November 24, 2021
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Spring Garden gets spark from two technicals on bench, rallies from early deficit to beat Oxford for Champions Girls Classic crown
GIRLS GAMES
Champions Girls Thanksgiving Classic
Hokes Bluff 45, Jacksonville 28
Ohatchee 52, Hokes Bluff 42
White Plains 53, Alexandria 43
Spring Garden 59, Oxford 55
Glencoe Thanksgiving Classic
Fort Payne 66, Glencoe 45
Cherokee County 47, Cleburne County 38
Less than four minutes into the first quarter the championship game of the Champions Girls Thanksgiving Classic was turning out to be not much of a game.
Oxford was showing its athleticism and opening a 10-point lead before Spring Garden ever came close to scoring.
But never underestimate the value of a technical foul on the bench. Or two of them.
Spurred by the Ts on its bench and then coach Ricky Austin, Spring Garden came to life, wiped out two early double-digit deficits and once it had the lead held on to beat Oxford 59-55 for the tournament title.
Lady Panthers guard Ace Austin, who sealed the victory with a pair of free throws with 3.4 seconds to play, was named tournament MVP. She scored 15 points in the championship game despite picking up her fourth foul with 2:27 left in the third quarter.
“My dad just keeps telling us just keep playing,” Austin said. “Our team, we never get down, really. We had a few bad calls we thought, so we had a chip on our shoulder at that moment, so we kept pushing.”
Oxford jumped out to a 7-0 lead against a Spring Garden start that reminded Ricky Austin of the way his team’s first two games in the tournament started. Listless, missing shots, turnovers.
Some call by the officials didn’t set right with the Spring Garden bench and it got popped with the first T. That didn’t set well with Austin and his continued protestations earned him a T as well.
The coach said he didn’t say much to get T’d up, but admitted “I deserved it and I wanted it.”
Oxford’s Lauren Ellard hit three of the four technical free throws and the Lady Jackets had a 10-0 lead with 4:35 left in the first quarter. [**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.
Advertisement
