Three-peat and repeat • Lady Lions, Indians win Bi-County again


Thursday, December 11, 2008
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Three-peat and repeat
• Lady Lions, Indians win Bi-County again

By CLAUDE VINSON
Sports Editor

Photos by Lawrence White

Pressure

Byers’ Alexis Hardaway (32) and Kourtney Coleman (15) apply pressure to Ashland’s Khadjah Preston. In back, at far left, is Sandricka Bowen.

The H.W. Byers Lady Lions celebrated three straight Bi-County Tournament crowns Saturday, while the Byhalia Indians claimed their second consecutive title.

First consolation game

Boys champions

Coach Michael Neal and his Byhalia Indians show off their Bi-County Tournament championship trophy – their second in a row.

Soaring

Byhalia’s Mario Parker (15) soars to the goal. Defending are Hickory Flat’s Caleb Van Tassell (33) and Tavis Bell.

The Potts Camp Lady Cardinals outpointed the Hickory Flat Lady Rebels 21-8 in the first quarter Saturday afternoon and led 44-27 at halftime.

Kenyotta Jenkins was on fire from the second quarter on. She was running the floor and grabbing rebounds. The Lady Cardinals had a commanding lead of 60-43 at the end of the third.

Potts Camp completed the runaway in the fourth, going out 81-59.

Jenkins had 28 points; Queen Dean had 19; Lamonica Ingram had 11; Nieshia Stinson had 10; and Ashton Gandy had eight.

For Hickory Flat, it was Courtney Martin with 21, Shalonda Reynolds with nine and Hannah Wilkerson also with nine.

Second consolation game

This was also a game in which the contestants know each other pretty well – Potts Camp and Ashland. The score stayed close all the way, going back and forth between the two. The “Blue” were in control at halftime with a 27-24 mark.

It swung to the Pots Camp boys’ side at the end of the third quarter with the Cardinals having a one-point lead at 40-39. It was a strongly contested fourth quarter with Potts Camp getting the 58-56 call.

The Blue Devils’ scoring was pretty spread out with Brandon Walls registering 10.

Jeremy Siggers pumped in 22 for the winners.

Girls championship

The girls championship got underway at approximately 7 p.m. Saturday. It was the Lady Lions of H.W. Byers against the Lady Devils of Ashland. Head coach Jessie Terry of Ashland was aware of the capabilities of his opponents in this game. The Lady Lions were going for the tri-fecta and the Lady Devils would be returning to the finals for the first time since 2004. It was classical claw versus pitchfork.

The Lady Devils held their own for the first quarter, being behind three points at 14-11.

The Lady Lions stepped up the pressure in the second and moved it to the double-digit lead at 39-22. And it was becoming clear that the first period would be the only slow period for the Lady Lions. Amanda Jones and Ciarra Seldon started cranking out treys. The score was 73-27 at the end of three.

Coach Jason Thompson had already been subbing at will but the onslaught on the basket didn’t let up. The Lady Devils suffered a real setback when their star player went down hard with a re-injury of her knee. Sandricka Bowen had already scored a dozen points when she left the game. There was no one among Coach Terry’s reserve who could fill that void.

The Lady Lions romped to a 90-35 victory.

Amanda Jones had 17, Kourtney Coleman 16, Rachel Jones 14 and Seldon 12.

Bowen’s 14 led the Lady Devils.

Boys championship

Photos by Lawrence White

Boys All Bi-County

Named to the boys all-tournament team (some players not pictured) were Caleb Van Tassell, Tyler Reed and Tavis Bell, all from Hickory Flat; Mario Parker, Josh Rodgers, Kenyatta Jones and Courtney Warren, all from Byhalia; Tedarian Bryson from H.W. Byers; Shermaine Jones of Holly High; Jeremy Siggers of Potts Camp; Ted Parker of Ashland.

Girls All Bi-County

Named to the girls all-tournament team (some players not pictured) were Amanda Jones, Kourtney Coleman and Rachel Jones, all from H.W. Byers; Khadjah Preston, Sandricka Bowen and Kiana Jones, all from Ashland; Kenyotta Jenkins from Potts Camp; Tamekico Johnson from Holly Springs; Hannah Wilkerson from Hickory Flat; Crystal Rayford of Byhalia.

The final game was truly an inter-county contest – the Byhalia Indians looking to grab their second consecutive and the Hickory Flat Rebels trying to stop the run.

And the Rebels came out smoking. They were attempting to pound the ball inside to their big man under the basket, Caleb Van Tassell. The Indians were trying to use the long ball to draw the Rebels out of their comfort zone. The Rebels were connecting on their stick backs and had the primary lead at 16-9.

The Rebels were doing good job of rebounding at both ends. Head coach Matt Thompson has trained this team to run. The Rebs were still leading by one point when the horn sounded intermission. It was a 27-26 score.

In the third a Rebel player was hit with a “tech” after a personal foul. The subsequent freebies gave the Indians a 33-30 edge. It was also in the third quarter that Van Tassell had to sit after reaching the limit. The third quarter score was 39-34.

Hickory Flat lost another player to infractions and Byhalia quickly built a 13-point lead. There were less than five minutes left in the contest. The Indians kept challenging the Rebels’ post players with good results.

Byhalia ended the contest with a 59-48 mark.

Mario Parker led the repeating champions with 17. Kenyatta Jones pitched in 15 and Jermone Marion hit 12.

Van Tassell tallied 12 for Hickory Flat, followed by 10 from Tavis Bell and eight from Zavian Adams.

Thanks

Coach Terry and his staff and crew at Ashland High School are to be commended for a well organized tournament. Special kudos to the ladies in the Hospitality Suite, Mrs. Gillespie, Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Ross.

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