Calhoun County, AL – In the latest marquee clash in the battle of Calhoun County powers, Anniston boys beat Alexandria after a dominant start to third quarter. Anniston’s undefeated girls take control of the second-half.
Scoreboard for Tuesday
BOYS
Anniston 44, Alexandria 39
Jacksonville 48, Cleburne County 33
Glencoe at 61. Lincoln 35. Lincoln 35
B.B. Comer B.B. Comer 73, Ragland 30
Ashville 70, Wellborn 43
Etowah was 66. Cherokee County 46
GIRLS
Anniston 48, Alexandria 23
Jacksonville 71, Cleburne County 47
Saks 60, Pleasant Valley 59
Spring Garden 66, Sand Rock 38
Cherokee County 54, Etowah 22
Glencoe 50 Lincoln 40
By Joe Medley
ALEXANDRIA ALEXANDRIA What’s everyone enjoying? informal mini-Calhoun County basketball tourney?
Could this be a preview of the real thing to come January?
Jacorrie Lane scored 11 points for the team and Anniston’s boys kicked off the third quarter by scoring 12-0 lead to win an impressive 44-39 win against Alexandria the previous Tuesday.
It was the night Jacksonville defeated Alexandria 65-55 at home, and five nights following it was the Golden Eagles beat White Plains 50-38 in their home arena.
Anniston is playing on at Jacksonville this Thursday.
All of the teams either ranked or had votes in the first Alabama Sports Writers Association poll which was released last week.
The county tournament actually runs from Jan. 12-20. Coaches will be voting on seedings January. 3.
The NBA organizes an annual tournament in the season that includes the appearance of a mini-banner. Consider the recent series of games played between top counties as a way to preview?
Anniston (8-3) Anniston (8-3) defeated Piedmont in a game on Friday is eyeing its first opportunity at Jacksonville the home of a pair of teams who have taken home a total of three Class 4A state titles in the last three seasons.
“We’ll be watching Wednesday,” Anniston coach Torry Brown stated. “It’s an important game for us because that they’re playing great basketball. They have a very good basketball player (Devin Barksdale) We’ll be going to take on against them.”
The lead was forged by Quendavion McDowell’s 12 points Alexandria (7-4) provided Anniston the chance to win a four-quarter contest. The most important period was when Anniston that has put just 48 points in the entire season, and that culminated in a defeat of 48-46 against White Plains and turn an early deficit of 25-17 into an advantage of 29-25.
“In the second quarter I thought we played very good on defense,” Brown said. “They scored a basket towards the close of third quarter and received a deflection, steal and then runout to take the shot that sounded at the buzzer. If you remove the four points they were held to ten points over the course of a half.”
Anniston had a 31-29 lead at quarter’s conclusion and was leading by as much as seven points at the end of the quarter.
“We made mistakes during the third quarter and we managed to shoot seven attempts,” Alexandria coach Will Ginn stated. “A majority of it is due to the players.
“For some reason I felt that we didn’t come out and weren’t too aggressive. We didn’t attempt free throws for the entire second half and they hit 12, (10). I don’t believe we were in any way aggressive.”
Girls
ANNISTON 48, ALEXANDRIA 23:Up 19-17 at the half, Anniston scored the first 29 points in the second quarter, and held their Valley Cubs scoreless until Landry Patterson’s free-throws at 3:43 in the fourth quarter.
Allyssa Hunt scored two field goals in the second half of the game for Alexandria beginning at 1:48.
Anniston has improved to 14-0 and the coach who has been with Anniston for a long time Eddie Bullock said the difference between halves was the attitude.
“We were required to get it back,” he said. “We were playing too slow. This isn’t conditioning because we run. It’s all mental attitude.
“People think that this is easy. I’ve been doing it for all my life and this is among the most difficult teams I’ve ever had to coach. And we’re 14-0. We’ll have two Tylenol today.”
Serena Hardy hit three 3-pointers and was the Anniston’s leader in scoring with 17 points. Tykeria Smith had 14 and A’Kayla Perez added 11. three-pointer.
Alexandria (5-6) received 12 points for Hunt.
It was the Valley Cubs’ highlight was the opening half. Their man-to-man defense was sagging, making it tough for Anniston to move forward and score rebound.
“It was very excellent, just like the last time (at Jacksonville),” Alexandria coach Craig Kiker said. “I think we played really solid defense. I think we played a really solid defense in the second quarter, however, you only have the ability to overpower a certain amount. We weren’t able to block out effectively at the end of halftime and we threw the ball around excessively.”
