Lady ’Dogs Still a Factor in District Race

By Randy Cavin
Press Sports

Gleason girls proved why they are still a force to be dealt with, while the boys showed vast improvement Tuesday night.

The Lady Bulldogs held Huntingdon to 11 second-half points and handed the Fillies (10-1, 6-1) their first defeat of the season 43-35 and improve their record to 7-7 overall and 5-2 in District 13A.

Even in defeat, the Bulldog boys (1-13, 1-6) made a great showing against the Mustangs, but time proved to be their worst enemy as the Mustangs (5-5, 5-2) held on for a 63-58 win.
Gleason will play on back-to-back nights starting tonight when both teams travel to Bradford in a non-district matchup and then host McKenzie Friday night District 13A action. Game time is 6 on both nights.

Gleason 43, Huntingdon 35 (G)

Gleason used a stingy defense and timely shooting to give Huntingdon its first loss of the season and jump right into the thick of things in what is now becoming a tight race for District 13A bragging rights. With the game tied at 24-all at the half, Gleason tightened up its zone defense and picked its spots on offense in the second half.

“It wasn’t perfect in everything we did, but we competed tonight, especially in the second half,” Lady Bulldogs skipper Joel Ayers said. “Defensively we did a lot better and the girls needed to show up and do what they are capable of doing and I think they did that tonight.” Briana Jones scored nine of her game-high 14 points in the second half, and Alex King hit three big free throws in the final period, including one that made it a two-possession game with 38.8 seconds to play to give Gleason a 41-35 lead.

The Lady Bulldogs took the lead at the 6:14 mark in the third on a jump shot by Jones and never lost the lead after that. Jones also hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third period after the Lady Bulldogs ran off the final 45 seconds from the clock. Jones also gave Gleason its biggest in the game at 38-32 with a shot under the rim.

In the first, the Fillies used a zone defense to keep Gleason from getting any good looks under the basket, but that did not seem to concern the Lady Bulldogs as they went 5-of-9 from 3-point range. With Gleason able to hit the long shots in the first half, it caused the Fillies to come out and guard the perimeter in the second half. That gave Gleason the opening it needed to work the ball under the rim for some key baskets.

“We made more perimeter shots than we had been and that always makes things work a little better,” Ayers said. “When you make more perimeter shots, it makes it a lot easier to run the offense.”

Gleason out-rebounded Huntingdon 24-20 and shot 45 percent to Huntingdon’s 43 percent.
Gleason hit 6-of-11 from long range with each one being made by a different Lady Bulldog. Savannah Dodson led the Fillies with 13 points.

Huntingdon 63, Gleason 58 (B)

The Bulldogs gave the Mustangs all they could handle Tuesday night and then some. But, time was on Huntingdon’s side as they went up by 13 with just over two minutes to play only to see Gleason pull to within four points with 32 seconds remaining. The Mustangs hit three free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach and squeak out a win over a much-improved Bulldog team.

“I felt that we fought for four quarters,” Gleason head coach Jamie Roney said. “That was our one goal we had tonight. I wanted us to have fun and to compete and we did that for four quarters, but it is disappointing to lose this basketball game. We grew up a lot tonight. We came close to winning this game tonight.”

The Bulldogs had two player score in double figures with Alex Hahn scoring a game-high 19 and Austin Perry scoring 16. Both players were instrumental in Gleason’s improved play with Perry providing the inside game and Hahn providing the outside threat with four 3-pointers.
“They played really, really well. Those two young men stepped up. We did midseason evaluations Monday and those are two guys I talked to about wanting to step their game up and they did it tonight in a big way,” Roney said.

Gleason shot 54 percent from the field and out-rebounded Huntingdon 28-18. Thomas Fowler scored seven and Ethan Terrell chipped in six for the Bulldogs.

The Mustangs were led in scoring by Dylan Poole’s 16 points. Source Weakley County Press 1.5.12

Both Bulldogs’ Teams Finish up with Losses

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