January 19, 2022
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Top two seeds in the girls bracket earn their spots in the semifinals through defense
CALHOUN COUNTY BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
GIRLS BRACKET
Tuesday’s Games
Oxford 84, Pleasant Valley 53
Anniston 51, Jacksonville 20
Wednesday, Jan. 19
No. 4 Ohatchee vs. Alexandria, 6 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 20
Anniston vs. White Plains, 3 p.m.
Oxford vs. Alexandria-Ohatchee winner, 6 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 21
Championship game, 6 p.m.
Tournament statistical leaders will be updated Wednesday morning.
JACKSONVILLE – Oxford girls coach Melissa Bennett loves defense. So, she must have been absolutely over the moon after her team’s debut in the 2022 Calhoun County Tournament.
The top-seeded Lady Jackets forced a bushel full of turnovers Tuesday in beating Pleasant Valley 84-53 at Jacksonville State. They will play the winner of Wednesday’s Alexandria-Ohatchee game in Thursday’s semifinals.
Pillsbury never created as many turnovers as the Lady Jackets forced PV into this game.
Unofficially, Oxford turned its opponent over 24 times, off which it scored 33 points. The team stat sheet from the bench shows it collected 23 steals alone. LaMya McGrue had six of them and Leah Taylor had five.
“The last couple games I hadn’t been getting a lot of steals, but today I let loose,” McGrue said. “Our goal was (to score) 80 today.”
McGrue finished with 22 points. Justice Woods and Xai Whitfield each had 12 and Jamea Gaston added 11.
McGrue scored 12 in the second quarter when her team stretched its lead to 40-21 at halftime. If you took away all the points Oxford scored in the first half off the turnovers it created, the Lady Jackets would have only been leading 23-21 at the break.
“We love defense; I love defense,” Bennett said. “I actually want us to be even more aggressive. I thought there were a lot of one-pass-away denials that I would have liked to have seen poked or stolen. Pressure is our game. We love it.”
Oxford 84, Pleasant Valley 53
PLEASANT VALLEY – Lily Henry 2 0-0 5, Rylee Haynes 5 1-3 11, Rebekah Gannaway 1 0-0 2, Marlie Wright 2 0-0 5, Kiana Hester 1 0-0 3, Gracie Hood 4 0-0 10, Macey Roper 6 1-1 13, Anna Worthy 2 0-0 4. Totals 23 2-4 53
OXFORD – Justice Woods 5 2-2 12, Xai Whitfield 5 0-0 12, Lauren Ellard 1 0-1 2, LaMya McGrue 10 2-2 22, Kaleah Taylor 4 0-0 9, Jamea Gaston 4 0-0 11, Keziah Mickler 2 0-0 5, Shaniya Calloway 1 0-0 3, Kaylen Kenney 4 0-0 8, Mikiya Wilson 0 0-0 0. Totals 36 4-5 84.
Pleasant Valley 13 8 16 16 – 53
Oxford 18 22 23 21 – 84
3-point goals: PV 5 (Henry, Wright, Hester, Hood 2); Oxford 8 (Whitfield 2, Taylor, Gaston 3, Mickler, Calloway). Total fouls: PV 5, Oxford 9. Officials: Williams, Larkins, Sanford.
Anniston winning with house money
The Anniston girls may find themselves in an unusual starting position in the Calhoun County Basketball Tournament, but the result at the end of the night was the same.
The Lady Bulldogs, not the No. 1 seed for the first time in seven years (they’re No. 2), won their tournament Tuesday night, 51-20 over Jacksonville.
They’ll play third-seeded area rival White Plains in Thursday’s 3 p.m. semifinal.
Actually, being the No. 2 isn’t that bad a deal for Anniston coach Eddie Bullock. He said Oxford deserves the No. 1 seed they’ve been bestowed and it takes pressure off his team.
“It actually takes pressure off them because they’re young and being No. 1 is a different mindset they have to think about in the tournament,” Anniston coach Eddie Bullock said. “I’m actually glad we’re not the No. 1 seed because we’re playing with house money.”
The game was close early, but not for long. Anniston was winning 6-4, then Serena Hardy hit a 3-pointer near the end of the first quarter and the Lady Dawgs were off and running. They protected the ball well and led 24-7 at halftime.
Tykeria Smith led Anniston with 17 points, nine rebounds and two steals. Hardy had seven in the first quarter and finished with 11 points, five steals and four assists. Shiwanna Jackson, who got hurt in the county tournament last year and just now is returning to the lineup, had 10 points and 10 boards.
“We played hard,” Bullock said. “We played them last Friday and we didn’t play that well, didn’t shoot the ball well. We played a little bit harder this time and were able to do some pretty good things.”
Anniston 51, Jacksonville 20
JACKSONVILLE – Amarie Curry 4-9 3-5 11, Ashley Grant 3-8 1-2 7, Dee Prothro 0-3 2-6 2, Mya Swain 0-2 0-0 0, Alexis Phillips 0-2 0-0 0, Kiara LaCount 0-3 0-0 0, Halaina Lozano 0-0 0-0 0, MiArah Hardy 0-1 0-0 0, Olivia Rowan 0-0 0-1 0, Rachel Sanders 0-0 0-0 0, Lamiah Steagall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 7-28 6-14 20.
ANNISTON – Tykeria Smith 7-13 3-4 17, Serena Hardy 5-19 0-2 11, A’Kayla Perry 3-8 0-0 7, Taysia West 2-5 0-0 4, Jade Richardson 1-1 0-0 2, Nina Farrow 0-0 0-0 0, Matasia Truss 0-0 0-0 0, Jenayzia Oliver 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-67 3-6 51.
Jacksonville 4 3 6 7 – 20
Anniston 9 15 13 14 – 51
3-point goals: Jacksonville 0-5 (Curry 0-1, Grant 0-2, Swain 0-1, Phillips 0-1); Anniston 2-11 (Hardy 1-6, Perry 1-3, West 0-2). Rebounds: Jacksonville 22 (Prothro 4); Anniston 36 (Smith 9, Jackson 8). Total fouls: Jacksonville 9, Anniston 14. [**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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