Alexandria, AL – Alexandria boys, girls prevail in early-season clash of upper-echelon teams in Calhoun County high school basketball
Thursday scoreboard
BOYS
Alexandria 62, White Plains 58
Piedmont 69, Weaver 63
Jax Christian 76, GSD 25
Fort Payne 67, Jacksonville 44
Anniston 58, Talladega 46
Spring Garden 79, Gaylesville 53
GIRLS
Alexandria 55, White Plains 46
Piedmont 77, Weaver 27
Fort Payne 60, Jacksonville 54
Anniston 45, Talladega 27
Jax Christian 70, GSD 22
Spring Garden 83, Gaylesville 13
Lincoln 43, B.B. Comer 42
By Joe Medley
WHITE PLAINS — In a game where both teams missed key players, Alexandria’s boys had enough to fight off White Plains on Thursday.
Drake Davis scored a team-high 18 points, and the Valley Cubs hit 14 of 18 free throws in the fourth quarter to escape 62-58 in an early-season clash between two of Calhoun County’s top teams.
Alexandria, missing post Quendavion McDowell while he attended his brother’s Air Force graduation ceremony in Texas, upped to 4-1.
White Plains, missing Dylan Barksdale among five players absent with flu, fell to 9-2.
“Tough game, tough environment with a really good team that’s really well coached,” Alexandria coach Will Ginn said. “Just happy to get out of here with a win.”
Alexandria doubled down on White Plains post Carter Johnson and got out to a 17-6 start. White Plains rallied to within 17-16 but trailed 29-19 at halftime.
With top 3-point threat Josh Wheeler having just returned from a week-long flu absence, White Plains made one 3-pointer in the first half. He made two of the Wildcats’ six threes in the second half, but Alexandria hit 12 for the night.
“They made open threes, and we didn’t,” White Plains coach Chris Randall said. “They did a great job doubling Carter, and Carter, for the most part, did a good job of getting rid of the ball when he should have.
“We just didn’t make enough threes and didn’t attack hard enough and get to the free-throw line.”
Wheeler, who hit three threes en route to 11 points, made one to bring White Plains within three points ahead of a timeout at the four-minute mark of the fourth quarter.
Alexandria came out of the timeout playing keepaway to make White Plains foul.
Christopher Aquirre hit four 3-pointers and added 17 points, and Jaylen Henderson hit two threes en route to 14 points.
Johnson led White Plains with 12 points.
“It wasn’t easy,” Davis said. “We did our job. We’re down a man right now because ‘Q’ is out of town. He’s usually good on the boards, so it was tough without him, but we got it done.”
Girls
ALEXANDRIA 55, WHITE PLAINS 46: Highlighted by freshman Landry Patterson’s two 3-pointers, Alexandria outscored White Plains 21-8 in the fourth quarter.
Patterson made five 3-pointers en route to 15 points as Alexandria improved to 4-1.
“Being a freshman, my goal is to just look up to the older girls,” Patterson said. “Whenever I get the ball, I just shoot it, and I just made them, and my team was so proud of me. It just felt really good to contribute.”
The Valley Cubs also got 16 points from point guard Charlee Parris as White Plains, playing without injured post Isabella Higgins (knee), doubled-down on post player Allyssa Hunt and tried to stop Parris’ drives.
“She commands so much help,” Alexandria coach Craig Kiker said. “They had to double her every time. I didn’t think, a lot of times, she made the right decision with the ball, but they were worried about her and Charlee a lot, so that left Landry open to shoot.”
Cooper Martin led White Plains (8-3) with 21 points, including five 3-pointers, and Cassidy Arnold added 11.
“We had a breakdown in defense, and the Patterson girl hit two threes,” first-year White Plains coach Clay Sprayberry said. “We were trying to run a box-and-one there to keep them from pounding it in to the Hunt girl, who I thought controlled the game, even though she just had four points.”
