Wellborn, AL – Allen leads way as Weaver boys grind out area victory at Wellborn. Late surge pushes Wellborn girls to victory over Weaver.
Tuesday scoreboard
BOYS
Weaver 48, Wellborn 42
Gadsden City 62, Jacksonville 46
Jax Christian 79, Valley Head 67
Fort Payne 47, Oxford 44
Glencoe 89, Alexandria 82
Spring Garden 57, Handley 52
GIRLS
Wellborn 51, Wellborn 42
Southside 60, Sardis 26
Gadsden City 28, Jacksonville 26
Fort Payne 46, Oxford 42
Jax Christian 41, Valley Head 40
Glencoe 41, Alexandria 39
Spring Garden 79, Handley 34
By Joe Medley
WELLBORN — Weaver’s Junior Allen found the range early in Tuesday’s Class 3A, Area 11 battle at Wellborn, then the Bearcats had to find their grind.
KeShawn Allen scored 24 points, and Weaver did enough to escape with a 48-42 victory.
The Bearcats (5-6) overcame Raymond Williams’ 15-point performance and 12 from 6-foot-6 center Trey Downs as improved Wellborn fell to 1-6.
“It was a definite grind,” Weaver coach Beau Winn said. “Gosh, we couldn’t hit water if we fell off of a cruise ship from outside.”
It didn’t start that way. Freshman Junior Allen hit three open, corner-ball 3-pointers in the first half, and Weaver led 30-21 at halftime,
Wellborn responded to the younger Allen’s hot early shooting by making it less comfortable.
“I made just a little bit of an adjustment where our wing guy in that 3-2 was coving the corner instead of it being our big guy’s (Downs’) responsibility to move out there,” first-year Wellborn coach Todd Lumpkin said. “It mimics a couple of different zones, but get the wing guy down there, and then that guy at the top, get him over there.”
Once Allen’s corner dried up, the game became a defensive battle with runouts coming at a premium. Wellborn out scored Weaver 16-11 in the third quarter, and they scored a combined 12 points in the fourth.
Wellborn’s best offense was offensive rebounds. Williams had four offensive boards among his 10 total, and Downs had one among his seven total rebounds.
“Their second-change really killed us tonight, and 33 (Downs) is tough down there,” Winn said. “We can’t let him get the ball down there like that.
“When we do that, we start dubbing, and it opens up the backside rebound, but I’m proud of our boys and how we fought. Little things. We’ve got to learn how to hold a lead.”
Girls
WELLBORN 51, WEAVER 42: Calla Hayes scored 18 points, including a jumper from the left side to put Wellborn (2-4) ahead for good, 41-40.
After a timeout with two minutes to play, the Panthers scored the next 10 points.
“The key thing was just to settle down and play our game instead of letting them dictate what we’re going to do,” first-year Wellborn coach Ashlon Dempsey said. “We called timeout to calm them down I felt like we were bouncing the ball every way.
“I felt like we finally got control of the ball.”
Anna Odom led Wellborn with 22 points and helped the Panthers overcome a 24-point showing by Weaver’s Aaliyah Marks.
Marks hit six 3-pointers on the night and scored 15 first-half points, including a steal and layup and 3-pointer just before halftime to bring Weaver (3-7) within 24-19.
Dempsey went to a box-and-one defense at halftime, with Bentley Bean staying locked on Marks.
“It’s tough, as a 10th-grader,” Weaver coach Jamie Burns said. “They face-guarded her, once they realized she was going to light them up.
“Once she’s on, she doesn’t miss it. When she had an opportunity to get her shot off, it helped us. It put us right back in the game.”
