E.A. Sports Today

Girls regionals

Ohatchee, Oxford fall in Northeast Regional, Anniston ppd. to Friday; includes box scores, game reports

AHSAA GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS
THURSDAY’S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS SCORES

CLASS 7A
Southwest Regional Semifinals
Baker 48, Dothan 42
Theodore 53, Enterprise 32
Southeast Regional Semifinals
Auburn 68, Fairhope 60
Central-Phenix City 60, Foley 56
Northwest Regional Semifinals
James Clemens at Hoover, Feb. 19, 2 p.m.
Oak Mountain at Austin, Feb. 19, 6 p.m.
Northeast Regional Semifinals
Huntsville at Vestavia Hills, Feb. 19, noon
Hewitt-Trussville at Sparkman, Feb. 19, 6 p.m.

CLASS 6A
Southwest Regional Semifinals
Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa at Carver-Montgomery, Feb. 19, 2 p.m.
Eufaula 74, Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa 38
Southeast Regional Semifinals
McGill-Toolen Catholic 48, Pelham 32
Wetumpka at Gulf Shores, Feb. 19, 6 p.m.
Northwest Regional Semifinals
Hartselle vs. TBA
Pairing still undecided
Northeast Regional Semifinals
Chelsea 50, Oxford 38
Huffman 58, Minor 47

CLASS 5A
Southwest Regional Semifinals
Central-Tuscaloosa at UMS-Wright, Feb. 19, 6 p.m.
Marbury 39, St. Paul’s Episcopal 32
Southeast Regional Semifinals
Talladega at Carroll, Feb. 18, 6:30 p.m.
Charles Henderson 45, Brewbaker Tech 38
Northwest Regional Semifinals
Pleasant Grove vs. TBA
Wenonah vs. TBA
Northeast Regional Semifinals
Carver-Birmingham 64, Guntersville 49
Ramsay 38, Fairview 34

CLASS 4A
Southwest Regional Semifinals
Dora at Vigor, Feb. 19, 4:30 p.m.
Northside at Jackson, Feb. 19, 6:30 p.m.
Southeast Regional Semifinals
Geneva 51, Bibb County 50
Saint James 62, Alabama Christian 30
Northwest Regional Semifinals
Pairings still undetermined
Northeast Regional Semifinals
Priceville at Anniston, Feb. 19, 5 p.m.
Handley vs. New Hope-St. John Paul II

CLASS 3A
Southwest Regional Semifinals
Hale County at Hillcrest-Evergreen, Feb. 19, 5:30 p.m.
Thomasville at T.R. Miller, Feb. 19, 6:30 p.m.
Southeast Regional Semifinals
Prattville Christian 69, Slocomb 39
Montgomery Academy 69, Pike County 13
Northwest Regional Semifinals
Pairings still undetermined
Northeast Regional Semifinals
Plainview 89, Childersburg 32
Sylvania 76, Ohatchee 67

CLASS 2A
Southwest Regional Semifinals
St. Luke’s Episcopal 68, Thorsby 39
Luverne 43, Washington County 39
Southeast Regional Semifinals
Lanett 54, Geneva County 46
LaFayette at G.W. Long, Feb. 19, 6 p.m.
Northwest Regional Semifinals
Pairings still undetermined
Northeast Regional Semifinals
Pisgah 69, Midfield 62
Spring Garden at Altamont, Feb. 19, 6 p.m.

CLASS 1A
Southwest Regional Semifinals
Linden 56, McIntosh 39
A.L. Johnson 54 Marengo 44
Southeast Regional Semifinals
Samson 57, Winterboro 45
Georgiana 64, Talladega County Central 62
Northwest Regional Semifinals
Pairings still undetermined
Northeast Regional Semifinals
Skyline 93, Jefferson Christian 37
Coosa Christian vs. Decatur Heritage-Valley Head

Class 6A
Chelsea 50, Oxford 38

CHELSEA – Going back to the ol’ alma mater is usually a time to rekindle memories and create some new ones, but Thursday’s trip was anything but a happy homecoming for Oxford coach Melissa Bennett.

Bennett brought her vastly improved Lady Jackets to Chelsea in hopes of earning a spot in the Class 6A Northeast Regional title game, but the Lady Hornets had other plans. Chelsea came out with a lot of energy, grabbed the early lead and defeated Oxford 50-38.

“It added a little pressure, just for me personally,” said Bennett, Chelsea Class of ’05, the last time Oxford made the girls basketball regionals. “I wanted us to perform well because one of my former coaches was there, my former principal who’s been on the board, friends, were there. I’m glad they came out and supported.

“It was very weird going back to the locker room; it was exactly what I remembered, although they redid the floor.

“It stunk having to play there (in what normally is a neutral-court situation), but they had a great home crowd, they had T-shirts, they had students. We had a great crowd, too. Our crowd was loud. It was hard to hear. Even the girls were saying they couldn’t hear each other. My voice is definitely raspy trying to talk to them and call stuff out.”

Oxford scored the first points in what would be a physical game, but Chelsea scored the next 10 and the Lady Jackets (24-7) were playing catch-up the rest of the night. The Chelsea players explained their inspired play in part on Oxford’s reluctance to meet their request to move the game off Thursday to avoid not playing important games on back-to-back nights.

The Lady Hornets led by seven at halftime, 14 after three quarters and 16 with three minutes to go. But then the Lady Jackets’ survival instinct kicked in and they rallied to cut their deficit to single digits by the final minute.

“There was one point in the fourth that if our girls didn’t just gut it out and fight they would have really opened it up and made it look like it wasn’t respectable,” Bennett said. “(The Lady Jackets) came out and were dog-tired, but they got after it in the press and got turnovers. Now, we didn’t always capitalize, but that fight and spirit is what as a coach you want to see.

“At one point I think we were down 18, but they were fighting every second of the game. Sure, we wanted to win, but that kind of spirit and fight, that’s what makes this group special. This is going to hurt for a while, but that feeling of having each other’s back, that’s what we’ll build off of. I was super proud of the fight at the end.”

Freshman Xai Whitfield was the only Oxford scorer in double figures (10 points). LaMya McGrue, who hasn’t completely recovered from the foot sprain she suffered in the county tournament, had nine points and Kaleah Taylor had seven.

Chelsea 50, Oxford 38
OXFORD (24-7) –
Justice Woods 1 0-0 2, Xai Whitfield 4 2-4 10, Lauren Ellard 0 3-4 3, LaMya McGrue 4 1-2 9, Kaleah Taylor 3 1-1 7, Emma McCullough 1 0-0 3, Lisa Montgomery 0 4-4 4, Jamea Gaston 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 11-15 38.
CHELSEA – Mary Cartee 3 0-0 7, Ashley Washington 3 0-0 6, Nia Cummings 0 0-0 0, Sydney Schwallie 3 4-7 10, Maryhenley Carney 0 0-0 0, Sophia Brown 2 7-6 10, Ellen Fleming 7 0-2 15, Mackenzie Titus 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 10-16 50.
Oxford             11    4    6   17   –  38
Chelsea            14    9  12   15   –  50
3-point goals: Oxford 1 (McCullough); Chelsea 2 (Cartee, Fleming). Fouled out: Ellard. Total fouls: Oxford 16, Chelsea 17. Officials: Oden, Pettway, Shirey.

Class 3A
Sylvania 76, Ohatchee 67

SYLVANIA – A shot from in close that rimmed out with five minutes left in a tied game opened the door for Sylvania to pull away and end Ohatchee’s season.

The game was tied at 61 with 5:12 to play when Lady Indians’ leading scorer Jorda Crook had a shot from in close she’d make probably nine out of 10 times circle the rim and over the next 30 seconds the Lady Rams scored five points to go up 66-61.

“That was tough,” Ohatchee coach Bryant Ginn said. “We’ve talked the last couple games that basketball is aa game of runs and you’ve got to limit runs of good teams. I told them nobody is bad anymore, there are no bad teams. I was most proud they fought the whole game.”

The Lady Indians’ bid to rally suffered a setback about a minute later when senior guard Tori Vice got tangled up with a Sylvania player on a rebound and was called for a personal foul and a technical foul that fouled her out of the game.

Vice, who finished her Ohatchee career with more than 1,500 points, scored 16 points in her final high school game. Crook led all scorers with 33. Crook scored 14 points in the first quarter as the Lady Indians came out with a lot of intensity and had 22 in the first half.

“I thought Jorda played out of her mind tonight, for the whole game,” Ginn said. “All of them played well.

“I hate it for the season to come to an end. Everybody says you’ll get back next year, but we’re not promised that. People have good teams, have great teams, and weird things happen in basketball.”

The game was tight throughout. The Lady Rams hit a circus shot at the end of the second quarter to take a four-point halftime lead. Ohatchee led 49-47 with 5:30 left in the third quarter, but Sylvania rallied and took a 58-56 lead into the fourth.

Kenadie Lee scored nine of her team-high 26 points in the fourth quarter for Sylvania. The Lady Rams went 8-for-11 from the free throw line in the quarter.

Sylvania 76, Ohatchee 67
OHATCHEE –
Gracyn Snow 1 0-0 3, Dunaway 0 0-0 0, Tori Vice 6 4-6 16, Whitney McFry 0 0-0 0, Gracie George 1 2-4 4, Millie Rainwater 2 0-1 6, Jorda Crook 15 3-5 33, Alyssa Davis 2 1-1 5. Totals 27 10-17 67.
SYLVANIA – Harlee Turner 0 0-0 0, Leianna Currie 1 2-4 5, Kenadie Lee 9 4-5 26, Kelby Chadwick 1 0-0 2, Katelyn Sammons 0 0-0 0, Kirby Wisner 2 0-0 4, Ambriel Stopyak 6 4-4 17, Kylie Moree 4 0-0 8, Anna Farmer 5 4-6 14. Totals 28 14-19 76.
Ohatchee         19  17   20   11  –  67
Sylvania           18  22   18   18  –  76
3-point goals: Ohatchee 3 (Snow, Rainwater 2); Sylvania 6 (Curry, Lee 4, Stopyak). Technical fouls: Vice, Farmer. Fouled out: Vice, McFry. Total fouls: Ohatchee 17, Sylvania 16. Officials: Berkman, Key, Carney.

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