Tough under pressure
- Updated: February 11, 2021
Oxford girls win their second close game in tournament to win first area title since 2016
By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD – Lauren Ellard is becoming the master of clutch.
Ellard made two free throws with 3:48 left to tie the game up and freshman Xai Whitfield banged home a 3-pointer seconds later to give Oxford a lead it would never give up as it fought off Pell City 47-42 Thursday night to win its first Area Championship since 2016.
The Lady Jackets (23-8) won two close tournament games to win the Area 13 title and earn earned the right to host Area 10 runner-up Shades Valley in the Class 6A sub-regional round Monday at 7 p.m. Ellard hit the winning 3-pointer in their semifinals win over Southside.
“We had some close games at the beginning of the year that we learned a lot about how to play in these types of games,” Oxford coach Melissa Bennett said. “The game that sticks out the most is a game we lost at Plainview where we led by six with a minute and a half to go and lost by four.
“It has been a struggle but I am so proud of these kids and what they have done. We dedicated ourselves two weeks after last season to changing things around here and winning the area is a big step in the right direction.”
Pell City kept making runs at Oxford all night long, but Ellard, Mya McGrue and Whitfield kept coming up with big shots to help the Yellow Jackets pull back out to a small lead. McGrue went down with an ankle injury with 1:33 to go in the game. Her status for Monday is unknown.
Ellard picked up right where she left off in the Southside game as she nailed a pair of 3-pointers late in the opening quarter to spark Oxford to a 12-6 lead. She scored seven points in the first quarter, 16 for the game.
The Yellow Jackets tried to break away in the second quarter, extending the lead to 16-6, but missed seven free throws down the stretch in the second quarter that allowed the Panthers to chop the lead to 19-16. Whitfield nailed a pair of free throws late in the quarter to give the Jackets a 21-16 halftime lead.
Pell City scored six straight points to take a 22-21 lead in the third quarter. Ellard buried a 3 and McGrue and Taylor scored buckets and in less than a minute Oxford was back up 28-22.
But Pell City would not go away and rallied to cut the deficit to 32-31 after three quarters.
Class 6A Area 13
Girls Championship Game
Oxford 47, Pell City 42
PELL CITY – Madison Farris 0 0-0 0, Bekah Hoods 3 0-0 6, Heaven O’Neal 4 1-1 9, Reagan Tarver 2 0-0 4, Nyla Trepton 0 0-0 0, Kristin Kurzejeski 1 0-0 2, Leery McCoy 1 0-0 2, Kyla Taylor 3 0-0 6, Tori Winslett 5 2-2 13. Totals 19 3-3 42.
OXFORD (23-8) – Justice Woods 0 0-0 0, Zay Whitfield 2 6-8 12, Lauren Ellard 4 5-9 16, Mya McGrue 4 2-2 10, Kaleah Taylor 3 3-9 9, Emma McCullough 0 0-0 0, Lisa Montgomery 0 0-1 0, 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 0 0-0 0, Mikiya Wilson 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 16-29 47.
Pell City 6 10 15 11 – 42
Oxford 12 9 11 15 – 47
3-point goals: Pell City 1 (Winslett); Oxford 5 (Ellard 3, Whitfield 2).
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