All in the Family for Ohatchee

Jacksonville, AL – Ohatchee cousins Jorda, Kelbe Crook top fan voting for F&M Bank Half-Court Shot, Jorda will take shot for $10,000 Friday as overall winner

By Al Muskewitz and Joe Medley

Jorda and Kelbe Crook may be distant cousins in real life, but for things happening around school they’re so close it’s scary.
So it shouldn’t be much a surprise the two Ohatchee seniors were the top two vote-getters in the F&M Bank fan poll to determine who’ll take the mid-court shot for $10,000 at halftime of Friday’s boys championship game of the Calhoun County Tournament.

Jorda garnered 751 votes during the week-long polling to lead the girls vote. Kelbe won the boys vote with 611. “I thought that was cool,” Jorda said. “I think it’s crazy. We won homecoming together, we won this together. I think it’s crazy that both family members are winning.”

It shouldn’t be a surprise they won it for another reason. The Ohatchee community turns out to support their folks. Last year, they turned out to make Jake Roberts the top boys vote-getter. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from our community,” Indians coach Bryant Ginn said. “They always do a tremendous job of supporting our student-athletes. The Creekbank is a special place. They get behind all our kids in anything they do.”

Both top vote-getters will receive a $500 scholarship from the bank, but Jorda, as the overall winner, will get to take a shot from mid-court worth $10,000, to be split evenly between the player and the school. No one in the history of the contest has ever made the half-court shot, but if events earlier in the week are any indication Crook may have a chance. She took one in practice Tuesday and nailed it. “No pressure,” Ginn said.

Fan favorites

Here are the final vote tallies for players nominated for the F&M Bank Shootout at this year’s Calhoun County Tournament. The top overall vote-getter will take a half-court shot for $10,000 Friday night.

Hardy’s recovery

Serena Hardy will always be remembered for her gutsy defensive effort as a Sacred Heart eighth-grader holding then-Anniston High standout Allasha Dudley to 10 points in the 2020 county final. She’s done great things since transferring to Anniston as a freshman. That’s why it’s hard for the Bulldogs’ junior to sit with a brace around her surgically repaired right knee.

The injury occurred in Anniston’s fifth game this season. “I was getting back on defense,” she said. “I made a turn, and it just (popped). “It broke my heart. I never knew that nothing like that would ever happen to me, so I was humble. I’m even more humble now.”

Hardy has made progress in her recovery, starting to walk again last week, she said. “It’s been bothering SeSe,” Anniston coach Eddie Bullock said. “She’s been getting a lot of, I guess I’ll call it, sympathetic negative comments, because people will say, ‘I hate you’re hurt, but I’m glad you’re not playing.’ She actually cried a little bit. She had people text her that, and I told her, ‘You can’t worry about that. I wasn’t God’s will. It wasn’t in His plan.’ “One good thing about it is, those girls around you are developing, and people don’t understand, we get them all back next year.”

Tourney tickets

Through the Calhoun County Tournament semifinals, organizers have sold approximately 4,750 tickets. Tickets for Friday night’s championship round can be purchased through the GoFan app.

Just a reminder, fans entering the coliseum lots for the championship games will be charged a $5 parking fee. [Read more sports stories …]