Oxford, AL – Oxford girls turn up defense in fourth quarter, pull away from Pell City to earn chance to defend their Northeast Regional title
By Brant Locklier
Oxford exploded for 28 fourth-quarter points to pull away from Pell City and win Monday’s Class 6A, Northeast subregional 62-43 on the Larry Davidson Court. Jamea Gaston found the mark from 3-point land three times as the Yellow Jackets went on a 13-2 run to blow open a highly contested game. The win moves Oxford back into the Northeast Regional in Pete Mathews Coliseum, where the defending regional champion will play Huffman on Thursday. Oxford is the reigning Class 6A state runnerup.
Oxford created 19 turnovers but could not get the ball in the basket for the first three quarters. “I told them, ‘We can’t throw one in the ocean right now, but keep shooting and they will fall,’” Oxford coach Melissa Bennett said. “Crash the boards and take care of the ball. “Our defense keys our offense, and we got loose on some breaks, and everything just took off from there. You got to give a lot of credit to Pell City, they played their tails off and came out and busted our lips.” Xai Whitfield had 14 second-half points to lead the Yellow Jackets. She ended up with a game-high 22. “She handled the ball well for us in the second half and helped break down their defense, and she really had good form at the free throw line (10-for-11),” Bennett said.
Justice Woods had 15 points, and Gaston had 12. LaMya McGrue had six points, but the senior recorded her 1,000th career point. “Maya was our second player to hit a 1,000 points as Xai scored her 1000th point on Jan. 4 of this year,” Bennett said. The first half was a battle of defenses. Pell City stacked everybody in tight and would not let the Jackets inside. Oxford, meanwhile, was playing a suffocating man-to-man defense. Pell City had 14 first half turnovers, while Oxford had 11.
Both quarters were almost exact duplicates as Oxford would open up a seven-point lead, and then Pell City would rally in the last two minutes to tie the game or take the lead. Oxford was up 9-2 with 50 seconds left in the opening quarter, when Pell City scored nine quick points. Heaven O’Neal hit two long three’s, and Reagan Tarver hit three free throws to knot the game at 11-11. In the second quarter, Kyla Torok scored 10 Panther points as they rallied to take a 23-22 lead at the half. The Jackets had two field goals in the quarter. Oxford came out in a second-half press that rattled the Panthers, and Oxford took the lead for good on the last score of the quarter by making two free throws at 34-33. [read more…]
