Ashland sweeps rival Holly High

“Bragging rights” were on the line for these two rivals last week from neighboring counties – Holly Springs and Ashland.

This bi-county contest (Marshall and Benton) always attracts huge support from school-spirited fans and Tuesday night, Nov. 15, was no different – it was an overflow.

The Ashland girls opened the action with a 75-63 win over Holly High. The Blue Devils trailed the Holly High boys before pulling away in the fourth quarter to win by eight, 82-74.

The visitors, the Lady Hawks, had the first chance at the nylon but came up empty. Taleah Reaves’ three, and some two-pointers by Veshona Evans, Kaylen Archibald and Alisha Jeanes built an early lead 15-5 for Ashland in the first period. At the 2:51 mark, Camee Faulkner poured in four points (a trey and a freebie) to narrow the gap to 17-9, but the Lady Blue Devils went on to close the first quarter leading 25-18. Shretta Jeffries also contributed five points in this frame for the Lady Hawks.

At halftime, the Lady Blue Devils had given the Lady Hawks a 13-point deficit, 41-28.

The Lady Devils became stagnant and couldn’t produce any points at the top of the third. Meanwhile, Samantha Johnson scored a three-pointer and Faulkner made a two and a freebie to trim the margin to 41-34. Minutes later, the Lady Devils began firing on all cylinders. J’Niya Tallie’s back-to-back threes put Ashland up 61-48 at the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth, the Lady Hawks outscored the Lady Devils by one, 15-14, but Ashland’s girls had won this bi-county contest.

Jeanes led the way for Ashland with 20 points. Tallie scored 17. Evans and Archibald each had 12.

For Holly High, Faulkner scored 30 points and Jeffries had 19.

Devils defeat Hawks

The fans went into a “frenzied state of mind” as the boys took to the floor in the much-anticipated nightcap.

It was definitely a high intensity first quarter.

The Devils struck for some quick points. Rodriquez Reaves hit a three and a deuce in the opening frame. Holly High’s Kendrick Fountain and DaQuan Smith answered with some two-pointers of their own.

At the 5:37 mark, the Devils were up 7-4. Smith’s trey tied the game at 7. Fountain’s deuce ended the tie as the Hawks took the lead, 9-7. Minutes later, Ocquavion Agyekum’s freebies had deadlocked the game again at 9. Smith hit a long-range shot to reclaim the lead, 12-9. At the 2:00 mark, the Devils took back the lead, 13-12. Holly High was on top 22-15 at the end of the first.

At the break, the Hawks were leading by six, 39-33.

The action picked back up in the third. Both squads were firing away shots. On a steal, Smith scored a bucket to further extend the lead, 50-38. The Devils had some difficulties – the Hawks’ defense had turned up the heat. They were applying pressure for ball control. A timeout was called for the Devils to refocus. Going back into the game, an adrenaline surge took ahold of the Devils. They had outscored the Hawks 19-18 but not enough to snatch the lead. Holly High closed the third period ahead, 57-52.

The Hawks tried to get rid of the Devils but to no avail. Ashland had knotted the game again at 70 in the fourth quarter. With a combined total of 30 points down the stretch, Agyekum, DeAnthony Tipler, and Richard Brooks had closed the game with “bragging rights.”

The scoring leaders for Ashland were Tipler and Agyekum tied with 21 points each. Brooks had 14 and Reaves 12.

Smith led Holly High with 29 points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block. Fountain had 17 points, six rebounds and two steals. Corey Bell scored nine.

Holly High visited another rival, Byhalia, last Friday night. The Hawks played in the Horn Lake Shootout Saturday. They will play in the MLK Tournament in Memphis, Tenn., this week.