December 16, 2021
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Brown, McDaniel lead Cleburne County girls to first-ever road win over Anniston; Bulldogs back on track in boys game
No need to get Cleburne County girls basketball coach Todd Gable any more Christmas presents this year. He got all he ever wanted Wednesday night.
At the risk of sounded repetitive later in this story, Christmas came early for Gable and the Lady Tigers in a very unlikely place.
They took down the big dogs of the state — literally — stunning Anniston 42-35 in the Lady Bulldogs’ gym.
It may not be the same team that has dominated the area and region for years, but it still says “Anniston” across the jersey and that accounts for a lot.
It was the first time the Lady Tigers had beaten Anniston since 2009 — Gable’s first year as an assistant — and the first time they had ever beaten the Lady Bulldogs on the road.
“Christmas came early for Coach Gable tonight,” the Cleburne County coach said. “I don’t need nothin’ else. I’m good.”
Gable’s eyes started getting a little watery as he leaned back against a wall deep in the bowels of the gym and started to describe the magnitude of the victory. It kept the Lady Tigers (5-4, 1-1) one game behind Handley in the loss column in the area and gave Anniston two area losses for the first time anyone can remember.
Sophomore guard Faith Brown called the win “a big accomplishment,” one that sits “on the very top” of the list of wins in her career.
“It’s emotional, it really is,” Gable said. “We’ve always had Anniston in our area and you had to go through Anniston, big, bad Anniston. I think our girls have always felt it was too big – they feared it – and I knew if we could ever get over that hump …
“I thought last year in the area tournament we played our best game we’ve ever played against them. I thought then they started believing.”
The Lady Tigers prepared for the game by scrimmaging against the boys B team each of the last two days. They trailed early, but never again after they scored the last 15 points of the first quarter.They were up seven after the first quarter and 10 late in the second.
“You saw I called a time out early on,” Gable said. “The only reason I called that time out – and we had the lead at that time — was to tell them y’all are playing with them right here, I don’t think they believe they can beat you right now. That’s never happened, so right now you really have to believe. It’s so huge for our program to get that monkey off our back.”
Brown helped stake them to the early lead with scoring and defense, then Brooklyn McDaniel took over in the fourth quarter when Anniston tightened up its defense and started hitting shots to make it close.
The Lady Bulldogs got within three twice in the fourth quarter on 3-pointers by Akayla Perry, but both times McDaniel turned back the threats with buckets. Her second one touched off six straight Cleburne County points that would’ve been made the margin even wider had the Lady Tigers made free throws.
“We wanted to win so bad,” McDaniel said. “If we worked this hard in three quarters we’re not going to let them in one quarter come back on us.”
Brown scored 17 points – all in the first three quarters – and grabbed 18 rebounds. McDaniel had 15 points – seven of their nine in the fourth – and nine rebounds.
Serena Hardy hit four 3-pointers for Anniston and led the Lady Bulldogs with 16 points. Perry had eight.
Boys game
ANNISTON 83, CLEBURNE COUNTY 28: Slowly but surely the Bulldogs are starting to get all their players back from an early-season spate of injuries and when they do the players are convinced they’ll look a lot like they did Wednesday night.
It was the second game in a row the Bulldogs could get all their players in the game. Of the 12 who played, 11 scored. They led 51-8 at halftime.
Talib Christian led all scorers with 17 points. Martez Reed hit four 3-pointers and finished with 16.
“The ball went in the basket and we played with more energy than we did last night, so that was good,” Brown said.
Javen Croft was back in action after returning from a concussion and scored in double figures for the second night in a row. He gave the Bulldogs a spark of energy off the bench against Munford in his first game back and scored 14 points against the Tigers. Coach Torry Brown was particularly pleased with his rebounding.
“I feel good to be back,” Croft said. “I like playing. I like the energy. It took me that last game to get back warmed up. I’m getting my groove back.”
The only Bulldog left to return is defensive specialist Mark Toyer. He suffered a knee injury in the season opener. [**read more]
**When you click read more you will be taken to the EA Sports Today website. Please make sure to come back to read more Calhoun County News.
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