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Gleason Picks Wrong Time for Drought
By Randy Cavin
Press Sports
Gleason could not overcome a scoring drought. That was added bad news since they were playing against the state’s No. 1 team.
Lake County, the top team in the Associated Press Class A poll, held the Lady Bulldogs scoreless for 12:47 in a 58-14 win Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Region 7A Tournament at Tiptonville.
The Lady Falcons then went on to knock off Bradford 49-31 in the semifinal round Saturday in Trenton. Bradford moved on with a 38-34 win at Huntingdon on Thursday night.
Lake County scored 29 points during the Lady Bulldogs’ scoring drought. Gleason did not score against the Lady Falcons in the second period and trailed 29-4 at the half.
Gleason, which plays at a slower pace than Lake County, tried to use ball control and pick its shots in the first half. But, the Lady Falcons managed to play their style of game and run up and down the court.
“You cannot run up and down with them,” Gleason head coach Joel Ayers said. “We wanted to try to get good shots and stay on offense more, but we did not make any shots. All night long we only made layups.” Gleason was 0-for-15 from beyond the arc. Lake County hit 9-of-19 from long range, with seven coming in the second half.
Briana Jones led Gleason with eight points, her output accounting for the Lady Bulldogs’ first points of the game. “One point in time we had eight points and Briana had all eight of them,” Ayers said. “We just did not score any points. They lit it up and made a lot of shots.” Gleason shot 19 percent from the field while Lake County hit 49 percent of its shots. The Lady Bulldogs were out-rebounded 30-to-17 and score 22 points in the paint to Gleason’s 12. Lake County was led by Tiana Grey with 13 points, 12 coming off of four 3-pointers.
The Lady Bulldogs finish the season 17-13. Lake County improves to 32-3 on the season.
Gleason will have the core of its team back for the 2012-13 season with 13 players returning, including four juniors. Jaclyn Montgomery, Kim Quick, Lauren Pruitt and Jones will make up the senior class for next season. Ayers will be losing only Alex King to graduation. With so many players coming back for next season, Gleason should contend for the top spot in District 13A once again.
“We will just have to learn to shoot a little better,” Ayers said. “They will work, but part of that is on them. You can only make them do so much under your eye. They have a lot of heart and play hard. They are great kids. You could not ask for better kids.” Source: Weakley County Press. 2.28.12
Dresden, Gleason Girls Travel Opposite Paths
By Randy Cavin
Press Sports
The Dresden girls earned a title shot, while Gleason must settle for a consolation prize.
The Lady Lions made a return trip to the District 13A Tournament finals after defeating Big Sandy 45-26 in Thursday’s semifinal round behind a good defensive effort. Dresden got a shot at Huntingdon after the Fillies beat the Lady Bulldogs 46-31 in the other semifinal game.
Dresden 45, BS 26
It was not pretty, but a win is a win and the Lady Lions will take a win any way they can get it in the District 13A Tournament.
The offense might not have been clicking on all cylinders, but the defense did its job in holding the Lady Red Devils to a mere 11 points in the second half while only scoring 20. Jessica Jones scored a game-high 14 points, and the defense forced Big Sandy into 28 misfires and 22 turnovers. Dresden hit 21-of-30 free throws, including seven in the fourth period to ice it. “This time of the year, it is not about style points but about being ahead at the end, even if it is only by one point when that buzzer goes off,” Lady Lions skipper Jonathan West said. “We struggled, but I thought we played tight, especially early. We defended well, and they only scored 26 points. When you do that, you give yourself a chance to win.” Dresden is 23-6 while Big Sandy is 17-11.
Dresden only sent Big Sandy to line for nine free throw attempts, preventing the Lady Red Devils from scoring easy baskets while stopping the clock. “That is one thing we talked about,” West said. “The other night in their game against West Carroll, they shot 39 free throws. Two players shot 27 of those 39. Our deal was to challenge shots, but do not put them on the line and bail them out.”
Huntingdon 46, Gleason 31
The Lady Bulldogs lost out on their right to play Dresden for the district title Thursday night after a poor shooting performance and a strong inside game by the Fillies.
The Lady Bulldogs only scored 10 points in the paint, while the Fillies capitalized on their inside game with 30 points in the paint along with 33 rebounds, including eight offensive boards. Briana Jones led Gleason with 12 points. But they did not come easy for her as Huntingdon played tight coverage on Jones for the entire game.
Huntingdon outscored Gleason 6-4 in the first, 12-7 in the second and 12-5 in the third periods before the Lady Bulldogs got their offense on track in the fourth with 15 points.
Alex King was second in points for Gleason with eight points. Source: Weakley County Press. 2.21.12
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Lady Bulldogs Topple Unbeaten Fillies 43 - 35
By Ernie Smothers
McKenzie Banner
 GLEASON (January 3) In a key District 13A matchup, the Gleason Lady Bulldogs, fueled by the scoring of Briana Jones (14) and respective seven-point performances by Jasmine Taylor and Calay Smith, handed the unbeaten Huntingdon its first loss of the season, 43-35. The Fillies were led offensively in the contest by Savannah Dodson (13) and Allee Maxwell (12).
In the nightcap, a vastly-improved Gleason Bulldog squad, led by the scoring of Alex Hahn (19 points, four treys) and Austin Perry (16), outscored Huntingdon 20-12 in the second period to knot the contest at 27-27 at the half before falling, 63-58. The Mustangs were paced offensively by Dylan Poole (18) and Corbin Jordan (14).
Lady Bulldogs 43, Fillies 35
Gleason’s Emily Bell, Smith and Taylor notched treys and Briana Jones added two deuces and a free throw swish as the Lady Bulldogs led Huntingdon 17-15 at the end of the first frame. Huntingdon was led offensively in the first stanza by Allee Maxwell (6), Savannah Dodson (5), Madison Ballard (2) and Morgan McMackin (2).
As both teams continued to apply intense defensive pressure, Huntingdon, paced by the scoring of Maxwell (4), Ballard (trey) and Dodson (deuce), outscored Gleason 9-7 and knotted the contest, 24-24 at the half. Gleason was led offensively in the second frame by Smith (trey) and deuces by Bell and Kim Quick.
Resuming play in the second half, Lady Bulldog Jones netted a trey and two deuces, Taylor tallied two two-pointers, and Smith swished a charity toss as Gleason outscored Huntingdon 12-7 to lead at the end of third frame, 36-31.
Huntingdon was paced offensively in the third period by Dodson (6) and Belew (1).
In an intense final period of play, Gleason utilized clutch free throw conversions by Alex King (3), Jaclyn Montgomery (2) and a Jones deuce to narrowly outscore Huntingdon 7-4 and post a hard-fought 43-25 win over the Fillies. Huntingdon was led offensively in the final frame by Ballard (2) and Maxwell (2).
The Lady Bulldogs were paced offensively by Jones (14), Taylor (7), Smith (7), Montgomery (5), Bell (5), King (3) and Quick (2).
Huntingdon was led offensively by Dodson (13), Maxwell (12), Ballard (7), McMackin (2) and Hannah Belew (1).
Mustangs 63, Bulldogs 58
Huntingdon spread its scoring around as Barrett Phelps notched four points, Taylor McCarty posted three points and Poole, Jordan, Justice Scott and Jeremy Hill tallied respective deuces as the Mustangs outscored Gleason 15-7 and led at the end of the first frame, 15-7. Gleason was led paced offensively in the first period by Thomas Fowler (4) and Austin Perry (3).
Battling back, the Bulldogs, paced by the scoring of Alex Hahn (9), Perry (6), Avery Orr (trey) and Chris Sumner (2), outscored the Mustangs 20-12 in the second period to tie the contest, 27-27 at the half. Huntingdon was led in the second period via the scoring of Poole (3), Olajuwan Clark (3), Jordan (2), Scott (2) and Hill (2).
Resuming play in the second half, Huntingdon utilized the scoring of Poole (6), Scott (4), Hill (4), Jordan (3) and Clark (2) to outscore Gleason 19-9 and lead at the end of the third period, 46-37. The Bulldogs were paced offensively in the third clip by Perry (5), Hahn (2), Dakota Parsons (1) and Fowler (1).
Refusing to bow out, Gleason countered via the scoring of Hahn (8), Ethan Terrell (6) and two-pointers by Perry, Fowler, Keaton Collins and Sumner to outscore Huntingdon 22-17 in the final stanza before falling, 63-58.
Huntingdon was led offensively by Poole (18), Jordan (14), Scott (10), Hill (9), Clark (5), Phelps (4) and McCarty (3).
Gleason was paced by game-high scorer Hahn (19), Perry (16), Fowler (7), Terrell (6), Sumner (4), Orr (3) and Collins (1). Source: McKenzie Banner
Both Bulldogs’ Teams Finish up with LossesBy Randy Cavin
Press Sports
Both Gleason squads came up empty in the final day of the 47th Annual Lions Club Christmas Tournament Thursday with the girls losing 39-29 to South Fulton and the boys falling to Milan 64-30. The Lady Bulldogs are 6-7 on the season and Bulldogs are 1-12. Both teams will resume District 13A play when they host Huntingdon tonight at 6.
Gleason was never able to get on track against the Red Devilettes in the game for fifth place. South Fulton got the early lead and never relinquished it. The Red Devils (8-5) opened up a seven-point lead in the first period and extended it to 12 by halftime. Gleason cut the lead to six on three different occasions in the second half, but they could get no closer to South Fulton. Poor shooting haunted the Lady Bulldogs throughout the game as they went 9-of-27 from the field and 11-of-20 from the line.
“That is what hurt us in the game,” Gleason head coach Joel Ayers said. “You can’t win if you can’t get the ball to go through the basket. We had our chances at the line but were not able to take advantage of it.”
Briana Jordan was the only Lady Bulldog player to score in double figures with 12 points, which was also the game-high. Jordan was also named to the all-tournament team. Taleeah Cross scored 11 for South Fulton.
The Bulldogs had perhaps one of its best halves of the season Thursday against Milan in the first half. But Milan (2-11) was able to pull away from Gleason after Alex Hahn hit a jumper at the beginning of the third period to pull Gleason to within two points.
Milan went on a 15-4 run to open up a 31-18 lead after Hahn’s basket and then outscored Gleason 28-8 in the final period.
What got Gleason into trouble in the second half were turnovers. The Bulldogs turned the ball over 21 times in the second half and 31 for times for the game. Gleason also gave up several easy shots to Milan in the lane.
“We gave way too many baskets in the lane,” Gleason head man Jamie Roney said. “We’ve got to defend better than that in the lane. We can’t give that many uncontested shots. With 31 turnovers, I don’t care who you are playing; when you make 31 turnovers you are not going to win the basketball game. We had 10 in the first half and 21 in the second half and I told the kids we were trying to force too much.”
Thomas Fowler led Gleason with nine points with Austin Perry and Ethan Terrell each scoring seven. Trey Belew had a game-high 21 for Milan. Published in the Weakley County Press 1.3.12
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