Breaking barriers
- Updated: February 4, 2021
Girls roundup: Ohatchee’s Crook, Vice both surpass personal scoring milestones in rout of Ragland
Thursday’s girls games
Ohatchee 78, Ragland 50
Oxford 61, Scottsboro 38
Pleasant Valley 56, West End 40
Ranburne 44, Jacksonville Christian 38
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
OHATCHEE – Have you ever wondered what 2,500 points looks like?
Take a look below.
Jorda Crook and Tori Vice, Ohatchee’s two dynamic scorers, both hit personal scoring milestones Thursday night to reach the magic number.
Crook, a sophomore, scored 23 points and blasted past 1,000 career points in the Lady Indians’ 78-50 rout of Ragland in their final regular-season home game. Vice, the team’s only senior, surpassed 1,500 points with a 16-point night.
“I’m just happy for them; happy for Tori, happy for Jorda,” Ohatchee coach Bryant Ginn said. “Tori has put in a ton of work here in her senior year, so accomplishing that is a pretty cool feat. And Jorda getting it as a tenth grader, I think that’s pretty special. It’s a testament to her motor down low; she’s a double-double machine, sometimes triple-double.”
Crook needed nine points coming into the game and scored her milestone points with 1:19 left in the Lady Indians’ 31-point first quarter when she converted a Vice steal for the final points of the period. Vice needed 15 points coming in and reached her milestone with a 3-pointer from the right corner with 4:42 left in the game.
Ginn called time out immediately after both milestone points were scored, but the feats weren’t recognized until after the game.
Crook now has 1,014 points, while Vice stands at 1,501. As recently as 2018, Weaver had a pair of 1,000-point scorers on the same team — Caleigh Cortez and Rayne Beck.
“I didn’t think I was close, but it’s incredible,” Crook said. “It’s something we’ve had to work for.”
“I think that’s pretty incredible,” said Vice.
Of course, they would have had hit the marks sooner this year had the season not been disrupted by COVID-19 quarantines and cancelations.
Both players came up with the Ohatchee varsity full time as eighth graders and steadily climbed the scoring charts. Vice, a guard who can attack the basket from beyond the arc or driving the lane, reached the 1,000-point plateau during last year’s Cleburne County Christmas tournament. She doesn’t remember much from that game, and if memory serves, the occasion almost got past them.
This one she won’t readily forget.
“When I scored 1,000 I was surprised, but I never thought I’d hit 1,500 this year,” she said. “I can say I’m more thankful (this year) because this is the last regular-season home game here and I was glad to end it on a good note. I’ll definitely remember this one because it was my senior year.”
Amazingly, given the way she can dominate a game, basketball was something Crook “just picked up” growing up behind two dynamic sisters and got better at through the years; she actually considers herself more of a volleyball player. But Ginn saw plenty of examples early on that his powerful post was going to be a force on the basketball floor.
“We played Ranburne in a sub-regional game her eighth-grade year,” Ginn recalled. “A couple times she got mad, grabbed the ball, ducked her head and drove to the goal and got a layup. I wasn’t going stop her. Michael Jordan wasn’t going to stop her. I thought, man, if we could ever get her to do that all the time nobody would touch her.
“So, yeah, we’ve seen flashes of it coming.”
And they aren’t done yet.
Ohatchee 78, Ragland 50
RAGLAND – Rylee Mickler 2 0-0 4, Cadence Buchanan 10 2-5 22, Jaymie Rains 0 0-0 0, Campbell Adams 2 6-10 10, Baleigh Hines 2 2-2 6, Jewel Ferguson 0 0-0 0, Conya Brewster 3 2-6 8. Totals 19 12-32 50.
OHATCHEE – Gracyn Snow 0 0-0 0, Lyda Elders 0 1-2 1, Rachel Dunaway 5 0-0 13, Tori Vice 4 7-11 16, Whitney McFry 2 3-4 9, Mia Waters 1 2-2 4, Millie Rainwater 2 3-4 8, Jorda Crook 9 5-11 23, Alyssa Davis 1 2-2 4. Totals 24 23-36 78.
Ragland 9 16 13 12 – 50
Ohatchee 31 14 12 21 – 78
3-point goals: Ohatchee 7 (Dunaway 3, Vice, McFry 2, Rainwater). Fouled out: Adams, Ball. Total fouls: Ragland 24, Ohatchee 22. Officials: Kelley, Hall, Jarrett.
Oxford 61, Scottsboro 38
OXFORD – The Lady Jackets got 13 points apiece from Leah Taylor and Xai Whitfield to win their final regular-season game.
Whitfield, a freshman, scored 11 points in the third quarter to help the Jackets (21-8) break open the game. The Oxford defense held the Wildcats (17-5) to only six field goals in the second half.
The Lady Jackets snapped out of a shooting slump as five players hit the team’s six 3-pointers.
Oxford got off to a blazing start and threatened to blow Scottsboro out of the gym in the first quarter as it created seven turnovers in rolling out to a 21-5 lead. Taylor had nine points in the run.
The Lady Jackets got sloppy in the last minute of the quarter, turning the ball over three times and the Wildcats scored 9 straight points to cut the margin to 21-14 by quarter’s end.
Three-pointers by Emma McCullough and Lisa Montgomery helped Oxford pull back out to a 12-point halftime lead. The Lady Jackets missed six free throws in the quarter and that kept the Wildcats in the game.
A 17-6 third quarter explosion helped the Jackets to their 21st win on the season. Oxford boys coach Joel Van Meter was impressed.
“(Coach) Melissa (Bennett) has done a great job over the last few years getting this team to where it is at this year,” he said as he waited for his game to start. “They have worked hard and good things come to those that work hard.” – Brant Locklier
Oxford 61, Scottsboro 38
SCOTTSBORO (17-5) – Cathryn Holland 0 0-0 0, Allie Scott 1 0-0 2, Kami Willis 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Paschal 1 0-0 2, Olivia Tubbs 1 0-0 2, Lexie Bennett 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Smart 1 0-0 2, Audrey Holland 7 5-7 19, Jadaya Edmonson 4 0-0 8, Keira Culver 0 1-2 1. Totals 16 6-9 38.
OXFORD (21-8) – Justice Woods 0 0-0 0, Xai Whitfield 6 0-0 13, Lauren Ellard 4 2-2 11, Maya McGrue 3 2-6 8, Kaleah Taylor 5 2-7 13, Emma McCullough 2 0-0 5, Lisa Montgomery 3 0-0 8, Ashley Paulson 0 0-0 0, Chloe Hulsey 0 0-0 0, Keziah Mickler 0 0-0 0, Aniya Elston 0 0-0 0, Jamea Gaston 1 1-1 3, Mikiya Wilson 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 7-16 61.
Scottsboro 14 9 6 9 – 38
Oxford 21 13 17 10 – 61
3-point goals: Oxford 6 (Whitfield, Ellard, Taylor, McCullough, Montgomery 2). Fouled out: Edmonson.
Pleasant Valley 56, West End 40
WALNUT GROVE – Macey Roper scored 21 points, Rylee Haynes scored 19 and the Lady Raiders held their hosts to 12 points in the second half to pull away.
Haynes got PV off to a good start with 11 points in the first quarter, but West End rallied in the second quarter behind Anna Gilbreath and Madison Parker to make it a two-point game at halftime. Roper scored 12 points and Marlie Wright hit both of her 3-pointers in the second half.
Pleasant Valley 56, West End 40
PLEASANT VALLEY – Lily Henry 1 0-0 3, Rylee Haynes 7 5-7 19, Marlie Wright 2 0-0 6, Kiana Hester 0 0-0 0, Gracie Hood 3 0-0 7, Macey Roper 8 5-8 21, Anna Worthy 0 0-4 0. Totals 21 10-15 56.
WEST END – Vannessa Aldredge 0 0-0 0, Anna Gilbreath 3 4-5 12, Hannah Wall 3 0-0 8, Hope Jenkins 0 0-2 0, Katie Parker 1 0-0 3, Madison Parker 7 1-1 16, Anna Mayo 0 1-2 1. Totals 14 6-10 40.
Pleasant Valley 20 10 10 16 – 56
West End 9 19 7 5 – 40
3-point goals: Pleasant Valley 4 (Henry, Wright 2, Hood); West End 6 (Gilbreath 2, Wall 2, K. Parker, M. Parker). Total fouls: Pleasant Valley 14, West End 12.
Ranburne 44, JCA 38
JACKSONVILLE – The home-standing Lady Thunder got off to a hot start, but couldn’t maintain it.
Behind Mia Morales’ 12 points, JCA (6-12) bolted out to a 19-16 lead in the first quarter, but the Lady Thunder was held to only three points in the second quarter and 16 in the second half.
Briley Merrill scored eight of her 16 points in the second quarter to spark the Ranburne rally. Morales was JCA’s leading scorer with 18 points. Kara Grace had a double-double for the Thunder (6-12), scoring 11 points and grabbing 16 rebounds.
Ranburne 44, Jacksonville Christian 38
RANBURNE – Autumn Phillips 1 0-0 2, Briley Merrill 7 2-2 16, Julianna Merrill 5 1-2 12, Kayli Olds 2 1-3 5, Abigail Howle 1 3-5 5, Auburn Rollins 2 0-0 4, Crimson Rollins 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 7-12 44.
JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN (6-12) – Rebekah Carter 1 1-2 3, Erin Prater 0 0-0 0, Kara Grace 4 3-4 11, Kirsten Walker 0 0-0 0, Mia Morales 8 0-0 18, Karli Barnwell 2 0-0 6, Abbie Stovall 0 0-0 0, Hannah Clayton 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 4-6 38.
Ranburne 16 10 10 8 – 44
JCA 19 3 11 5 – 38
3-point goals: Ranburne 1 (J. Merrill); JCA 4 (Morales 2, Barnwell 2). Fouled out: Olds. Total fouls: Ranburne 11, JCA 16.
Cover photo of Ohatchee’s Jorda Crook going to the basket by Beverly Franklin Wright.
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