He did it again
- Updated: December 11, 2021
For second game in as many days, Odam takes over when Piedmont needs him most; Cherokee County, Cleburne County girls win
SATURDAY’S BOYS SCORES
Regular season
Glencoe 69, Collinsville 36
Piedmont 65, Cherokee County 52
Domino’s Classic, Rainsville
Oxford 53, Hartselle 42
Huffman 69, Anniston 46
SATURDAY’S GIRLS SCORES
Cherokee County 75, Piedmont 57
Cleburne County 55, Faith Christian 24
By Shannon Fagan
Special to East Alabama Sports Today
CENTRE – For the better part of three quarters Saturday, the Cherokee County Warriors had things under control against rival Piedmont in their first home basketball game of the season.
But Warriors head coach Caleb Hays knew the Alex Odam run was coming – and it did – again.
Odam scored 14 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter, turning a nine-point deficit into the Bulldogs’ third straight victory, 65-52. The junior was 9-of-10 from the free-throw line in the quarter (15-of-17 in the game). In addition, he sank a 3-pointer near the end of the third quarter and another to start the fourth as part of an 18-0 Bulldog run.
“We went into a timeout and (Coach JoJo Odam) kind of got on us a little bit,” Alex said. “He lit a fire under us, and we came out and played harder I think.
“We knew we had to go. It was getting that time. I feel like I had to turn it up a little bit.”
The same thing happened the night before when Odam took over down the stretch to help the Bulldogs pull away at Pleasant Valley.
Odam’s father and head coach said sometimes his son is “too unselfish.”
“Sometimes he might should shoot it more, but he does a good job getting those guys the ball,” the elder Odam said. “He loves playing with these guys. They all get along. There’s no jealousy. He does a good job finding them. They’re okay with him shooting it when he does, and he rewards them and gets them in the game.”
The Warriors (4-4) got into foul trouble when Piedmont (3-0) switched to a zone defense.
“We haven’t even practiced it (the zone), but we said ‘Let’s try it’ and it worked,” Coach Odam said. “I don’t know if that helped, but it kind of changed the game, I think. It kind of slowed them down, kind of got them out of their offense I think.
“They’re shooters, so we knew we had to guard them, match up with them once they got it. I think that was kind of the turning point.”
Cherokee County led 18-16 at the end of the first quarter. The game was tied at 32 at the break. The Warriors built a 44-35 advantage with 1:14 left in the third quarter on a rebound and put back by Jaden Wilson.
But then Alex Odam began to take over.
Hays said the fourth quarter “seemed like it became the No. 1 show (Odam’s jersey number) for Piedmont.”
“I thought the third quarter we came out really strong, and up until that last minute, I thought ‘Man, we’ve held them to three points this quarter,’” Hays said. “I knew at some point he was coming.
“We were trying to keep the energy, trying to make sure the help defense was going to be there for him, but he hit some big shots and made some plays.”
Omarion Foster added 11 points for the Bulldogs and Cole Wilson had a pair of 3s and finished with nine. Jack Amos topped the Warriors with 19 points, including three 3-pointers.
Shannon Fagan is Sports Director for WEIS Radio in Centre.
Piedmont 65, Cherokee County 52
PIEDMONT (3-0) –Alex Odam 6 15-17 29, Omarion Foster 5 1-5 11, Gavin Lawler 0 0-0 0, Cassius Fairs 1 4-4 6, Cole Wilson 2 2-4 8, Ish Bethel 2 1-4 5, Chance Murphy 3 0-4 6, Coleman Reid 0 0-0 0, Rhett Alford 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 23-38 65.
CHEROKEE COUNTY –Jackson Amos 7 2-2 19, Malachi Horton 0 0-0 0, Cade Hopper 0 0-0 0, Jaden Wilson 5 2-5 12, Colin Givens 0 0-0 0, C.J. Gresham 3 1-2 7, Gabe Chester 1 0-0 3, Landon Caldwell 3 0-0 7, Jackson Neyman 1 1-2 4, Braden Chandler 0 0-0 0, Eli Martin 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 6-11 52.
Piedmont 16 16 8 25 – 65
Cherokee Co. 18 14 12 8 – 52
3-point goals: Piedmont 4 (Odam 2, Wilson 2); Cherokee Co. 6 (Amos 3, Chester, Caldwell, Neyman). Technical fouls: Amos. Fouled out: Amos, Horton. Total fouls: Piedmont 11, Cherokee County 23.
GLENCOE 69, COLLINSVILLE 36: Wade Segrest hit four 3-pointers and led four Yellow Jackets in double figures with 15 points. Andrew Greene had 13, Cooper Horton 11 and Aiden Cornutt 10. The Jackets hit five of their eight 3-pointers in the second quarter to open a 37-22 halftime lead. Alex Garcia led Collinsville with 15.
Glencoe 69, Collinsville 36
GLENCOE – Wade Segrest 5 1-3 15, Braylen Smith 2 1-2 6, Kade Kueny 0 0-0 0, Nolan Fairley 0 0-0 0, Andrew Greene 6 1-1 13, Aiden Cornutt 4 0-0 10, Reid Drennen 0 0-0 0, Garrett Gaskin 1 1-2 3, Cam Atchley 0 0-0 0, Cooper Horton 5 0-0 11, Garrett Morgan 4 0-0 9, Devon Green 0 0-0 0, Cooper King 0 0-0 0, Josh Loftis 1 0-0 2, Luke Ondo 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 4-8 69
COLLINSVILLE – Luke Henderson 2 1-2 5, Donovan Smith 0 0-0 0, Colton Wills 2 0-1 5, Eli Griggs 0 0-1 0, Fernando Padilla 0 0-0 0, Alex Garcia 6 1-3 15, Jordan Coker 0 0-0 0, Dawson Cothran 5 1-6 11. Totals 15 3-13 36.
Glencoe 13 24 26 6 – 69
Collinsville 7 15 9 5 – 36
3-point goals: Glencoe 9 (Segrest 4, Smith, Cornutt 2, Horton, Morgan); Collinsville 3 (Willis, Garcia 2). Total fouls: Glencoe 16, Collinsville 9. Officials: Southerland, White, Cofield
Girls games
CHEROKEE COUNTY 75, PIEDMONT 57: The Lady Warriors aren’t going to wow anyone with
size, but they more than make up for it with quickness, and that quickness served them well on this night.
“We’re not a very tall team, but fortunately we are quick,” Cherokee County coach Leah Nelson said. “We try to utilize our quickness on defense, and I felt like that was one of the things that gave us a lot of energy. When we started pressing and trying to get some pressure on the ball. I
felt like that turned into some offense and got us going a little bit.
“One of the things we talk about is running the floor. If we can make them run for four quarters, teams may be able to run with us a half or three quarters, but hopefully by that fourth quarter we’re able to push ahead. I was very proud of the way we were able to play tonight.”
Late in the second quarter, Cherokee County lost one of its top players when junior forward Ella Garmany hit the back of her head on the floor fighting for a loose ball. She had to be helped from the court and did not return.
The Lady Warriors were already short a player when sophomore center Grayson Tucker went down with a knee injury at practice Thursday, but they didn’t let those absences affect them. They stretched a three-point lead to 11 at halftime.
Even with practically no size down low to counter Piedmont’s LeLe Ridley and Z’hayla Walker, the Lady Warriors still extended their lead to 60-46 at the end of three quarters.
Audrey Green led four Cherokee County players in double figures with 16 points. Carson Coley collected 15, Mary Hayes Johnson 14 and Audrey Haygood 13 points that included three 3s.
Ridley led Piedmont with 18 points. Walker had 13 and Jaycee Glover11. – Shannon Fagan, WEIS Radio
CLEBURNE COUNTY 55, FAITH CHRISTIAN 24: Brooklyn McDaniel (14), Faith Brown (13) and Allyssa Hunt (10) all scored in double figures for the Lady Tigers. McDaniel also grabbed eight rebounds and Hunt pulled down seven. Faith’s Ally Folsom led all scorers with 15 points. She also grabbed eight rebounds.
Piedmont 75, Cherokee County 57
PIEDMONT (2-2) –Ava Pope 3 0-0 8, Jasie Young 0 0-0 0, Rylie Anne Holbrooks 0 0-0 0, Jaycee Glover 3 2-4 11, LeLe Ridley 4 10-13 18, Carson Young 1 2-2 4, Gracie Naugher 0 0-0 0, Z’Hayla Walker 6 1-4 13, Hannah Kate Barber 0 0-0 0, Emily Farmer 1 0-3 3. Totals 18 15-26 57.
CHEROKEE COUNTY –Mary Hayes 6 1-2 14, Audrey Green 6 3-4 16, Audrey Haygood 5 0-0 13, Emily Allen 4 0-0 9, Coley Coley 6 1-1 15, Ella Garmany 3 2-2 8, Libby Curry 0 0-0 0, Vivian Connell 0 0-0 0, Hannah Waters 0 0-0 0. Totals 30 7-9 75.
Piedmont 15 13 18 11 – 57
Cherokee Co. 18 21 21 15 – 75
3-point goals: Piedmont 6 (Pope 2, Glover 3, Farmer); Cherokee Co. 8 (Hayes, Green, Haygood 3, Allen, Coley 2). Total fouls: Piedmont 10, Cherokee County 20.
Cleburne County 55, Faith Christian 24
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Brooklyn McDaniel 6-9 1-3 14, Faith Brown 6-11 0-0 13, Allyssa Hunt 3-7 4-4 10, Hannah Turley 3-4 0-0 7, Kaydence Wright 1-4 1-2 3, Jacy Littleton 1-3 1-2 3, Libby Altman 1-7 0-0 2, Hailey Price 1-5 0-0 2, Karley Boyd 0-10 1-2 1, Kynsi Hazzard 0-1 0-0 0, Makenzie Frames 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 8-13 55.
FAITH CHRISTIAN – Ally Folsom 7-19 1-4 15, Anna Strautman 2-6 0-0 4, Ariana Arevalo 1-6 1-2 3, Megan Ford 1-5 0-0 2, Joelle Tillery 0-8 0-0 0, Jona Harrison 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 11-45 2-6 24.
Cleburne Co. 17 11 18 9 – 55
Faith Christian 4 6 9 5 – 24
3-point goals: Cleburne Co. 3-15 (McDaniel 1-2, Brown 1-2, Turley 1-1. Littleton 0-1, Altman 0-5, Price 0-2, Boyd 0-2); Faith Christian 0-11 (Folsom 0-1, Strautman 0-1, Ford 0-2, Tillery 0-7). Rebounds: Cleburne Co. 36 (McDaniel 8, Hunt 7); Faith Christian 27 (Folsom 8). Total fouls: Cleburne Co. 11, Faith Christian 9. Officials: Mallicoat, Dyar, Pratt.
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