Another fast start

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: January 15, 2022

Jacksonville girls take a page from White Plains boys’ book, start fast against JCA; PV, Piedmont do same, includes bracket

CALHOUN COUNTY TOURNAMENT
Saturday’s Games
Girls Bracket
Jacksonville 62, Jacksonville Christian 43
Pleasant Valley 64, Weaver 42
Piedmont 70, Donoho 4

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

JACKSONVILLE – After watching the way the first game of the day unfolded you couldn’t blame Jacksonville girls coach Tres Buzan if he thought all the games Saturday in the Calhoun County Tournament were supposed to be played that way.

Buzan’s Lady Golden Eagles got off the same kind of quick start the White Plains boys did in the game before them on the way to a 62-43 victory over Jacksonville Christian.

Jacksonville, the No. 7 seed, will play second-seeded and multi-time defending champion Anniston at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Lady Golden Eagles played Anniston tough for three quarters Friday night before being held scoreless in the fourth quarter and losing by nine.

The Lady Golden Eagles started quickly, scoring the first 13 points of the game. In the first game of the day, the White Plains boys opened with an 18-0 run on the way to beating Donoho. JCA finally got on the board with 3:30 left in the first quarter.

“I’d love if every game starts like that,” Buzan said. “That’s how we want to start. I was worried honestly because it was our fourth game this week, I thought we might start slow, so it was really nice to see us jump out with that lead. We just have to have more consistency to be able to do that throughout the whole game.”

Jacksonville was led by freshman Dee Prothro’s 17 points. Amarie Curry, the team’s lone senior, had 16 and Ashley Grant had 11.

Prothro, held scoreless in Friday night’s loss to Anniston, hit eight of 13 shots, grabbed nine rebounds and had six steals. She played a big role in Jacksonville’s fast start. She scored seven points in the first quarter and 13 in the first half.

“Dee is turning into a scorer,” Buzan said. “She was all defense at first, that’s what she loves and that’s what she’s about, but every week that goes by she’s slowly turning into a better and better scorer, and we love to see that. We need those role players to step up.”

Jacksonville 62, Jacksonville Christian 43
JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN – Erin Prater 5-9 0-0 12, Kara Grace 3-10 5-6 11, Hannah Clayton 4-7 0-2 10, Rebekah Carter 2-5 1-2 5, Kirsten Walker 2-3 0-1 5, Katie Beth Hudson 0-0 0-0 0, Ella Kines 0-0 0-0 0, Adalynn Lee 0-2 0-0 0, Riley Sanders 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-36 6-11 43.
JACKSONVILLE – DeAsia Prothro 8-13 1-5 17, Amarie Curry 8-17 0-0 16, Ashley Grant 5-16 2-5 13, Mya Swain 2-7 0-0 5, Alexis Phillips 2-4 0-0 4, Halaina Lozano 1-7 0-0 3, Kiara LaCount 1-3 0-0 2, Olivia Rowan 1-1 0-0 2, MiArah Hardy 0-0 0-0 0, Rachel Sanders 0-0 0-0 0, Lamiah Steagall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-68 3-10 62.
JCA 8 9 13 13 – 43
Jacksonville 14 22 12 14 – 62
3-point goals: JCA 5-11 (Prater 2-4, Clayton 2-3, Carter 0-1, Walker 1-1, Lee 0-2); Jacksonville 3-17 (Grant 1-5, Swain 1-3, Phillips 0-2, Lozano 1-7). Rebounds: JCA 41 (Prater 10, Grace 8, Clayton 8, Carter 8); Jacksonville 36 (Prothro 9, Swain 7). Total fouls: JCA 7, Jacksonville 11. Officials: Brown, Larkins, Dukes.

Lady Raiders sharp at start

The Pleasant Valley girls do better when they shoot it well – it takes pressure off their rebounding limitations – and they shot it well early against area rival Weaver.

The Lady Raiders hit five 3-pointers in the first quarter – six in the first half – and opened an early 13-point lead on their way to a 64-42 victory. They’ll play top-seeded Oxford Tuesday at 3 p.m.

“We don’t get a lot of second-chance points, we have to hit shots,” PV coach Colton Morris said. “If we don’t hit that first shot, we ain’t probably getting it back, but we shot the ball well the first half and pressured them.”

Four different players hit a 3 in the first quarter – with Lily Henry hitting two – and five in the first half. They led 23-10 after the first quarter and 38-19 at halftime. They hit eight 3s in the game. Henry, Rylee Haynes and Rebekah Gannaway each had two.

“We shot it well,” Morris said. “We hadn’t shot it well since Christmas.“Last year, the County Tournament sort of rejuvenated us a lot. I told them before the game to let it do that. No matter what happens, let it be something we get out of a funk. Maybe this sort of gets us over a hump.”

Haynes led all scorers with 19 points. Henry had 11 and Macey Roper 10. D.J. Gibbs led Weaver with 18.

Pleasant Valley 64, Weaver 42
WEAVER – Erianna Richmond 1 0-0 2, D.J. Gibbs 8 2-3 18, Madison Atchley 4 2-3 10, Neveah Hawkins 0 0-0 0, Tiana Lawrence 3 1-2 7, Taylor Lawrence 2 0-0 5. Totals 18 5-8 42.
PLEASANT VALLEY – Lily Henry 4 1-2 11, Rylee Haynes 8 1-3 19, Rebekah Gannaway 3 1-3 9, Marlie Wright 1 0-0 2, Kiana Hester 1 1-2 4, Gracie Hood 2 0-0 4, Macey Roper 4 2-7 10, Anna Worthy 2 0-0 4. Totals 25 6-17 64.
Weaver 10 9 6 17 – 42
Pleasant Valley 23 15 12 14 – 64
3-point goals: Weaver 1 (Ta. Lawrence); Pleasant Valley 8 (Henry 2, Haynes 2, Gannaway 2, Wright, Hester). Fouled out: Ti. Lawrence, Wright. Total fouls: Weaver 16, Pleasant Valley 15. Officials: Burns, McKinney, Zanchin.

Piedmont overwhelms Donoho

It might have been easy for the Piedmont girls to lose focus with such a big lead against an overmatched opponent, but the Lady Bulldogs’ stayed the course and took care of business.

The sixth-seeded Lady Bulldogs scored the first 33 points of the game and held Donoho scoreless in three quarters on the way to a predictable 70-4 victory. They’ll play third-seeded White Plains Monday at 1 p.m.

Donoho, which had only five players, got both baskets it scored in the game in the second quarter. The Lady Falcons broke the ice on a bucket by Rory Parks with 4:49 left in the first half.

It was 43-4 at halftime and the Lady Bulldogs biggest challenge the rest of the game was to keep doing things to move forward.

“Being able to get some shots in this gym before we have to play Monday was a plus for us, and giving these other girls a chance to play and that’s what I’ve been wanting for them,” Piedmont coach Terrace Ridley said. “Spreading the points is always a great thing.

“I told them at halftime I wanted them to keep moving the ball, don’t do anything different just because they may not be in the spot they’re supposed to be in so now you’ve just got to start making things happen so you don’t get caught and that’s what they did.”

Eight players scored for Piedmont. Ava Pope had 11 points in the opening run and finished with a game-high 18 points. Rylie Anne Holbrooks (11) and 1,000-point scorer LeLe Ridley (13) also hit double figures.

Holbrooks also had six rebounds. Gracie Naugher had six assists, five rebounds and five steals. Ridley had seven rebounds and eight steals.

Pope has scored 34 points in her last two games, is averaging 14.3 in her last three and 14 in her last four games against teams from Piedmont’s area. She scored 21 when the Lady Bulldogs played White Plains on Jan. 3.

“I just had to kick it into the next gear, you know,” Pope said. “It’s the end of the season. I had to come in and play at the next level, play at the best level I can possibly play at. It’s getting near area tournament time and we know we have to be playing our best ball, so I had to come out and be a leader.”

Piedmont 70, Donoho 4
DONOHO – Rory Parks 1 0-0 2, Ryals Jones 0 0-0 0, Madelyn Sanders 0 0-0 0, Cailin Campbell 0 0-0 0, Anna Grace Jones 1 0-0 2. Totals 2 0-0 4.
PIEDMONT – Ava Pope 8 0-0 18, Jasie Young 3 0-0 8, Rylie Anne Holbrooks 4 1-4 11, Jaycee Glover 0 1-2 1, Lele Ridley 6 0-0 13, Carson Young 0 0-0 0, Gracie Naugher 2 0-0 5, Z’Hayla Walker 2 0-0 5, Emily Farmer 4 0-0 9. Totals 29 2-6 70.
Donoho 0 4 0 0 – 4
Piedmont 21 22 16 11 – 70
3-point goals: Piedmont 10 (Pope 2, J. Young 2, Holbrooks 2, Ridley, Naugher, Walker, Farmer). Total fouls: Donoho 5, Piedmont 3.