Lady Jackets on a roll
- Updated: December 1, 2020
Girls roundup: Oxford continues its best start under Bennett, Brown powers Cleburne County past Donoho, White Plains rocks Lincoln
Monday’s girls scores
Cleburne County 64, Donoho 29
Oxford 81, Handley 66
White Plains 64, Lincoln 18
By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD – Things are changing for Oxford girls basketball.
The Lady Jackets are off to their best start under coach Melissa Bennett (7-2) after knocking off a strong 4A Handley team 81-66 Monday night at the Oxford Sports Arena.
“It was the first time we have ever scored 80 points in a game since I have been here,” Bennett said.
Sophomore LaMya McGrue poured in 24 points – 16 in the second half – to lead Oxford in scoring, while freshman Xaionna Whitfield and junior Lauren Ellard had 14 apiece. Junior Kaleah Taylor had 13 points and sophomore Justice Woods led a slashing offense by making pass after pass for easy buckets.
“Our offense did a great job of hitting back-door plays,” Bennett said. “I also want to put out a special note about senior Emma McCullough. When I was going to send her in during the fourth quarter, she told me that I better put in a ball-handler. It is that type of attitude that winning teams have and she is such a great team player.”
The Jackets started slow as Handley’s Grace Rittenhouse and Teanna Watts teamed for 10 first-quarter points and led the Lady Tigers (2-3) to a 20-14 lead early in the second quarter. They finished with 20 and 22 points, respectively.
But Oxford caught fire at that point and its defense created turnovers that fueled a 20-9 run to give the Lady Jackets a five-point halftime lead. They kept the pressure on with a 23-12 third-quarter run and opened a 59-41 lead early in the fourth quarter.
However, Handley did not quit, a sign that initially encouraged coach Courtney Strain Screws after last week’s loss in the Champions Classic title game, and chopped the Oxford lead to 67-60 with four minutes to go with a furious press of its own.
But in the end, the Jackets’ free throw shooting preserved the big lead; they were 17 of 22 in the final quarter. They had only had three free throw attempts in the first three quarters.
“Handley is a very good team; they played a great game,” Bennett said. “They were just a couple of baskets short of a Final Four team a year ago. They are very fast and are a great rebounding team. We were trying to stay in front of them during the game to stop their rebounding and we did okay at times.”
The game was originally scheduled to be played at Handley, but with the Tigers’ football team playing in the 4A state championship game Friday morning school officials wanted to limit the amount of visitors coming onto campus this week as a precautionary measure.
Oxford 81, Handley 66
HANDLEY (2-3) – Ariana Kyles 5 0-0 10, Jamiya Heard 0 0-2 0, Teanna Watts 10 2-8 22, Delisha Slaughter 0 0-0 0, Grace Rittenhouse 9 2-4 20, Takeriauna Mosley 1 0-1 2, Emelia Askew 5 2-4 12, Jayla Trammell 0 0-0 0, Shaniah Allen 0 0-2 0. Totals 30 6-21 66.
OXFORD (7-2) – Justice Woods 1 0-0 2, Zaionna Whitfield 4 5-6 14, Lauren Ellard 3 8-9 15, LaMya McGrue 9 6-10 24, Emma McCullough 1 0-0 3, Lisa Montgomery 3 0-0 6, Keziah Mickler 1 0-2 2, JaMea Gaston 1 0-0 2. Totals 29 19-27 81.
Handley 18 11 12 25 – 66
Oxford 14 20 23 24 – 81
3-point goals: Oxford 4 (Whitfield, Ellard, Taylor, McCullough). Fouled out: Kyles, Heard, Taylor, Montgomery. Total fouls: Handley 23, Oxford 19. Officials: Pratt, McCareeth, Taylor.
White Plains 64, Lincoln 18
White Plains placed three scorers in double figures and its defense held Lincoln scoreless in a wild third quarter.
Angel Bozarth led the Lady Wildcats with 12 points. Camden Wilson and Adriana Sotelo had 10 each. Sotelo hit three 3-pointers. Callyn Martin had nine points, all in the second quarter as White Plains opened a 20-point halftime lead.
It was a physical contest and tempers flared at the 5:22 mark of the third quarter. Lincoln’s Nakylin Duncan and Genesis McClellan and White Plains’ Lily Ponder and Callyn Martin were involved in an altercation that started under the basket and spilled toward the midcourt sideline across from the benches.
When calm was restored, the Lady Wildcats continued on a 12-0 run to the end of the quarter that extended their lead to 43-11. They outscored Lincoln 33-7 in the second half..
“Honestly I didn’t see it happen; I was coaching a girl on the bench, I didn’t see it all go down,” White Plains coach Matt Ford said. “The run afterward, I just feel we’re fairly deep this year and I trust everybody out there so I wasn’t surprised the girls who came in did a good job; that’s what I expected.” – Gregory Kirby
White Plains 64, Lincoln 18
LINCOLN – Bailey Gowers 3 4-10, Destiny White 0 0-0 0, Nakylin Duncan 0 0-0 0, Genesis McClellan 2 0-0 4, Brilee Woods 0 0-0 0, Tmyra Strown 0 0-0 0, Erin Barker 0 2-2 2, Clarke Cunningham 1 0-0 2, Jnayshia Zackery 0 0-0 0. Totals 6 6-12 18.
WHITE PLAINS – Callyn Martin 4 0-1 9, Cheyenne Cochran 0 1-2 2, Hallie Williams 3 0-0 6, Shaniya Calloway 0 0-0 0, Camden Wilson 4 2-3 10, Lily Ponder 2 2-2 6, Adriana Sotelo 3 1-2 10, Angel Bozarth 4 2-3 12, Kaylee Johnson 4 0-0 8, Emma Howard 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 8-13 64.
Lincoln 6 5 0 7 – 18
White Plains 18 13 12 21 – 64
3-point goals: White Plains 6 (Martin, Sotelo 3, Bozarth 2). Technical fouls: Duncan, McClellan, Martin, Ponder. Total fouls: Lincoln 12, White Plains 10. Officials: Tidwell, Hollaway, Straud.
Cleburne County 64, Donoho 29
Freshman Faith Brown scored a career-high 36 points and held Donoho scoring leader Victoria O’Neill to six points in leading the Lady Tigers (3-1) to their second straight win.
Brown hit 17 of 23 shots from the field and also grabbed five offensive rebounds. Defensively, she held O’Neill, who had a 40-point game earlier this season, to one first-quarter field goal.
“Faith really stepped up tonight,” Lady Tigers coach Todd Gable said. “She told me she could guard their best player and she did. And she was hot on offense. I was proud of her tonight.”
Brown scored 21 points in the first half as the Lady Tigers opened a 32-14 lead. Haven Freeman grabbed 12 rebounds.
The Lady Falcons were being coached in the game by JV boys coach Todd Waldrop, as head coach Korielle Beavers is in COVID quarantine with his Donoho boys team.
Cleburne County 64, Donoho 29
CLEBURNE COUNTY (3-1) – Faith Brown 17-23 0-0 36, Makenzie Frames 0-1 0-0 0, Chloe Kerr 1-1 0-0 2, Jacy Littleton 0-0 0-0 0, Haley Price 2-9 2-4 8, Micah Pentecost 0-2 0-0 0, Brooklyn McDaniel 3-12 3-3 9, Haven Freeman 3-6 0-4 6, Kaydence Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Libby Altman 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 27-56 5-11 64.
DONOHO – Victoria O’Neill 1 4-6 6, Anastasia O’Neill 1 0-0 3, Janie Sills 3 0-0 6, Anna Grace Jones 1 2-2 5, Julie Cleckler 4 1-5 9, Amelia Baker 0 0-0 0, Cailin Campbell 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 7-13 29.
Cleburne County 15 17 28 4 – 64
Donoho 7 7 13 2 – 29
3-point goals: Cleburne County 5-13 (Brown 2-2, B. McDaniel 0-5, Price 2-4, Altman 1-1, Frames 0-1); Donoho 2 (A. O’Neill, Jones). Total fouls: Cleburne County 18, Donoho 11.
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