Top seeds move on
- Updated: January 20, 2018
County tourney at Oxford: Top-seeded Sacred Heart boys, Anniston girls have successful debuts; Cardinals’ Wood has scare
Sacred Heart’s Stephen Stansil (13) tries to keep Weaver’s Dalton Hamby from getting around him in their Calhoun County Tournament quarterfinal game Friday night. Stencil was the game’s leading scorer with 19 points. (Photo by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
CALHOUN COUNTY TOURNAMENT
(Games at Jacksonville State)
Boys Games
Saks 61, Alexandria 58
Oxford 82, Piedmont 46
Girls Games
Oxford 65, Wellborn 43
Jacksonville 52, Pleasant Valley 34
(Games at Oxford Sports Arena)
Boys Games
Anniston 54, Jacksonville 32
Sacred Heart 84, Weaver 58
Girls Games
Piedmont 62, Alexandria 60
Anniston 78, Weaver 25
Saturday’s Games
(at Jacksonville State)
Boys semifinals
Sacred Heart vs. Anniston, 5:30 p.m.
Oxford vs. Saks, 8:30 p.m.
Girls semifinals
Anniston vs. Piedmont, 4 p.m.
Oxford vs. Jacksonville, 7 p.m.
By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD — The top-seeded teams in the 67th annual Calhoun County Basketball Tournament made their long-awaited debut Friday night and both advanced with relative ease.
Sacred Heart’s top-seeded boys pushed past a game-ending injury to star Diante Wood and beat ninth-seeded Weaver 84-58. Anniston’s top-seeded girls put on another defensive clinic and ran past eighth-seeded Weaver 78-25.
The games were played at the Oxford Sports Arena as the tournament went to two venues to get back on scheduling track after a three-day break due to wintry weather and its aftermath.
In the other two games of the night, Piedmont’s girls edged Alexandria 62-60; and Anniston’s boys shut down Jacksonville, 54-32. The four winners will play in their respective semifinals Saturday at Jacksonville State.
Anniston’s James Haynes (11) freezes the Jacksonville defense as he considers his next move. (Photo by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
To see a gallery of photos from Friday’s games at Oxford visit www.bjfranklin.smugmug.com
Boys quarterfinals
Anniston jumped out to a 19-5 first quarter lead and used a stifling 2-3 zone to cause Jacksonville all kinds of problems.
The margin stayed in the 14-point range until a 12-4 fourth quarter Anniston run finally put the game away. Theron Montgomery and James Haynes pumped in 14 points apiece to lead the Bulldogs.
Sacred Heart lost Wood to a knee sprain early in the second quarter, but used a strong press and pounded the ball inside to take out Weaver.
Wood, an Alabama signee who missed the first part of the season with an ankle sprain, went down with the Cardinals leading 29-20 with six minutes to go in the second quarter and never returned.
After the game, his father, Chris Wood, said it appeared to be a quadriceps muscle injury instead of the knee. Early reports indicate the Alabama signee is probable for Saturday’s semifinal meeting with Anniston.
“Big sigh (of relief),” the elder Wood said. “He is fine. We will see how it is tomorrow.”
Diante Wood finished with seven points and six rebounds. Eight Cardinals scored seven points or more in the game. Stephen Stansil led them with 19 points. Kahlil Watkins added 12 points and six rebounds. Quinn Riggins had 11 points and Caleb Bowen added 10.
Weaver tried to take the ball inside and took 39 free throws, but only made 22. Shamar Spinks led the Bearcats with 16 points and five rebounds, while Robert Gaines had 15 points and 10 boards.
Girls quarterfinals
Anniston’s Allasha Dudley (3) pushes the ball up the floor against Weaver. Dudley was the Lady Dawgs’ leading scorer with 22 points. (Photo by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
Alexandria’s Brie Bradford banged in what appeared to be the tying basket with four seconds to go, Lady Cubs coach Craig Kiker was calling time out a split second before the shot and the basket did not count.
The Lady Cubs had the play drawn, but missed a shot underneath and Piedmont survived to play another day.
Both teams were scorching from the floor in the third quarter as Piedmont opened up a seven-point lead twice in the quarter, before the Valley Cubs came storming back to tie it at 50-50.
Alexandria led briefly in the early part of the fourth quarter when they took advantage of five missed free throws by the Lady Bulldogs. Piedmont then scored seven straight points to go up 59-55 and hung on for dear life to get the win.
It was a battle down low in the first half and Sydney Prater got the best of it, scoring 17 first-half points in the paint to help Piedmont to a 29-22 halftime lead.
Alexandria kept it close with five 3-pointers — two each from Ashley Phillips and Sarah Kilgore – but Piedmont ended the half on a seven-point run.
Prater had 25 points to lead Piedmont. Kayley Kirk added 16. Sarah Kilgore led Alexandria with 13 points, while Bradford added 12 points and 12 rebounds.
It was one of those suffocating defensive performances Anniston fans are used to seeing out of an Eddie Bullock-coached team as the Lady Bulldogs won the girls nightcap.
Weaver was only able to get 11 field goals in the game, while the Bulldogs were nailing nine 3-pointers.
Allasha Dudley had six of the 3-pointers as a part of her game high 22 points. Toniah Foster added 15 points and five rebounds and Tekyia Jackson had 12 points.
Caleigh Cortez had 15 points and seven rebounds to lead Weaver, the only one of Saturday’s winners at Oxford that was still around.
Weaver’s Rayne Beck (10) tries to get through Anniston’s Allasha Dudley (3) and Kiana Montgomery. (Photo by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
CALHOUN COUNTY TOURNAMENT BOX SCORES
(Games at Oxford Sports Arena)
Boys Games
Anniston 54, Jacksonville 32
ANNISTON – Theron Montgomery 4-6 4-5 12, James Haynes 4-8 1-2 12, Dontavious Davis 5-8 0-1 10, Savion Bethune 3-9 0-0 8, Ladreka Hall 2-2 0-0 4, William Fairley 2-4 0-0 4, Kwame Milton 1-2 0-0 2, Hunter Rouse 1-1 0-0 2, Tyree Carmichael 0-0 0-0 0, Jimmie Felton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-41 5-8 54.
JACKSONVILLE – Donovan McCain 3-10 2-2 8, Alex Gilbert 3-7 0-0 6, Cade Landers 1-4 2-2 4, DeMarien Stewart 1-3 1-2 4, DeAndre McCain 1-4 1-2 3, DeDarien Savage 1-3 1-2 3, Macey Carr 1-7 0-2 2, Ron Wiggins 0-0 2-4 2, Alex Davis 0-3 0-0 0, Jay Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Carter Landers 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 11-42 9-16 32.
Anniston 19 8 9 18 — 54
Jacksonville 5 10 8 9 — 52
3-point goals: Anniston 5-14 (Haynes 3-6, Bethune 2-5, Fairley 0-2, Milton 0-1); Jacksonville 1-11 (Gilbert 0-2, Cd. Landers 0-2, Stewart 1-3, De. McCain 0-1, Carr 0-3). Rebounds: Anniston 33 (Montgomery 10, Davis 8, Bethune 8); Jacksonville 28 (Do. McCain 6). Total fouls: Anniston 11, Jacksonville 11.
Sacred Heart 84, Weaver 58
WEAVER (13-7) – Taylor Deck 1 2-3 4, London Knight 1 5-8 7, Robert Gaines 7 1-3 15, Shamar Spinks 5 6-10 16, Nick Torres 0 1-1 1, Alex Perry 0 0-0 0, Dalton Hamby 2 5-9 9, Brandon Heath 0 1-2 1, Gray Wallace 1 0-0 2, Amardric Elston 1 1-2 3. Totals 18 22-39 58.
SACRED HEART (11-10) – Quin Riggins 5 1-5 11, Diante Wood 3 1-2 7, Victor Wilson 2 1-2 7, Jack Miller 0 0-0 0, Murdock Simmons 2 5-5 9, Caleb Brown 5 0-0 10, Joshua Brown 3 2-2 9, Stephen Stansil 8 2-3 19, JonRiley Miller 0 0-0 0, Khalil Watkins 6 0-0 12, Kendarious Harris 0 0-0 0. Totals 34 12-17 84.
Weaver 14 17 13 14 — 58
Sacred Heart 19 32 14 19 — 84
3-point goals: Sacred Heart 4 (Wilson 2, J. Brown, Stansil). Rebounds: Weaver 41 (Gaines 10, Knight 7); Sacred Heart 32 (Wood 6, Watkins 6).
Girls Games
Piedmont 62, Alexandria 60
ALEXANDRIA (13-6) – Ashley Phillips 3 2-2 10, Destiny Heathcock 1 3-3 6, Kayleigh Steen 2 0-0 6, Kaitlyn Harvey 2 0-0 5, Kameron Simpson 0 0-0 0, Sarah Kilgore 5 0-2 13, Bre Bradford 3 6-9 12, Sarah Pelham 0 0-0 0, Allison Bonds 2 0-0 6, Maggie Phillips 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 11-16 60.
PIEDMONT (12-5) – Kayley Kirk 6 2-2 16, Lele Ridley 0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Ridley 4 1-3 9, Pinky Nation 3 0-2 6, Camron Logan 1 0-0 2, Cassidy Jackson 0 0-0 0, Zhayla Walker 1 1-2 3, Aliyah Teague 0 0-0 0, Sydney Prater 8 9-13 25, Kiara Jackson 0 1-2 1. Totals 23 14-24 62.
Alexandria 14 8 26 12 — 60
Piedmont 12 17 21 12 — 62
3-point goals: Alexandria 11 (A. Phillips 2, Heathcock, Steen 2, Harvey, Kilgore 3, Bonds 2); Piedmont 2 (Kirk 2). Rebounds: Alexandria 34 (B. Bradford 12); Piedmont 35 (Nation 8, Walker 7). Fouled out: Kilgore.
Anniston 78, Weaver 25
WEAVER (7-9) – Caleigh Cortez 7 1-1 15, Kylee Jordan 0 0-0 0, Rayne Beck 2 0-0 4, Emily Reed 0 0-0 0, Amira Carter 0 1-2 1, Abby Gaines 2 0-0 5. Totals 11 2-3 25.
ANNISTON (14-3) – Allasha Dudley 8 0-0 22, Anna McKetra Garrett 4 0-0 10, Viera Edmonson 1 0-0 3, Ladajah Williams 0 0-0 0, Amoriya Dudley 2 0-0 4, Jordyn Johnson 0 0-0 0, Montiega Clemons 3 0-0 6, Tekyia Jackson 6 0-0 12, Kiana Montgomery 3 0-1 6, Toniah Foster 6 3-6 15. Totals 33 3-7 78.
Weaver 6 3 6 10 — 25
Anniston 22 18 24 14 — 78
3-point goals: Weaver 1 (Gaines); Anniston 9 (Al. Dudley 6, Garrett 2, Edmonson). Rebounds: Weaver 18 (Cortez 7). Anniston 33 (Johnson 7, Jackson 6)
Sacred Heart’s Diante Wood goes hard to the basket shortly before suffering a leg injury in the second quarter against Weaver. (Photo by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
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