Pair from Sacred Heart, J’ville first-teamers

By EASportsToday.com
- Tweet
Updated: March 17, 2015

Nine Calhoun County players total make All-State basketball teams

D.J. Heath (5) and Diante Wood erupt off the bench in the closing seconds of Sacred Heart’s win in the state championship game. (Photo by Kristen Stringer/Krisp Pics Photography)

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

Two players from Sacred Heart’s state championship boys team and one from each of Jacksonville’s teams were first-team selections among nine Calhoun County players named to the All-State Basketball teams released tonight.

Sacred Heart point guard D.J. Heath and post Diante Wood were first-team Class 1A picks, Jacksonville scoring machine Cam Horton was a first-team pick on the Class 4A boys team and Jacksonville guard Angel Kidd was a first-team pick on the 4A girls team.

Other local selections included Anniston’s Tray Croft (5A second team), Piedmont’s Bayley Blanchard (3A third team), Saks guard Quen Williams (4A third team), Jacksonville’s Virginia Poe (4A second team) and Ohatchee’s Joria Steger (3A third team).

Heath and Wood were the heart of Sacred Heart’s run to the state title. Wood averaged double-digit points and rebounds and Heath was the player everything ran through. Both played some of their best games this season while fighting through some sort of illness.

Heath was fighting a stomach virus while earning Northeast Regional MVP honors; he also was MVP of the Calhoun County Tournament. Wood, a 6-5 freshman who is still growing, was sick throughout the Final Four.

“Those two played well all year,” Cardinals coach Ralph Graves said. “We had some players play well, but you talk about your best basketball players, those two probably played consistently well all year, both of them.

“(Wood) played way bigger than what he is and that was one of the keys of us winning. D.J. stretched his muscle a lot this year, too, especially coming out of the county tournament.

“The two differences between the players, besides size, Diante is talent and D.J. is a ‘will’ guy. I can show Diante what to do right then and he can go out there with no practice or repetition and go do it -– that’s talent. D.J. will put his toughness on you and basically make you lay down.

“I look at both of them as if they were horses. If they were horses, D.J. would be a thoroughbred; Diante, he’s a Clydesdale. He wants to play in front of big crowd. The bigger the crowd, the bigger he plays.”

Horton was a dynamic scorer for Jacksonville. He went for 30 in the season opener and never let up. And he could score in so many ways, creating a shot off the dribble, driving the lane, shooting the 3.

He averaged 25 points, shooting 30 percent from 3-point range, and 4.9 rebounds. He also had 70 steals and 51 assists.

“Cam is probably one of the best scorers around, if not in the state, “ Jacksonville coach Ryan Chambless said. “Everybody was always trying to stop Cam and I don’t really feel like too many people were successful in stopping him.

“He’s just a real true scorer. Usually you see guys who are one or the other; they either shoot it really well or they’re really good getting to the lane. He can do both.”

Kidd was just as impactful for the Jacksonville’s state runner-up girls’ team. She can handle the ball, score off the dribble, shoot the 3, was a great distributor of the ball and a tenacious defender.

She averaged 13.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, and had 122 assists and 115 steals.

“Having a good point guard is what makes a team go and she was a great,” Chambless said. “She’s like having that option quarterback who can run it and throw it; how do you defend it?

“And the one thing I always say to people they might not realize is she’s so strong. Some girls get a little bump and they lose the ball; when she’s handling the ball she’s like a tailback. She’s coming downhill and going at the rim and nobody’s stopping her.”