenna Stone 1-1 0-0 2, Malijah Goggins 0-0 1-2 1, Destoni Edwards 0-0 0-0 0, Idea Gray 0-0 0-0 0, Amia Montgomery 0-0 0-0 0, TiAsia Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 17-28 61.

SAKS – Miracle Bass 5-6 4-4 14, Miracle Dennard 2-4 0-0 5, Amya Carlisle 0-4 5-6 5, Teana Edwards 0-0 4-4 4, DeAvian Stewart 2-6 0-0 4, Takeidra Borden 1-3 1-2 3, Daja Almon 0-1 0-0 0, Christinana Gooden 0-1 0-0 0, Stefanie Christopher 0-0 0-0 0, Destini Elston 0-0 0-0 0, Takierra Huson 0-0 0-0 0, Alexis Petty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-24 14-16 35.

Jacksonville 11 22 15 13 — 61
Saks 4 15 4 12 — 35

3-point goals: Jacksonville 2-8 (K. Williams 0-3, Broom 1-2, Hutchinson 1-3); Saks 1-2 (Dennard 1-2). Rebounds: Jacksonville 35 (Poe 11); Saks 23 (Bass 12). Total fouls: Jacksonville 14, Saks 21.

Plainview 64, Sacred Heart 31
PLAINVIEW (7-1) – Payton Blevins 2 3-4 7, Harley Wilkins 1 0-0 2, Sady Wooten 1 0-0 2, Katherine Thompson 2 2-2 6, Catherine Jenkins 0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Shankles 0 0-0 0, Tobi Trotter 3 4-4 10, Jenna Mayes 6 0-0 12, Olivia Graham 5 6-8 18, Kaitlynn Williams 1 0-0 3, Macy Lance 1 0-0 2, Morgan Richey 0 2-2 2. Totals 22 17-20 64.

SACRED HEART – Ayanna Foster 5 1-8 11, Sydney Marion 0 0-0 0, Joelle Tillery 0 0-2 0, Abbie Vingers 0 1-2 1, Amyiah Harris 6 2-4 17, Tosin Sanusi 0 0-0 0, Jacque Beyerle 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 4-16 31.

Plainview 20 20 14 10 — 64
Sacred Heart 12 6 2 11 — 31

3-point goals: Plainview 3 (Graham 2, Williams); Sacred Heart 3 (Harris 3). Total fouls: Plainview 19, Sacred Heart 13. Officials: Burroughs, Howell, Gaines.

Wellborn 73, Ashville 27
ASHVILLE – Erika Williams 3 0-0 6, Coney Thomas 1 0-0 2, Riley Wilbanks 3 0-0 6, Francis Landaverde 3 0-0 7, Jada Willis 1 0-0 2, Christina Segura 0 0-0 0, Amari Bothwell 1 0-1 2, Callie Stewart 1 0-0 2, Kelsey Boatwright 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 0-1 27.

WELLBORN (3-1) – Taliyah Kirby 3 0-1 7, Vanessa Carter 8 1-2 19, Anaya Lowe 4 0-2 9, Itiania Weatherly 6 2-6 14, McKenzie Raines 0 0-0 0, Katessa Carter 7 1-2 15, Olivia Brantley 1 0-0 3, Cloie Adkinson 0 0-0 0, Kristyne Haisch 1 0-1 2, MarKeisha Jones 2 0-1 4. Totals 32 4-15 73.

Ashville 13 4 8 2 — 27
Wellborn 27 8 20 18 — 73

3-point goals: Ashville 1 (Landaverde); Wellborn 5 (Kirby, V. Carter 2, Lowe, Brantley). Total fouls: Ashville 11, Wellborn 6. Officials: Kelley, Watson, Williams. Notes: Vanessa Carter scored 14 points in the first quarter. Katessa Carter and Itiania Weatherly each scored seven in the fourth quarter.

Piedmont 69, Clay Central 55
PIEDMONT – Kayley Kirk 7 3-7 21, Kaitlyn Ridley 7 5-9 20, Pinky Nation 7 0-1 15, Camron Logan 0 2-2 2, Cassidy Jackson 0 0-0 0, Sydney Prater 5 2-5 12, Kiara Jackson 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 12-24 69.

CLAY CENTRAL – Alexis Gates 1 0-0 2, Alicia McNeil 2 0-4 4, Madison Rudy 0 0-0 0, Ahnyah Denny 9 1-2 24, Cassie Ragland 2 3-5 7, Angel Jennings 6 5-11 17, Curtrina Hollingsworth 0 1-2 1, Adrina Slaughter 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-24 55.

Piedmont 12 22 16 19 — 69
Clay Central 8 21 17 9 — 55

3-point goals: Piedmont 5 (Kirk 4, Ridley); Clay Central 5 (Denny 5). Fouled out: C. Jackson, Ragland, Jennings. Total fouls: Piedmont 24, Clay Central 20. Notes: Prater and Ridley combined for 13 points in the fourth quarter to help Piedmont pull away.

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