Taking control
- Updated: January 9, 2019
Girls roundup: Weaver now controls its own destiny in area race after beating Pleasant Valley for second time; Piedmont’s Prater goes over 1,000
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
WEAVER – It was only eight minutes – the last eight minutes of the game – but it may have been the most important minutes of the Weaver girls’ season.
The Lady Bearcats used a big fourth-quarter finish to pull away from a tied game and beat Pleasant Valley 42-38 to sweep the season series and take the upper hand in the race to host the Class 3A Area 11 tournament.
Weaver still has to play two games with Piedmont, but if the Lady Bearcats can manage at least a split they should be able to claim the area’s No. 1 seed.
“It’s all about us now,” Weaver coach Gary Atchley said. “We’ve got two chances to host now against a good Piedmont team. The ball’s in our court. One of our first goals of the season was to host the area tournament. We’re on the road to try to do that.”
Tuesday’s games
Faith Christian 61, Jacksonville Christian 44
Fort Payne 49, Oxford 24
Glencoe 57, Susan Moore 55
Hokes Bluff 38, White Plains 27
Jacksonville 33, Alexandria 23
Lincoln 42, Cleburne County 37
Piedmont 50, Saks 31
Sacred Heart 59, Ohatchee 39
Southside 54, Etowah 38
Spring Garden 96, Donoho 25
Weaver 42, Pleasant Valley 38
Anniston 59, Talladega 32
Ashville at Wellborn
Winterboro 60, Moody 51
Munford at B.B. Comer
Sylacauga at Clay Central
The game was tied 29-all going into the fourth quarter. Maleah Foster scored the first four points of the quarter for Weaver and the Lady Bearcats (12-5) never trailed again.
It was a four-point game with 25 seconds to play, but Pleasant Valley missed too many shots from in close to give it a chance. And when the Lady Raiders stole the inbounds pass with 1.9 seconds left, they simply had too much court to cover and not enough time to make up the difference.
“That quarter was huge,” Atchley said. “You’ve got win games like that. If we want to get where we need to be at the end of the season you’ve got to win games like that.
“Pleasant Valley came out and played hard and my girls faced some adversity tonight that we hadn’t faced in a while, and we needed that. We needed them to play us like that for us to get better tonight.”
The Lady Raiders (10-8) did a good job doubling down on Caleigh Cortez. They held the Lady Bearcats’ top scorer to only four first-quarter points, but Abby Gaines got them early and Foster and Haley Homesley got them late.
Gaines finished with 14 points, matching her second-highest point total of the season, while Foster had 11 and Homesley had eight, including a hook shot with 3:05 left that gave Weaver a seven-point lead.
“The last three or four teams we played have tried to shut down Cortez,” Atchley said. “Cortez keeps doing what she does and the other girls are stepping up. I’ve found out a lot about my basketball team right now and I like it. They are accepting every challenge that teams are throwing at us right now.”
Weaver 42, Pleasant Valley 38
PLEASANT VALLEY (10-8) – Brooke Perry 5 0-0 10, Lindsey Pritchett 0 1-2 1, Ava Boozer 0 0-0 0, Rylee Haynes 1 1-2 3, Chandler Dorsett 2 0-0 5, Emma Hood 5 3-4 13, Karmyn Sparks 3 0-0 6. Totals 16 5-8 38.
WEAVER (12-5) – Caleigh Cortez 2 0-0 4, Maleah Foster 3 4-4 11, Trinity Pulliam 1 1-2 3, Abby Gaines 6 1-2 14, Amira Carter 1 0-0 2, Haley Homesley 4 0-0 8. Totals 17 6-8 42.
Pleasant Valley 8 12 9 9 – 38
Weaver 12 11 6 13 – 42
3-point goals: Pleasant Valley 1 (Dorsett); Weaver 2 (Foster, Gaines). Total fouls: Pleasant Valley 10, Weaver 7. Officials: Shipley, Burkston, Montgomery.
PIEDMONT 50, SAKS 31
PIEDMONT – Sydney Prater scored 21 points and went over the 1,000-point plateau in the first quarter to lead the Lady Bulldogs to an area win and back over the .500 mark for the season (7-6).
Prater needed four points to reach the milestone and the idea was to help her get it as quickly as possible. She now has 1,017 points in her 92-game career – and she missed all her freshman year with a knee injury.
But she was much more than a scorer for the Lady Bulldogs in this game. She grabbed 11 rebounds and collected five steals, four assists and three blocked shots. She stands at 536 career rebounds, 124 steals, 117 assists and 54 blocked shots.
Kayley Kirk had 17 points for Piedmont. She scored 16 in the second half.
SAKS (2-13) – Amya Carlisle 2 0-0 4, Penelope Dudley 0 0-0 0, Teonna Williams 0 0-0 0, DeArien Stewart 1 0-0 2, Takeiria Hudson 0 0-0 0, Deja Almon 1 0-2 3, Halimah Binyamin 6 1-2 13, Alicia Gooden 0 0-0 0, Destini Elston 0 1-2 1, Teana Edwards 3 0-0 8. Totals 13 2-6 31.
PIEDMONT (7-6) – Kayley Kirk 5 6-11 17, Lele Ridley 4 0-2 8, Ava Pope 0 0-0 0, Hannah Barbee 0 0-0 0, Armoni Perry 0 0-0 0, MacKenzie Tolbert 0 0-0 0, Sadie Naugher 0 0-0 0, Madison Tyree 0 0-0 0, Amber Raney 0 0-0 0, Z’Hayla Walker 2 0-0 4, Sydney Prater 7 6-12 21, Kiara Jackson 0 0-1 0. Totals 18 12-26 50.
Saks 7 8 10 6 – 31
Piedmont 11 8 17 14 — 50
3-point goals: Saks 3 (Almon, Edwards 2); Piedmont 2 (Kirk, Prater). Total fouls: Saks 20, Piedmont 9. Officials: Calkins, Hollingsworth, Hall.
FAITH CHRISTIAN 61, JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN 44
JACKSONVILLE – Sydnee Johnson led three Faith scorers in double figures with 20 points and the Lady Lions used a big second half to push past JCA and tighten up the race to avoid the play-in game of the Class 1A Area 11 tournament.
The Lady Lions held a 24-23 halftime lead, but took control with a 17-6 third quarter and added to their lead in the fourth. Emily Sills scored seven of her 11 in the second half, going 5-for-6 from the foul line. Kristin Covington had eight of her 14 in the half and Ari Arevalo scored all eight of her points in the fourth quarter.
“Tonight was more than just a win, it was a statement,” Sills said. “It will play a big role in the area tournament seeding, but also showed us what happens when the whole team buys into what we are doing. Honestly, the whole team playing together means more to me as a senior than any win.”
The win gave the Lady Lions a split with JCA in the season series. Now they’ll go into Friday’s game with Donoho with a chance to lock down the third seed in the area tournament.
“I was incredibly proud of how hard our team worked tonight,” Sarah Kate McVeigh said. “We’ve had ups and downs this season, but one thing that’s been consistent is that we play with heart. We each have a specific role to play in order for us to and tonight we did just that. … We only have a few more weeks of us being all together as a team and I believe we are giving everything we have to make the most of it.”
FAITH CHRISTIAN (6-6) – Emily Sills 2 7-8 11, Ari Arevalo 4 0-0 8, Kristin Covington 6 2-3 14, Kassidy Nix 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Bedford 1 0-0 2, Sydnee Johnson 7 2-4 20, Sarah Kate McVeigh 3 0-2 6, Savanna Gibbons 0 0-0 0, Meg Ford 0 0-0 0, C.J. Setters 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 11-17
JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN (10-6) – Karli Barnwell 0 0-0 0, Kylie Cupp 2 0-0 5, Mia Morales 2 1-2 5, Jacie Brackett 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Goss 3 0-0 7, Rebekah Carter 4 0-0 8, Sidney Hancock 8 3-8 19. Totals 19 4-10 44.
Faith 13 11 17 20 – 61
JCA 15 8 6 15 – 44
3-point goals: Faith 4 (Johnson 4); JCA 2 (Cupp, Goss). Fouled out: Carter. Total fouls: Faith 16, JCA 13
LINCOLN 42, CLEBURNE COUNTY 37
LINCOLN – Bailey Gowers 2 0-2 4, Makayla Groce 1 0-0 2, Jayla Morris 9 1-6 20, Keishaunna Strown 2 1-4 7, Abby Smith 2 0-0 4, Taylor Conway 2 1-2 5. Totals 18 3-14 42.
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Olivia McDaniel 4 2-3 10, Kendall Houston 3 1-2 9, Haven Freeman 0 0-0 0, Micha Pentacost 0 0-0 0, Brooklyn McDaniel 4 0-0 9, Haley Price 2 0-0 5, Haley Roberts 1 0-0 3, Shanna Brown 0 0-0 0, Jacy Littleton 0 2-2 2. Totals 14 5-7 37.
Lincoln 10 17 6 9 – 42
Cleburne County 9 8 5 15 – 37
3-point goals: Lincoln 3 (Morris, Strown 2); Cleburne County 5 (Houston, B. McDaniel 2, Price, Roberts). Technical fouls: Morris. Fouled out: Conway. Total fouls: Lincoln 18, Cleburne County 15.
SACRED HEART 59, OHATCHEE 39
SACRED HEART (15-2) – Alisia Person 1 1-3 3, Myiah Harris 5 0-0 10, Ayanna Foster 14 5-8 33, Joelle Tillery 2 1-2 7, Jordan Sabree 0 1-3 1, Serena Hardy 1 0-0 3, Taysia West 1 0-1 2. Totals 24 8-17 59.
OHATCHEE (6-9) – Jazmine Adams 0 0-0 0, Tori Vice 7 2-4 17, Gracie George 4 2-4 10, Millie Rainwater 0 0-0 0, Regan Snow 2 0-1 4, Jorda Crook 2 4-9 8. Totals 15 8-18 39.
Sacred Heart 22 4 13 20 – 59
Ohatchee 12 11 7 9 – 39
3-point goals: Sacred Heart 3 (Tillery 2, Hardy); Ohatchee 1 (Vice). Fouled out: Vice. Total fouls: Sacred Heart 17, Ohatchee 15. Officials: Kelley, Rogers, Oritz.
Notes: Foster scored 14 points in the first quarter, 11 in the third and eight in the fourth. Tillery hit both her 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
HOKES BLUFF 38, WHITE PLAINS 27
WHITE PLAINS (9-11) – Callyn Martin 4 2-2 13, Cheyenne Cochran 0 0-0 0, Camden Wilson 0 0-0 0, Lily Ponder 2 0-0 5, Adriana Sotelo 0 0-1 0, Jocelyn Harris 0 0-2 0, Angel Bozarth 2 0-0 5, Kaylee Johnson 2 0-0 4, Hallie Williams 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 2-5 27.
HOKES BLUFF – Madison Wolfe 1 1-2 4, MacKenzie Bates 0 0-0 0, Haley Simpson 1 3-4 6, Maddie Smith 0 0-0 0, Taylor Horne 0 0-2 0, Kristen Shields 4 0-0 10, Gracie West 0 6-8 6, Jayden Presley 0 0-0 0, Aubrey Molard 0 3-4 3, Madison Ingram 3 3-5 9. Totals 9 16-25 38
White Plains 12 3 8 4 – 27
Hokes Bluff 8 7 15 8 – 38
3-point goals: White Plains 5 (Martin 3, Ponder, Bozarth); Hokes Bluff 4 (Wolfe, Simpson, Shields 2). Fouled out: Johnson. Total fouls: White Plains 18, Hokes Bluff 11. Officials: Battles, Malkey, Moore.
JACKSONVILLE 33, ALEXANDRIA 23
JACKSONVILLE (7-8) – Kayla Broom 9-17 4-8 23, Patience Carr 1-3 3-8 5, Amia Montgomery 2-4 0-0 4, Rebekah Gannaway 0-1 1-2 1, Amarie Curry 0-1 0-0 0, Brenna Stone 0-3 0-2 0, Malijah Goggins 0-0 0-2 0, Aly Meagher 0-1 0-0 0, TiAsia Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Ashlynn Farr 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-31 8-22 33.
ALEXANDRIA (4-12) – Kaitlin Harvey 0-4 8-10 8, Sarah Pelham 3-6 0-1 6, Ashley Phillips 2-6 0-0 4, Maggie Phillips 1-4 0-0 2, Kayleigh Steen 0-6 2-2 2, Kameron Simpson 0-5 1-2 1, LaToia Brewster 0-0 0-0 0, TyShica Woodgett 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 6-32 11-15 23.
Jacksonville 11 6 7 9 – 33
Alexandria 4 6 7 6 – 23
3-point goals: Jacksonville 1-6 (Broom 1-4, Stone 0-1, Williams 0-1); Alexandria 0-13 (Harvey 0-3, Pelham 0-1, A. Phillips 0-3, Steen 0-6). Rebounds: Jacksonville 27 (Broom 10); Alexandria 27 (Harvey 7). Total fouls: Jacksonville 17, Alexandria 18. Officials: Holmes, Dupree, Wood.
Notes: Broom was on from the start. Shes cored seven in the first quarter and had 14 in the second half.
GLENCOE 57, SUSAN MOORE 55
SUSAN MOORE – Morgan Holland 7 9-13 23, Mackenzie Strandridge 2 0-0 4, Abby Floyd 2 0-0 5, Hallie Holms 4 2-3 14, Cyndal Holland 1 0-0 2, Hannah Lauderdale 0 0-0 0, Kinsley Quick 2 1-2 5, Aerial Cason 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 12-19 55.
GLENCOE – Anna Claire Hipps 1 0-0 2, Anna Grave Goodwin 3 2-4 10, Anna Beth Giles 5 2-4 14, Ashley Morgan 0 1-6 1, Asia Davis 0 1-2 1, Lauren Cole 2 0-0 5, Aubrey Gray 2 3-5 8, Cami Zahorscak 4 5-6 17. Totals 18 14-27 57.
Susan Moore 12 15 8 20 – 55
Glencoe 15 9 18 16 – 57
3-point goals: Susan Moore 5 (Holms 4, Floyd); Glencoe 8 (Zahorscak 4, Cole, Giles, Goodwin 2). Fouled out: Cason, Lauderdale, Morgan. Total fouls: Susan Moore 23, Glencoe 19. Officials: Askew, Morris, Evans.
Notes: The game was a battle of Top 10 teams in Class 3A. Susan Moore was No. 3, Glencoe was No. 7. Zahorscak hit two 3-pointers to start the second half and Glencoe stayed out front the rest of the game. Susan Moore scored with a second left to make it that close.
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