E.A. Sports Today

In the win column

Friday’s girls roundup: Oxford ‘grows up a little’ in rallying for first victory; Faith wins in OT, Sacred Heart stays unbeaten, Weaver rolls, and more

Oxford’s Lisa Montgomery (24) reaches back in an attempt to disrupt the shot of White Plains’ Lily Ponder during Friday night’s game. (Photos by B.J. Franklin)

Friday
Cedar Bluff 67, Ohatchee 34
Cherokee County 63, Glencoe 55
Faith Christian 47, Donoho 41 (OT)
Fort Payne 76, Alexandria 44
Jacksonville Christian 50, Gaston 36
Lincoln 56, Saks 29
Oxford 38, White Plains 35
Pelham 47, Jacksonville 18
Pell City 58, Munford 37
Pleasant Valley 53, Ragland 32
Sacred Heart 69, Altamonta 53
Talladega at Coosa Central
Weaver 44, Westbrook Christian 19
Winterboro 44, Vincent 34

By East Alabama Sports Today

Oxford girls basketball coach Melissa Bennett said her Lady Jackets grew up a little bit Friday night.

The Lady Jackets went on the road, fell behind, but fought back in the second half and earned a 38-35 victory over White Plains for their first win of the season.

Angel Bozarth’s outside shooting carried White Plains to a 20-11 halftime lead. It was a 14-11 game when Bozarth buried back-to-back 3s on either side of a timeout to produce the halftime margin. Bozarth hit four 3-pointers in the first half and led White Plains with 14 points.

But Justyce Smith and point guard Akiera Robinson came to life for the Lady Jackets in the second half. Smith started getting effective down low and Robinson controlling the pace, Oxford rallied to take a 26-25 lead at the end of three quarters.

The Lady Jackets scored more points in each of the last two quarters than they had the entire first half.

“That first half we just couldn’t get it to go down,” Bennett said. “At halftime they focused in. I’m really proud of my girls because they locked in; they wanted it. We had talked about hunger before this game and wanting to be hungry every possession and in the second half I felt like we found that hunger.”

The Lady Jackets extended the lead to 33-25 with 5:41 to play, but White Plains rallied behind a pair of 3-pointers by A.D. Sotelo to tie it at 33 with 3:30 remaining.

Oxford pulled back ahead and this time stayed there. A pair of free throws by Lily Ponder made it 38-35 with 14.2 to play. The Lady Jackets missed a pair of free throws with 10.2 seconds left giving White Plains a chance for a game-tying 3, but Ponder’s off-balanced attempt at the buzzer missed the mark.

Smith scored nine points in Oxford’s big third quarter and finished with 13 for the game. Robinson led the Lady Jackets with 14.

“Justyce has been big for us the last four games, really,” Bennett said. “She’s been our go-to scorer. You say feed the beast; she’s been our best for us. But I was proud of everybody else because we slowed down. We found ways to get good and better shots, we crashed the boards harder, got some easy put backs.

“We had to battle. There was a lot of stuff not going our way … but that’s normal when you go on the road. That’s how going on the road should be. You should be having to battle for those extra things, so I was really proud of our girls. I think we grew up tonight.”

OXFORD – Kierstin Woods 0 0-0 0, Kaleah Taylor 0 0-2 0, Emma McCullough 1 1-1 3, Sara Paulson 0 0-0 0, Ashleigh Jackson 1 1-2 3, Akiera Robinson 5 4-10 14, Lisa Montgomery 1 1-8 3, Lauren Ellard 0 0-2 0, Justyce Smith 6 1-2 13, Amirea McLeod 1 0-2 2. Totals 15 8-29 38.
WHITE PLAINS – Callyn Martin 1 0-2 2, Ary Rosario 0 3-4 3, Camdyen Wilson 0 0-1 0, Lily Ponder 2 2-4 7, A.D. Sotelo 2 0-0 6, Jocelyn Harris 1 1-1 3, Angel Bozarth 5 0-1 14, Kaylee Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 6-13 35.
Oxford 6 5 15 12 – 38
White Plains 8 12 5 10 – 35

3-point goals: White Plains 7 (Ponder, Sotelo 2, Bozarth 4). Fouled out: Harris. Total fouls: Oxford 17, White Plains 19. Officials: Barber, Binion, Holloway.

Faith Christian 47, Donoho 41 (OT): Three Lady Lions scored 11 points each and the defense held Donoho without a field goal in overtime to score an important area victory. Emily Sills, Kristin Covington and Sydnee Johnson each scored 11 for Faith and combined for seven in overtime. The Lady Falcons rimmed out a shot on the low post for the game-winner at the end of regulation, leaving the game tied at 38. Victoria O’Neill led Donoho with 11 points.

DONOHO – Victoria O’Neill 2 5-9 11, Shelley Phillips 1 1-2 3, Campbell Hagan 3 1-8 7, Savannah Frickey 4 1-2 9, Amelia Baker 0 0-0 0, Anastasia O’Neill 2 0-0 6, Jenna Stremmel 2 1-2 5. Totals 14 9-23 41.
FAITH CHRISTIAN – Emily Sills 3 5-8 11, Ari Arevalo 0 0-0 0, Kristin Covington 5 1-2 11, Kassidy Nix 1 0-0 2, Elizabeth Bedford 0 0-0 0, Sydnee Johnson 4 2-3 11, S.K. McVeigh 3 0-0 6, Savannah Gibbins 0 0-0 0, Meagan Ford 3 0-2 6, Babat Aremu 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 8-15 47.
Donoho 10 9 12 7 3 – 41
Faith Christian 6 12 12 8 9 – 47

3-point goals: Donoho 4 (V. O’Neill 2, A. O’Neill 2); Faith 1 (Johnson). Fouled out: Ford. Total fouls: Donoho 18, Faith 20. Officials: Poss, Berry, Robson.

Sacred Heart 69, Altamont 53: Ayanna Foster scored 28 points from the inside and six players combined for nine 3-pointers from the outside as the Lady Cardinals extended their best start in school history to 4-0. Myiah Harris hit three of the 3s and finished with 13 points.

SACRED HEART – Alisia Person 2 0-1 5, Myiah Harris 4 2-4 13, Ayanna Foster 13 2-4 28, Learia Jenkins 1 0-0 3, Joelle Tillery 1 1-4 4, Jordan Sabree 2 0-0 4, Serena Hardy 1 1-1 4, Alyssa Bell 0 0-0 0, Taysia West 3 0-3 8. Totals 27 6-17 69.
ALTAMONT – Zoya Bashir 1 3-6 5, Elizabeth Hornak 1 8-15 10, Kalla Todd 7 5-9 19, Amelia Neiman 5 1-3 11, Rachel Wright 3 1-1 7, Meg Larkin 1-2 1. Totals 17 19-36 53
Sacred Heart 20 13 20 16 – 69
Altamont 10 16 14 13 – 53

3-point goals: Sacred Heart 9 (Person, Harris 3, Jenkins, Tillery, Hardy, West 2). Total fouls: Sacred Heart 27, Altamont 16.

Weaver 44, Westbrook Christian 19: Lady Bearcats coach Gary Atchley started an alternative lineup and his team started slowly, but picked up the pace over the final three quarters. Haley Homesley led Weaver with 12 points, increasing her scoring every quarter. Abby Gaines hit both her 3-pointers in the first quarter for all of her points and all of Weaver’s points in the period.

WEAVER – Bree Edmonson 1 2-4 5, Caleigh Cortez 1 1-4 3, Kiese Hubbard 1 1-3 3, Lorelei Brown 0 0-0 0, Maleah Foster 4 1-2 9, Abby Gaines 2 0-0 6, Dijenea Anderson 0 0-0 0, Amira Carter 3 0-0 6, Haley Homesley 6 0-0 12. Totals 18 5-13 44.
WESTBROOK CHRISTIAN – Autumn Ingle 0 2-2 2, Kinsley Gupta 0 2-2 2, Kirsti Gupta 0 0-0 0, Emberlie O’Sullivan 1 0-0 2, Sara King 0 0-0 0, Jenah Goosby 0 2-4 2, Grace Myfield 0 2-7 2, Brielle Wood 3 3-6 9. Totals 4 11-21 19.
Weaver 6 10 11 17 – 44
Westbrook 4 6 4 5 – 19

3-point goals: Weaver 3 (Gaines 2, Edmonson). Fouled out: Carter. Total fouls: Weaver 20, Westbrook 12. Officials: Macon, Oden, Loughton.

Pelham 47, Jacksonville 18: Laci Gogan scord 12 points and Pelham nearly scored as many points off turnovers (17) as the Lady Golden Eagles scored in the game. Jacksonville struggled on offense from the start, scoring only one point in the first quarter and three in the first half. Pelham forced Jacksonville into 30 turnovers, 16 coming off steals.

JACKSONVILLE – Rebekah Gannaway 2-5 0-0 4, TiAsia Williams 1-1 1-1 4, Patience Carr 1-9 0-1 3, Amarie Curry 1-6 0-0 2, Amia Montgomery 0-1 2-2 2, Malijah Goggins 1-1 0-0 2, Brenna Stone 0-0 1-4 1, Sarah Quinn 0-0 0-2 0, Khadajah Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, Kayla Broom 0-0 0-0 0, Ashlynn Farr 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 6-25 4-10 18.
PELHAM – Laci Gogan 4-9 1-2 12, Kaylyn Tomlinson 3-5 1-1 9, Myriah Tate 3-10 3-4 9, Emma McKenney 3-6 1-4 7, Maggie Walsh 3-4 0-3 6, Victoria West 0-4 4-5 4, Amari Springer 0-0 0-0 0, Lauren Watts 0-3 0-0 0, Kennedi Adamson 0-0 0-0 0, Savannah Scarbrough 0-2 0-2 0, Shay Walsh 0-1 0-0 0, Tessa Elward 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-45 10-21 47.
Jacksonville 1 2 7 8 – 18
Pelham 9 7 17 14 – 47

3-point goals: Jacksonville 2-10 (Gannaway 0-1, Williams 1-1, Carr 1-5, Montgomery 0-1, Farr 0-2); Pelham 5-12 (Gogan 3-4, Tomlinson 2-4, Watts 0-3, Scarbrough 0-1). Rebounds: Jacksonville 35 (Curry 9); Pelham 26 (McKenney 7). Total fouls: Jacksonville 17, Pelham 16.

Lincoln 56, Saks 29: Jayla Morris scored 15 of her game-high 17 points in the first half and Makayla Groce had 15 in the game to lead the Lady Bears. Halimah Binyamin led Saks with 10.

SAKS – Amya Carlise 2 0-0 4, DeArian Stewart 2 3-4 7, Destini Elston 1 0-0 2, Takeirra Hudson 0 0-0 0, Halimah Binyamin 4 2-4 10, Teana Edwards 1 2-4 4, Alicia Gooden 1 0-0 2. Totals 11 7-12 29.
LINCOLN – Bailey Gowers 0 4-6 4, Makayla Groce 7 1-2 15, Jayla Morris 8 0-0 17, Jaycee Woods 0 1-2 1, Jaylah King 0 2-5 2, Keishaunna Stown 3 0-0 8, Genesis McClellan 1 0-0 2, Abby Smith 3 0-0 7, Taylor Conway 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 8-15 56.
Saks 6 8 7 8 – 29
Lincoln 10 14 17 10 – 56

3-point goals: Lincoln 4 (Morris, Strown 2, Smith). Total fouls: Saks 16, Lincoln 9. Officials: Howell, Dickeson, McCareeth.

Will be updated.

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