Stepping up
- Updated: December 13, 2024
Jarrett, Steward come through with key performances as Austin-led Spring Garden girls down Oxford in Larry & Connie Davidson Classic.
Larry & Connie Davidson Classic
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Dothan 56, Vestavia Hills 53
Central-Phenix City 75, Pinson Valley 59
Spring Garden girls , Oxford
Oxford boys 74, Hale County 58
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE
All boys games
Dothan vs. Hale County, noon
Shades Valley vs. Jacksonville, 1:30 p.m.
Hiram (Ga.) vs. Darlington (Ga.), 3 p.m.
Fairfield vs. Milton (Fla.), 4:30 p.m.
Alexander (Ga.) vs. Central-Phenix City, 6 p.m.
Oxford vs. Bob Jones, 7:30 p.m.
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD — Ace Austin has been the starting point for Spring Garden’s runs in girls basketball since seventh grade, but the senior has a mostly new cast around her this season.
The help she could always count on in previous years is starting to show up.
Austin scored a game-high 29 points, but Maggie Jarrett added 17 and Avery Steward 11 as Spring Garden beat host Oxford 74-51 in the lone girls’ game of the Larry & Connie Davidson Classic on Larry Davidson Court.
Steward matched Austin’s team-high three 3-pointers, and Jarrett hit one.
“It helps a lot with me, when they’re playing tight in, because it helps to stretch the defense,” said Austin, the Alabama signee looking to finish her career as a four-time state champion in basketball and two-timer in volleyball. “You can’t pack the lane if you have a shooter out there the whole time.”
Spring Garden had that while winning state titles in 2023 and 2024. Libby Brown provided the consistent 3-point threat.
Meanwhile, center Chloe Rule ruled the lane.
Brown and Rule graduated. Jarrett returns and helps with an inside presence. She had eight rebounds to go with Austin’s nine on Friday.
Jarrett hitting threes, like the one she hit Friday, helps, as well, but the Panthers need a Libby Brown-like presence. Steward looked the part Friday.
“Avery, Maggie Jarrett and Olivia Law (eight points) all had solid nights, and that helps us.” Spring Garden coach Ricky Austin said. Steward’s “two threes in the first half were huge. That changed how they guarded us.”
Oxford got 15 points from Ava Thomas and nine from Mi’kynlei Mosley. The Yellow Jackets are continuing to find their groove after losing a 2024 senior class that included Calhoun County 4A-6A player of the year Xai Whitfield.
“Development wise, maybe looking at reads and, when we’re getting what we’re looking for in plays, being able to execute that a little better,” Oxford coach Melissa Bennett said. “We’re getting some of the looks that we want, but we’re not really executing it well enough.
“We need to continue that development with our execution in our sets.”
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