Lady Dawgs make history
- Updated: January 23, 2021
Anniston wins its record fifth straight Calhoun County girls championship and its 21st overall; Dudley MVP
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE — Each of the last two years Serena Hardy and Alisia Person have looked out across the Pete Mathews Coliseum floor and watched Anniston celebrate winning another Calhoun County Girls Basketball Tournament championship at the expense of the team on which she was playing.
They yearned to know what it felt like.
They finally got the chance Saturday night and that thrill of victory was much more than they could have ever imagined.
“I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be; it feels good to win my first county championship,” Hardy said after her new team, Anniston handled Oxford 51-29 to win its record fifth county title in a row and 21st all-time. “As a Sacred Heart player it was a target for me because I set it as a goal for myself to win it so now that I’ve won it, so I got what I want.”
Hardy may have been experiencing it for the first time, but there are some players in the program who don’t know what it means not to win the county championship. The Lady Dawgs’ fifth straight county title breaks Pleasant Valley’s run of four consecutive girls crowns from 1987 through 1990. The Oxford boys won four in a row from 1961 through 1964. The Lady Dawgs have now won 12 of the last 15 girls titles.
“I’m happy, H-A-P-P-Y,” Anniston coach Eddie Bullock said. “We made history, man, first team in boys or girls to win five in a row. I’m fortunate to be able to coach these girls, man. They do what I ask them to do and I’m glad about it. I’m just blessed. God has his hand on me.”
Anniston senior guard Allasha Dudley cleaned up. She scored 21 points – her three-game tournament average – was voted the Most Valuable Offensive Player and overall MVP, and collected $500 for winning the fan voting for the girls side of the F&M Bank Half-Court Scholarship Shot. The only thing she didn’t get was the defensive award and the $10,000 for hitting the half-court shot (her attempt hit the left side of the rim).
“This means a lot but I couldn’t do it without my team,” said Dudley, who has been on four of these last five county title teams. “Everybody contributed to me getting that. They gave me passes, they trusted me with the ball and coach kept pushing me and telling me to go get the ball. I know the team needs me, so I’ve just got to show up for them.”
Dudley hit nine 3-pointers in her first two tournament games, but did not hit one in five attempts against Oxford. She did, however, nail nine regular baskets and grabbed six rebounds. Shiwanna Jackson had eight points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. And Asia Barclay, the Most Valuable Defensive Player of the tournament, had nine points, 12 rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.
The Lady Dawgs took control of this one early. They held Oxford without a field goal for the first quarter and 81 seconds while opening a 15-3 lead.
The Lady Jackets finally scored from the field on LaMya McGrue’s basket with 6:39 left in the first half. McGrue’s status to even play in the game was uncertain until right before the opening throw-in. She missed the Lady Jackets’ tight semifinal win because of an injury, but she went through two good walk-throughs and was inserted into the game Saturday midway through the first quarter.
She finished with seven points, the Lady Jackets’ second-leading scorer in the game behind Kaleah Taylor.
“We’ve been struggling here recently with some slow start and it’s kind of been a focus of ours,” Oxford coach Melissa Bennett said. “We’ve said if you start slow against really good teams you’re going to dig yourself a hole that you can’t get out of and that’s kind of how it was.
“We gave up a 15-point run at the beginning and we looked up at one point it’s 44-25 and said if we don’t spot them 15 points at the beginning of the game it’s a four-point game.”
The Lady Jackets got it as close as seven midway through the second quarter, but margin was double-digits throughout the second half.
“Anniston has owned and dominated this tournament for the last many years, so for us not to give up and not get blown out after that 15-3 start was huge.,” Bennett said. “We just kind of kept chipping away, but you can’t spot them that many points at the beginning.”
Anniston 51, Oxford 29
OXFORD –Justice Woods 1 0-0 2, Xai Whitfield 0 0-0 0, Lauren Ellard 0 7-9 7, LaMya McGrue 2 3-10 7, Kaleah Taylor 4 2-2 11, Emma McCullough 0 0-0 0, Lisa Montgomery 1 0-1 2. Totals 8 12-22 29.
ANNISTON –Allasha Dudley 9 3-6 21, Alisia Person 3 0-0 8, Serena Hardy 1 0-0 3, Shiwanna Jackson 4 0-0 8, Aaliyah Henson 1 0-0 2, Tiauna Thomas 0 0-0 0, Asia Barclay 3 3-5 9. Totals 21 6-11 51.
Oxford 3 11 9 6 – 29
Anniston 15 12 11 13 – 51
3-point goals: Oxford 1 (Taylor); Anniston 3 (Person 2, Hardy). Fouled out: Ellard. Total fouls: Oxford 15, Anniston 20. Officials: Burns, Brown, Larkins.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Most Valuable Player –Allasha Dudley, Anniston
Most Valuable Offensive Player –Allasha Dudley, Anniston
Most Valuable Defensive Player –Asia Barclay, Anniston
All-Tournament Team
Asia Barclay, Anniston
Kayla Broom, Jacksonville
Jorda Crook, Ohatchee
Amarie Curry, Jacksonville
Allasha Dudley, Anniston
Lauren Ellard, Oxford
Serena Hardy, Anniston
Haley Homesley, Weaver
Gracie Hood, Pleasant Valley
Ashley Phillips, Alexandria
Lily Ponder, White Plains
LeLe Ridley, Piedmont
Kaleah Taylor, Oxford
Tori Vice, Ohatchee
Xaionna Whitfield, Oxford
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