Like starting over
- Updated: December 4, 2017
Wellborn basketball expected to experience some growing pains as a new group of starters finds its way on the varsity level
MONDAY’S RESULTS
Boys Games
Donoho at Cornerstone
Faith Christian 62, Cleburne County 53
Lincoln 58, Wellborn 26
Ragland 59, Ohatchee 56
Girls Games
Alexandria 56, Saks 26
Cleburne County 48, Faith Christian 20
Donoho at Cornerstone
Ohatchee 39, Ragland 27
Wellborn 48, Lincoln 36
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
ANNISTON – Jordan Angle had a pretty good idea what to expect during the first two years of his second stint as Wellborn’s basketball coach. He had a veteran roster and could pretty much count on what it was going to deliver most every night.
It’s not that way with this year’s team — at least not yet. Angle started four seniors and a junior in his third season opener the second time around Monday night against Lincoln, but all five were making their first varsity starts.
Predictably, the 5A Golden Bears played at a fast pace and the Panthers had trouble keeping up, eventually falling 58-26.
“When we went out there tonight I didn’t know what to expect,” Angle said. “It’s Game One, it’s a 5A school, they’ve played several games, and we’re coming off to just see where we’re at.
“The effort I don’t question. We’ve just got to get better doing what we do. The thing that really killed us tonight was rebounding and turnovers. If you give up 20 offensive rebounds and turn it over 21 times, it’s going to be hard to win the game.”
In many ways this is an even newer situation than the first team he had in his first run as the coach. He had only two players on the floor with any appreciable varsity minutes, post Kam Goodwin and shooter Austin Cooper. He’ll get a third later this month when point guard Eric Johnson regains his eligibility, and his presence should help the Panthers protect the ball better than they did on this night.
The things he liked most out of his team in the opener was its team approach and at times its defense, which held an up-tempo Golden Bears team that scored 79 or more points three times in six previous games to fewer than 60 points.
Austin Cooper’s basket got Wellborn even at 2-2 then the Panthers didn’t score again until Ked Harris beat the first-quarter horn with a 3-pointer from just inside Wellborn’s side of the mid-court line.
Khavion Welsey provided the Panthers a spark in the second half, when he scored all 11 of his points, including a 3-point to open the scoring.
Meanwhile, Earl Wells was dominant for Lincoln (3-4). The 6-foot-2 senior scored 10 points in the first quarter and finished with a game-high 21. Eight of the 11 Lincoln players who got in the game scored.
“I’m glad our guys showed up and competed tonight on the road,” Golden Bears coach Jeff Lumpkin said. “Now, Earl, he is very, very strong down there on the block. He had probably a sub-par practice (Sunday) and we spoke about that afterwards and hopefully he got the message. He really came out and competed tonight.”
Faith Christian 62, Cleburne County 53: Malcolm Carlisle led three Lions in double figures with 24 points. Jacob Cleckler had 16 and Mike McGraw added 10 for the Lions (3-6). Isavia Brown led Cleburne County with 22.
Ragland 59, Ohatchee 56: Blake Buckelew connected on five of Ohatchee’s 11 3-pointers, but the Indians couldn’t hit on two attempts to tie the game in the closing seconds. Buckelew led all scorers with 18 points. Evan Keller hit four 3-pointers and added 16.
Wellborn girls rally in second half
The Lady Panthers hadn’t played in 11 days and the rust was apparent early, but they came to life in the second half and pulled away from winless Lincoln 48-36.
Wellborn (2-1) trailed by seven in the first half and eight early in the third quarter, but used a 13-2 run the rest of the quarter to take control of the game. Katessa Carter gave the Lady Panthers their first lead since 3-2 on a pair of free throws with less than a minute left in the third quarter and Vanessa Carter put them ahead for good on a 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds to play.
Vanessa Carter had 12 of her 17 points in the second half. Markeisha Jones kept the Lady Panthers in it with seven points in the second quarter and would’ve had a lot more if she finished better around the basket.
“I think we started off rusty; this was our first game in a while and we were trying to work the kinks out,” Wellborn coach Shanese Morgan said. “The second half was much better. I think we got in the swing of things by the time the second half got here.”
Alexandria 56, Saks 26: Bre Bradford scored all 14 of the Lady Cubs’ first-quarter points and squeezed 30 into three quarters of work. After Bradford dominated the first quarter, the Lady Cubs’ outside shot took over in the second. They hit four of their six 3-pointers in the game in the quarter to open a 34-7 halftime lead.
Cleburne County 48, Faith Christian 20: Tatiana Ervin led a balanced Cleburne County scoring attack with nine points and the Lady Tigers’ defense held Faith to only one field goal in the first half. Faith’s Sydnee Johnson led all scorers with 12 points, but scored 10 in the second half.
BOYS BOX SCORES
Lincoln 58, Wellborn 26
LINCOLN (3-4) – Javion Surles 3 1-2 8, Joseph Gaston 4 1-4 9, Tre Garrett 3 2-4 8, Conner Thomas 0 0-0 0, Earl Wells 9 3-8 21, Zay Ragland 0 0-0 0, Teddy Hall 0 1-2 1, Jack Wood 0 0-0 0, Josh Jackson 2 1-1 5, Joc Howard 1 2-4 4, Shamar Hampton 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 11-25 58.
WELLBORN (0-1) – Chuck Taylor 0 0-0 0, Jeremiah Nolen 0 0-0 0, Coby Adams 0 0-0 0, Khavion Wesley 4 1-2 11, Ked Harris 2 0-0 5, Kam Goodwin 3 0-0 6, Rob Broom 0 0-0 0, Chase Carroll 0 0-0 0, Austin Cooper 1 0-0 2, Dylan Grubbs 1 0-0 2. Totals 11 1-2 26.
Lincoln 20 14 20 4 — 58
Wellborn 5 2 9 10 — 26
3-point goals: Lincoln 1 (Surles); Wellborn 3 (Wesley 2, Harris). Technical fouls: Lincoln (admin). Total fouls: Lincoln 6, Wellborn 15. Officials: Burroughs, Batey, Wise.
Ragland 59, Ohatchee 56
RAGLAND – Travis Schall 1 0-0 3, Adam Sanders 3 2-6 9, Adam Cotton 5 1-2 12, Hunter Day 0 0-0 0, Sloan Phillips 3 3-7 9, Jadon Ball 2 2-5 7, Braxton Thomas 2 1-2 6, Jacob Phillips 5 3-5 13. Totals 21 12-27 59.
OHATCHEE – Blake Buckelew 6 1-3 18, Ben Glass 1 2-4 4, Carson Stone 0 2-4 2, Grayson Alward 2 0-0 4, Kevin Williamson 1 0-0 3, Bailey Tillison 0 0-0 0, Parker Alexander 0 0-0 0, Evan Keller 5 2-2 16,, Domonique Thomas 2 0-3 5, Briley Hale 0 2-4 2, Jordan Lowe 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 9-20 56.
Ragland 10 16 15 18 — 59
Ohatchee 8 13 14 21 — 56.
3-point goals: Ragland 5 (Schall, Sanders, Cotton, Ball, Thomas); Ohatchee 11 (Buckelew 5, Williamson, Keller 4, Thomas). Fouled out: Thomas, Glass. Total fouls: Ragland 19, Ohatchee 21. Officials: Calkins, Battles, Dickeson.
GIRLS BOX SCORES
Wellborn 48, Lincoln 36
LINCOLN (0-7) – Bailey Gowers 1 0-0 2, Kaziyah Gaston 0 0-0 0, Jayla Morris 2 1-4 5, Abbey Smith 1 0-0 2, Genesis McClellan 0 0-0 0, Shaniya Twymon 2 0-0 4, Hannah Carmichael 4 7-12 15, Zariah Orr 0 0-0 0, Taylor Conway 4 0-0 8. Totals 14 8-16 36.
WELLBORN (2-1) – Taliyah Kirby 0 0-0 0, Vanessa Carter 7 0-4 17, Anaya Lowe 2 0-0 4, Itiania Weatherly 3 1-6 7, McKenzie Raines 0 0-0 0, Katessa Carter 3 3-4 9, Olivia Brantley 0 0-0 0, Kristyne Haisch 0 0-0 0, MarKeisha Jones 3 5-8 11. Totals 18 9-22 48.
Lincoln 12 13 4 7 — 36
Wellborn 6 13 13 16 — 48
3-point goals: Wellborn 3 (V. Carter 3). Fouled out: Conway. Total fouls: Lincoln 14, Wellborn 13. Officials: Batey, Stubbs, Ratliff.
Alexandria 56, Saks 26
SAKS – Amiya Carlisle 0 0-2 0, Stefanie Christopher 0 0-0 0, Lasonya Crook 0 0-0 0, Takeiara Borden 2 3-10 8, Teana Edwards 1 2-3 4, Deja Almon 1 0-2 2, Jortaysia West 0 1-2 1, Miracle Dennard 3 2-3 8, Christi Gooden 0 0-0 0, Dearian Stewart 0 0-0 0, Miracle Bass 1 1-2 3. Totals 8 9-24 26.
ALEXANDRIA (6-1) – Ashley Phillips 2 0-0 6, Lauryn McLaughlin 0 0-0 0, KayLeigh Steen 2 0-0 5, Kaitlin Harvey 0 0-0 0, Kameron Simpson 0 0-0 0, Sarah Kilgore 0 0-2 0, Bre Bradford 13 4-9 30, Alierra Bradford 1 0-0 2, Sarah Pelham 0 0-0 0, Zoe Biggs 0 0-0 0, Allison Bonds 3 0-0 9, Maggie Phillips 1 2-4 4, Janizia Ross 0 0-1 0. Totals 22 6-16 56.
Saks 3 9 5 9 — 26
Alexandria 14 21 15 6 — 56
3-point goals: Saks 1 (Borden); Alexandria 6 (A. Phillips 2, Steen, Bonds 3). Total fouls: Saks 17, Alexandria 21. Officials: Roberts, Lemon, Warren.
Cleburne County 48, Faith Christian 20
FAITH CHRISTIAN – Logan Boyd 1 0-2 3, Montana Huie 0 1-2 1, Sydnee Johnson 3 5-10 12, Emily Sills 1 0-0 2, Victoria Waldrop 0 2-2 2, Kristin Covington 0 0-0 0, Sydney Parker 0 0-0 0. Totals 5 8-16 20.
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Alisia Person 2 3-6 7, Olivia McDaniel 2 2-4 6, Shanna Brown 1 0-0 3, Micah Pentacost 1 0-2 2, Brooklyn McDaniel 4 0-1 8, Haven Freeman 2 0-0 4, Alex Casey 2 1-2 5, Tatiana Ervin 4 1-3 9, Kendall Houston 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 7-18 48.
Faith Christian 2 4 4 10 — 20
Cleburne County 16 12 8 12 — 48
3-point goals: Faith Christian 2 (Boyd, Johnson); Cleburne County 1 (Brown), Total fouls: Faith Christian 13, Cleburne County 14.
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Anniston at White Plains
Cherokee County at Jacksonville
Donoho at Ragland
Glencoe at Pleasant Valley
Handley at Talladega
JCA at Faith Christian
Ohatchee at Lincoln
Southside at Oxford
Weaver at Alexandria
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