E.A. Sports Today

Lady Indians bring the rain

County Girls: Secondary scorers Adams, Rainwater hit 9 3-pointers in leading Ohatchee past Weaver; White Plains, Oxford, Anniston advance

Ohatchee’s Jazmine Adams (L) looks about to drive on Weaver’s Kiese Hubbard, but she actually did her best work behind the 3-point arc. (Photo by Beverly Wright)

CALHOUN COUNTY TOURNAMENT
All games at Pete Mathews Coliseum, Jacksonville
Girls bracket

Friday’s game
No. 12 Piedmont 49, No. 13 Donoho 25
 
Saturday’s games
No. 14 Weaver 42, No. 11 Faith Christian 30
No. 10 Jacksonville Christian 55, No. 15 Wellborn 24
No. 8 Pleasant Valley 63, No. 9 Saks 28
No. 5 Oxford 59, Piedmont 12
 
Monday’s games
Ohatchee 59, Weaver 31
White Plains 58, JCA 43
Oxford 43, No. 4 Jacksonville 38
No. 1 Anniston 82, Pleasant Valley 37

Tuesday’s games
Ohatchee vs. No. 3 Alexandria, 5:30 p.m.
White Plains vs. No. 2 Sacred Heart, 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday’s games
Anniston vs. Oxford, 4 p.m.
Alexandria-Ohatchee winner vs. Sacred Heart-White Plains winner, 7 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
 
JACKSONVILLE – You might keep one of Ohatchee’s two dynamic scorers down, but not both. And when the Lady Indians get their backup singers going it’s going to be a good night.
 
Weaver held Ohatchee 1,000-point scorer Tori Vice scoreless in the first half and to only two points Monday, but long-range shooters Millie Rainwater and Jazmine Adams drove this engine as the Lady Indians routed Weaver 59-31 in the day’s girls opener of Calhoun County Tournament action.
 
Vice, who’s averaging 15 a game, didn’t score until a put back 10 seconds into the fourth quarter. But Adams hit five 3-pointers and scored 17 points and Rainwater hit four 3s and scored 14. Jorda Crook, their other top scorer, dominated the paint with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
“Tori’s usually our top scorer so when she’s not on we try to be on our best,” Adams said. “Today she said she was feeling a little off, so we come in and stepped up.
 
“Coach (Bryant) Ginn has been burying it in our heads the past few days to shoot the ball when we’re open and I think me and Millie finally started doing it today.”
 
The Lady Indians scored the first 15 points of the game and led 22-4 after the first quarter. Crook had nine in the quarter and Rainwater hit two of her 3s. The Lady Indians hit 10 3-pointers in the game. 
 
“It’s county tournament and we’re at JSU and I’ve just got to step up for my team because we’re playing a big team tomorrow,” Rainwater said.
 
“I tell them all the time y’all can shoot it and I think too many times they look not to,” Ginn said. “But when people do that kind of defense to us, junk defenses, they’re going to have to be able to shoot the ball, and they shot it well today, like they always do at practice.”
 
The Lady Indians will play third-seeded Alexandria Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

Ohatchee 59, Weaver 31
WEAVER –
Madison Atchley 1 0-0 2, Kiese Hubbard 3 5-6 11, Loralei Brown 0 0-0 0, Marley Tucker 1 2-2 4, Carmella Reese 0 0-0 0, Kayleigh Hindsman 1 0-0 2, Haley Homesley 3 0-0 6, Heveah Hawkins 0 0-0 0, Tianna Lawrence 3 0-0 6, Taylor Lawrence 0 0-0 0, Kyra Smith 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 7-8 29. 
OHATCHEE – Gracyn Snow 1 0-0 2, Jazmine Adams 6 0-0 17, Lyda Elders 1 0-0 3, Tori Vice 1 0-2 2, Morgan Foushee 1 0-0 2, Gracie George 3 1-2 7, Millie Rainwater 5 0-0 14, Jorda Crook 5 2-3 12, Karson Coppock 0 0-2 0. Totals 23 3-7 59.
 
Weaver                   4    11 8    12  –  31
Ohatchee               22  9   13  15  –  59
3-point goals: Ohatchee 10 (Adams 5, Elders, Rainwater 4). Fouled out: Homesley. Total fouls: Weaver 14, Ohatchee 13. Officials: Corley, Madson, Hughes.

White Plains 58, JCA 43

Lily Ponder has gotten off to hot starts before, but she couldn’t recall one as blistering as she was against the Thunder.
 
The White Plains junior guard scored the Lady Wildcats’ first 11 points and 13 of their first 14 as they roared in their tournament debut. They now play No. 2 seed Sacred Heart in Tuesday’s 8:30 p.m. game.
 
“I haven’t stated that hot,” Ponder said. “I have been hot before, but I haven’t started off that strong in the first half. I was very confident in my mid-range (shot), I’ve been working on it a lot.”
 
Ponder finished with a game-high 23 points. She appeared done for the day when she came out in the fourth with her team up 16, but re-entered with 2:35 to play after Callyn Martin fouled out because of her ball-handling skills. The Lady Wildcats got the ball inbounds to her and she drove the length of the floor for a layup and one.
 
“She was just aggressive,” White Plains coach Matt Ford said. “I told them before the game to play aggressive and she did.”
 
Ponder started her run right after JCA’s Kylie Cupp opening the scoring. It was 11 in a row before Camden Wilson hit a free throw at the end of the first quarter, and then she scored the first basket of the second. She added four free throws before halftime for 17 points of a 28-13 lead.
 
“We’ve come out hot before but it’s usually been several people hit shots,” Ford said. “She played well against Jacksonville the other night, but the four or five games before that she had not been playing well. Maybe something clicked Friday night. Maybe more confidence.”
 
The Lady Wildcats were missing Adriana Sotelo (flu), but got “a lot of really good minutes” from reserves Shaniya Calloway, Hallie Williams and Cheyenne Cochran. They combined for 12 points. All eight players who got in the game for White Plains scored.

White Plains 58, Jacksonville Christian 43
JCA –
Rebekah Carter 2 5-6 9, Kylie Cupp 5 3-6 13, Mia Morales 4 1-2 12, Karli Barnwell 2 0-1 5, Abbie Stovall 0 4-5 4, Hannah Clayton 0 0-1 0, Krymson Clay 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 13-21 43.
WHITE PLAINS – Callyn Martin 1 0-0 2, Cheyenne Cochran 1 0-0 3, Hallie Williams 1 0-1 2, Shaniya Calloway 3 1-2 7, Camden Wilson 0 1-4 1, Lily Ponder 9 4-5 23, Angel Bozarth 5 0-1 11, Kaylee Johnson 3 2-2 9. Totals 23 8-15 58.
 
Jax Christian        2    11  7   23  –  43
White Plains        12  16  16  14  –  58
3-point goals: JCA 4 (Morales 3, Barnwell); White Plains 4 (Cochran, Ponder, Bozarth, Johnson). Fouled out: Cupp, Martin, Wilson. Total fouls: JCA 19, White Plains 20. Officials: Whitten, Williams, Livingston.

Oxford’s Lisa Montgomery (R) moves in to make a huge defensive play on Jacksonville’s Kayla Broom with about three minutes left in their game. (Photo by B.J. Franklin)

Oxford 43, Jacksonville 38

For Lisa Montgomery, the key to success is all about being confident.
 
The Oxford junior post shared team-high scoring honors with Akiera Robinson (10 points) and had a particularly confident stretch in the third quarter when she hit a 3-pointer off a turnover and layup off her own steal to give the Lady Jackets the lead for good.
 
“I thought we were about to lose at first, but I had to hype us up and push us to keep going,” she said. “I was happy (to win), excited.”
 
The victory sends the fifth-seeded Lady Jackets to face No. 1 seed Anniston Wednesday at 4 p.m.
 
Later in the fourth quarter, Montgomery blocked a shot by Kayla Broom under the goal to maintain a six-point lead.
 
“Her thing is her confidence,” Oxford coach Melissa Bennett said. “We pump her up as much as we can a we can. We tell her she’s one of our best shooters. I was in her ear on the bench like, ‘’that’s you, that’s you, that’s you’ (before the 3-pointer) and she pulled it and hit it. She played huge tonight.”
 
Broom led all scorers with 18 points. She also had 12 rebounds, five steals and three blocked shots.

Oxford 43, Jacksonville 38
OXFORD –
Lisa Montgomery 4-10 0-0 10, Akiera Robinson 3-18 3-7 10, Ashleigh Jackson 2-7 4-5 8, Kaleah Taylor 2-5 1-1 6, Lamya McGrue 2-8 0-2 4, Amirea McLeod 1-1 1-1 3, Emma McCullough 1-2 0-0 2, Justice Woods 0-12 0-0 0, Ariana Averette 0-0 0-0 0, Lauren Elard 0-2 0-0 0, Sara Paulson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-65 9-16 43.
JACKSONVILLE – Kayla Broom 7-11 3-6 18, Brenna Stone 4-6 0-0 8, Rebekah Gannaway 1-1 1-3 3, Malijah Goggins 1-1 1-1 3, Patience Carr 1-6 0-2 2, Amarie Curry 1-1 0-2 2, Maggie Anderson 0-7 2-3 2, Amia Montgomery 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-33 7-17 38
 
Oxford                   7    18 14  4  –  43
Jacksonville         13  10 10  5  –  38
3-point goals: Oxford 4-14 (Montgomery 2-3, Robinson 1-3, Taylor 1-3, McCullough 0-1, Woods 0-3, Elard 0-1); Jacksonville 1-11 (Broom 1-3, Carr 0-2, Anderson 0-6). Rebounds: Oxford 43 (Montgomery 7, McGrue 7); Jacksonville 41 (Broom 12, Carr 11). Total fouls: Oxford 11, Jacksonville 14.

Anniston’s Asia Barclay (35) tries to cut past Pleasant Valley’s Rylee Haynes. On the cover, Anniston’s Kiana Montgomery goes to the hoop (Photo by B.J. Franklin)

Anniston 82, Pleasant Valley 37

Eddie Bullock is all about doing things with a purpose. His Lady Bulldogs weren’t as sharp as he’d like them to be in the first half, but they rectified the situation at halftime and were much sharper in the final two quarters.
 
“We were doing a lot of things without purpose,” Bullock said. “I tell them everything we’re doing has to have a purpose whether its offensively or defensively and we tend to do that.
 
“Sometimes I expect that when you’re on a big stage like this or regional or state that happens. Actually I’m trying to avoid that now because you get a reprieve at this time during the season, but when you get down to the end and it’s one-and-done and you don’t get it right you go home.”
 
They might have looked sharp enough for the coach, but the Lady Bulldogs treated the crowd to a 24-4 first quarter show. Asia Barclay scored eight of her 20 in the quarter, Allasha Dudley had 10 in the quarter and Kiana Montgomery had six.
 
“Her motor never stops,” Bullock said of Barclay. “Sometimes she does things without a purpose and I tell her sometimes she’s got so much energy and sometimes she wasted that energy she doesn’t know when to rest. Once you get that down she’s really going to be hard (to defend).”
 
Dudley finished with 24 points and Montgomery finished with 17. Pleasant Valley scored more points than most people have put on the Lady Bulldogs this season. Emma Hood led the Lady Raiders with 13 points. Karmyn Sparks, who had her regular point guard back from illness, had 11 points.
 
Dudley said she was looking forward to Wednesday night’s F&M Bank 3-Point Shootout. She took the midcourt shot for $10,000 last year after winning the shootout with a record 19 3s.
 
“Maybe I can get more than that,” she said.

Anniston 82, Pleasant Valley 37
PLEASANT VALLEY –
Rylee Haynes 1 3-4 5, Marlie Wright 0 0-0 0, Gracie Hood 1 0-0 3, Emma Hood 4 5-9 13, Macey Roper 1 0-2 2, Aanna Worthy 0 1-2 1, Erin Rose 1 0-0 2, Karmyn Sparks 5 1-4 11. Totals 13 10-21 37.
ANNISTON – Allasha Dudley 10 2-2 24, Ladajah Williams 1 0-0 2, Anna Garrett 0 0-0 0, Charliese Simmons 0 0-0 0, Shiwana Jackson 0 0-0 0, Jade Richardson 2 0-0 5, Aaliyah Henson 0 0-0 0, Tiauna Thomas 3 0-0 7, Airriana Colley 1 0-0 2, Kiana Montgomery 8 1-3 17, Keyahra Williams 1 0-2 2, Asia Barclay 10 0-0 20, Tanaja Winsley 1 0-0 2, Jadah Crutcher 0 0-0 0. Totals 37 3-7 82.
 
Pleasant Valley                      4    15  7    11  –  37
Anniston                                  24  22  22  14  –  82
3-point goals: PV 1 (G. Hood); Anniston 5 (Dudley 2, Richardson, Thomas, Colley). Total fouls: PV 8, Anniston 14.

To see more photos from Monday’s tournament action click the following link: www.bjfranklin.smugmug.com

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