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Gleason
Moves On With Win Over Lady Tigers
By Jason Peevyhouse
Sports Editor, Dresden Enterprise
HOLLOW ROCK-BRUCETON - The Gleason Lady
Bulldogs clinched a spot in the Region 7A
semifinal, fending off a pesky Hollow
Rock-Bruceton Central team, taking a 58-42
decision on the Lady Tigers home court in the
quarter-final round of the Region 7-A
Tournament at Central High School in Bruceton
on Friday night.
An early jumper from Amber Kendall put
the Lady Tigers on top to start the game just
eight seconds into action, but a three-point
play from Class A Miss Basketball finalist
Kayla Hudson and a jumper from senior teammate
Candace Green gave the Lady Bulldogs a 5-2
lead with 6:20 left in the first frame.
However, Central rallied with a jumper from
Jessica Willis and three free throws from
Haley Haynes to retake the lead. After a Jenna
Frazier jumper tied the game moments later,
buckets from Kendall and Beatrice King put the
Lady Tigers ahead by four with just over two
minutes left to play in the opening stanza.
But, Gleason had the final word in the quarter
as a jumper from Hud-son sparked a 10-0 run to
end the frame. The run, aided by six points from
freshman Taylor Stout, put the Lady Bulldogs up
17-11 at the end of one frame.
The Lady Tigers rallied back to start
the second frame as three points from Kendall
and a jumper from Brittany Farley cut the
Gleason lead to one point with 6:24 remaining in
the first half. Hudson responded with a deuce and a trey, but a
three-pointer from Tabia Tharpe and a pair of
King free throws cut the lead to a single
point again
with just under five minutes remaining in the
first half. Hudson struck again, how-ever, as
a pair of lay ups by the senior standout
sparked a 9-3 run that Hudson capped with four
free throws on two separate fouls with seven
seconds left to make the score 31-24 in the
Lady Bulldogs favor at the halftime horn.
An early three-pointer from Chanecia
Parker trimmed the Gleason lead to four
points, but a pair of Riley Auvenshine free
throws led the way to two jumpers and a
freebie from Hudson to put the Lady Bulldogs
up 38-27 with 4:42 left in the frame. The
scoring slowed after that, with Central
get-ting a three-pointer from Tamra Easley and
a Parker jumper to cut the lead to 42-32 at
the end of three frames.
With the Lady Tigers down by a
double-digit margin in the final frame, the
Lady Tigers were forced to foul. Central fouls
sent Hudson to the line five times where she
hit all 10 attempts. Gleason also got a pair
of free throws from Green as well as a jumper
from Stout to counter a 10-point effort from
the Lady Tigers to seal the win and allow the
Lady Dawgs to move on in the regional
tournament.
Hudson led all scorers with 33 points
in the win for the Gleason Lady Bulldogs while
Stout added eight. King and Kendall each led
the Lady Tigers with seven points in the
season-ending loss for the Central Lady
Tigers.
Gleason’s Hudson Named Miss Basketball Finalist
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 HERMITAGE (February 19) The Mr. and Miss
Basketball Awards will be presented to the top
girls and boys in four classifications of the
Tennessee Secondary School Athletic
Association prior to the championship game
awards presentation for each class,
respectively.
A statewide committee of sportswriters
selected winners based on performance during
the 2006-2007 regular season. Academics and
character were also taken into consideration.
High school head basketball coaches and
members of the media nominated the finalists.
The presentation of the Mr. and Miss
Basket-ball Awards for Division II will be
given on Saturday, March 3 at Allen Arena on
the campus of Lipscomb University.
The presentation of the Miss Basketball
Awards for Division I, Classes A, AA, and AAA
will be given during each championship awards
ceremony for each class on Saturday, March 10
at the Murphy Center on the campus of Middle
Tennessee State University.
The presentation of the Mr. Basketball
Awards for Division I, Classes A, AA, and AAA
will be giv-en during each championship awards
ceremony for each class on Saturday, March 17
at the Murphy Center
on the campus of Middle Tennessee State
University.
Class A Miss
Basketball Finalists are Abby Andrews
(Collinwood), Kayla Hudson (Gleason), and Laken Leonard (Red Boiling Springs).
Class AA Miss Basketball Finalists are Gwen
Delk (Jackson Northside), Kayci Ferris (Smith
County), and Jana Roney (Obion County).
Class AAA Miss Basketball Finalists are
Tierney Jenkins (Wilson Central), Anne Marie
Lanning (Riverdale), and Angela Puleo (William
Blount).
Division II Miss Basketball Finalists are
Lauren Avant (Lausanne), Victoria Dunlap
(Brent-wood Academy), and Glory Johnson (Webb
School of Knoxville).
Class A Mr. Basketball Finalists are M.J.
Brown (Union City), Seth Skogen (Temple), and
De Mario Williams (Culleoka).
Class AA Mr. Basketball Finalists are Randy
Culpepper (Sheffield), Jewuan Long (Liberty),
and Gerald Robinson (Martin Luther King).
Class AAA Mr. Basketball Finalists are
Mau-rice Miller (Raleigh Egypt), Terrance
Oglesby (Bradley Central), and Antwaine
Wiggins (Greeneville).
Division II Mr. Basketball Finalists are
Bran-don Brown (Brentwood Academy), Leslie Mc
Donald (Briarcrest), and Elliot Williams (St.
George’s). Source:
McKenzie Banner. |
Five Area
Basketball Players Named Finalists
By Joshua
Parrott ~ The Jackson Sun
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Jewuan Long helped the
Liberty boys basketball program reach yet
another milestone today. The Liberty senior
was one of five area high school basketball
players named finalists for this year’s Mr.
and Miss Basketball awards. Long, a Class AA
Mr. Basketball finalist, is the first player
in Liberty’s four-year history to earn such an
honor.
Union City junior M. J. Brown (Class A Mr.
Basketball), Gleason senior Kayla Hudson
(Class A Miss Basketball), North Side senior
Gwen Delk and Obion County junior Jana Roney
(both Class AA Miss Basketball) were the other
area finalists. Long, Brown, Hudson and Delk
all play for the state’s top-ranked team in
their respective classifications.
Last season’s state tournament served as a
coming-out-party for Long, a 6-2 guard who was
named the Class AA state tournament MVP after
helping Liberty rally past nationally ranked
Memphis Mitchell, 64-60, to win the state
title. Long and current East Carolina freshman
Brandon Evans also became Liberty’s first
players to earn all-state honors last season.
With the graduation of Evans – Liberty’s
leading scorer last season – Long has emerged
as the top all-around player for Liberty
(29-3) this season. Long is the team’s
second-leading scorer this season at 14 points
per game and is averaging four rebounds, four
assists and two steals per game for the
Crusaders, ranked No. 19 nationally by RISE/SI.com
and the National Prep Poll.
Long, a Murray State signee, is also Liberty’s
all-time leading scorer with nearly 1,500
career points.
Hudson, a 5-6 point guard, is the area’s lone
repeat finalist from last season. A Union
signee, Hudson is averaging 22 points and five
assists per game for 28-1 Gleason.
She is the third Gleason player to be named a
Class A Miss Basketball finalist, joining her
first-cousin Kara (Sanders) Atkins (1996) and
Ashley McElhiney (1999).
This season Brown has emerged as the leader
for defending Class A state champion Union
City (28-3) since the graduation of Marquis
Weddle, the program’s all-time leading scorer,
the 2006 Class A Mr. Basketball and state
tournament MVP.
Brown – a 6-1 guard whose father, Marshal
Brown, is a former Union standout – is
averaging 16 points, seven assists, six
rebounds and four steals per game this season
for the Tornadoes.
Weddle and Stanley Caldwell (1991 and ’92
Class AA) are Union City’s only Mr. Basketball
winners.
A 5-10 forward, Roney is averaging 16 points,
nine rebounds and 5.5 assists per game this
season for Obion County (27-4). She has also
posted 12 double-doubles this season and is
looking to become the first Miss Basketball
winner in program history.
Delk, a 6-0 Central Arkansas signee, is
averaging 16 points, nine rebounds and two
blocks per game for North Side (25-1). Last
season Delk led the Lady Indians to the Class
AA state championship game.
If she were to be named the Miss Basketball
winner, Delk would become the first in North
Side history.
The Mr. and Miss Basketball winners will be
prior to the championship game awards
presentation for each class at the state
tournament in March.
A statewide committee of sports writers
selected winners based on performance during
the 2006-07 regular season. Academics and
character were also taken into consideration.
High school head basketball coaches and
members of the media nominated the finalists.
For more on this story, read Tuesday’s print
edition of The Jackson Sun.
-Joshua Parrott, 425-9634
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The
Memory Remains: Gleason Looks for Redemption After
2006 Postseason
By
Joshua Parrott, Jackson
Sun
Gleason enters the
District 14-A tournament with a 27-0 record. The Lady
Bulldogs are looking for redemption from last season
after falling in the Region 7-A semifinals to Lake
County.
Photo by Katie
Morgan/Jackson Sun
GLEASON - The memory still haunts senior Kayla Hudson
from time to time, like a dream with the cruelest of
intentions.
After breezing through the
2005-06 regular season, the Gleason girls basketball
team saw its dream of winning a Class A state title
end on Feb. 25, 2006, in the Region 7-A semifinals.
Lake County 49, Gleason
46.
The loss still lives in
infamy for Gleason, the state's top-ranked Class A
team each of the past two seasons. Gleason entered the
game with a 31-2 record, the regular-season District
14-A title and three wins earlier that season against
Lake County by an average of 17 points.
"We know we didn't play
well," Hudson said. "There were tears in the locker
room. The frustration lasted for weeks. We've tried to
use that loss as motivation and learn from it."
One season removed from
that disappointment, Gleason is offered a chance at
redemption this week. That opportunity comes in the
form of the TSSAA high school basketball playoffs,
which are already underway in West Tennessee.
Gleason (27-0 overall)
will bring the same approach it has used all season
into Tuesday's game against Trenton Peabody in
District 14-A tournament action. Winners of the
regular-season district championship, Gleason is the
state's only remaining undefeated team - boys or
girls.
This season's success was
somewhat unexpected - especially considering the Lady
Bulldogs lost seven of their top 10 players from the
previous season. That left Gleason with a seven-player
rotation that included two seniors, one junior and
four freshmen.
"No one expected us to
come out and compete as well as we have," said Hudson,
who has signed with Union. "We've just tried to play
as a team and developed good team chemistry."
Hudson, a Class A Miss
Basketball finalist last season, is the team's top
scoring option. The 5-6 point guard averages 22 points
per game and is widely considered one of the favorites
for Class A Miss Basketball.
The other senior starter
is Candace Green, a 5-4 guard who scores 10 points a
night. Riley Auvenshine, a 5-4 junior, is the team's
other veteran, starting at small forward. Fully
recovered from a torn ACL suffered two summers ago,
Auvenshine averages seven points and six rebounds per
game.
Taylor Stout and Jenna
Frazier, both 5-7 freshmen, round out Gleason's
starting five. Frazier, the daughter of Gleason coach
Randy Frazier, and Stout both average about five
points per game.
Freshmen Kim Edenfield and
Alexis Tipton both come off the bench for the Lady
Bulldogs.
Presented with his
shortest team in recent memory, Gleason coach Randy
Frazier tweaked his philosophy this season.
"We've been small for
several years, but now we mostly play with four
perimeter players," said Frazier, who led Gleason to
state titles in 1992 and '99. "We've slowed down the
tempo a bit and adapted our style of playing."
So far this season, the
changes have worked. Now Gleason has a chance to erase
last season's disappointment in the playoffs.
If the Lady Bulldogs are
able to win the Class A state championship and go
undefeated, they will become only the fourth area
girls program to accomplish that feat. Union City
(1925), Milan (1960) and Bradford (2000) are the other
three girls teams to go undefeated and win a state
title.
"I'm a little nervous
because I don't want what happened last year to happen
again," Green said. "If we do what we've been taught
to do, I think we'll go all the way." Source:
Jackson Sun; -Joshua Parrott, 425-9634
Gleason's Kayla Hudson, center, averages 22 points
per game for the undefeated Lady Bulldogs and is
widely considered one of the favorites for Class A
Miss Basketball.
Kyle Kurlick /The Jackson Sun
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Dawgs,
Lions Provide Drama
By Stephanie
Sturgis- Sports Editor, Weakley County Press
When the Dresden
and Gleason high school basketball teams clashed Tuesday
night, most fans expected drama from the match-up between the
state's No. 1 girls team in Class A and the host Lady Lions,
who knocked off a top 10-ranked team in Greenfield last week.
Instead, it was
the boys game which featured the featured all the fireworks.
The host Dresden Lions used a last-minute rally to nip the
Gleason Bulldogs, who nearly earned their second win of the
season. The Lions nudged aside the Dawgs by scoring the last 5
points of the game in their 56-53 thrilling win.
The Gleason girls
pulled away after halftime on the way to a 49-31 win to finish
the regular season undefeated at 26-0.
In the boys game,
the Dawgs showed patience and precision on offense. The
Gleason boys worked the ball around the perimeter and in and
out of the paint to find open teammates. Usually reliant on
senior Byron Fuqua for offense, Gleason had four different
players notch points, including four each from post players
Ethan Lowrance and Josh Sumner. Sumner scored on a stick back
and Lowrance executed a pick and roll with Cody Ezell to score
the final 4 points of the frame. DHS got 4 points from Wil
Levister but trailed 12-8 after a quarter due to sloppy play.
In the second
frame, the GHS momentum continued as the Dawgs out-scored the
Lions 19-11. A Matt McCulley trey was the highlight for the
Lions in the stanza. For Gleason, Fuqua caught fire, knocking
in 9 points, including a 3-pointer. Josh Sumner added 6 more
points as the Dawgs carried a 31-19 advantage into halftime.
Gleason's lead
reached its peak early in the third quarter. Fuqua's driving
layup gave the Dawgs a 13-point lead at 33-20. McCulley and
Levister helped bring Dresden back from the brink with two
3-pointers each in the third. By the end of the quarter,
Dresden trailed by just 2 points at 44-42.
In the fourth, the
Lions tied the score at 44- and 50-all, the last time on a
McCulley layup after a Dawg turnover with 1:24 left in the
game. Ezell put GHS back on top with a trey. A Tyson Wright
stick back cut the gap to a point with 43 ticks remaining.
The Lions then
forced a turnover with its press as Levister tipped the ball
away and scored on a lay up to give Dresden a 54-53 lead.
The press resulted
in another turnover as Ezell fell and was whistled for a
double dribble. Gleason then fouled Levister, and the senior
sank both free throws at the 30-second mark.
A whistle at the
other end sent Josh Sumner to the free-throw line, but the
Dawg senior missed his 1-and-1 chance. A foul on the rebound
sent Lion Justin Hatler to the line, where he also missed a
bonus freebie. Sumner snared the rebound with 18 ticks on the
clock. Gleason got a good look at a potential tying shot, but
Ezell's 3-point try was off the mark leaving the Lions on top
with a 56-53 win.
In the girls game,
Dresden stayed close throughout the first half but gave
Gleason chances to score easy points at the free-throw line.
Of the Lady Dawgs' 23 first-half points, 10 came from the
charity stripe. At the half, Gleason held a 23-15 lead.
The game turned in
the third quarter. Gleason held the Lady Lions to a Lacie
Kelley jumper. The Lady Dawgs got 6 of Kayla Hudson's game
high 22 points and 5 from Riley Auvenshine to lead 38-17 after
three quarters.
Bench players
finished out the bulk of the fourth in Gleason's 49-31
victory. Source:
Weakley
County Press.
No
Upsets When Gleason, UC Meet
By Kenneth
Coker - Sports Writer, Weakley County Press
A pair of No. 1-ranked teams in the Class A basketball polls
hit the court on Friday night in Union City as the Gleason
High School Bulldogs visited the Tornadoes' shelter.
In the opener, the
No. 1-ranked girls team in the state, the Lady Bulldogs of
Gleason, handled host Union City with ease, downing the
talented Lady Tornadoes, 53-26 in a game that never resembled
their December meeting in Gleason, which ended with the Lady
Bulldogs winning by just four points in a close affair.
In the nightcap,
Union City, currently ranked first in the state and the
defending state champs in Class A boys basketball, downed the
Bulldogs by the final of 102-46. Gleason showed improvement
since the first meeting between the teams when the Tornadoes
led 52-4 at halftime. Gleason scored 29 tallies in the first
half, while allowing 56 to Union City, as the GHS offense
showed a lot more life against the top team in the state.
In the girls
opener, Candace Green scored Gleason's first bucket after a
Jenna Frazier steal.
Labrica Ward
tossed in a pair of scores, as UC took the lead with 4:31
remaining in the first frame.
Riley Auvenshine
sank a jumper on Gleason's next trip down the floor, but a
pair of Debrisha Robinson free throws put the Lady Tornadoes
back ahead for the final time.
Kayla Hudson made
a lay up followed by an Auvenshine-assisted bucket and closed
the frame with one more score with just two ticks remaining in
the first quarter, as Gleason took a 10-6 advantage into the
huddle.
The second frame
was all GHS, as the Lady Dawgs bettered Union City, 13-5
overall, in the frame. Green missed a trifecta early in the
second, only to grab her own board and net a score.
Hudson continued
to be a scoring machine with four scores and a free throw in
the quarter. At halftime, Gleason had doubled UC, 23-11.
If Gleason
controlled the second period, they owned the third,
out-scoring their Obion County opponents 21-3 in the third
frame.
Frazier sank a
pair of trifectas with Green and Kim Edenfield each going long
range in the quarter, as well.
Gleason held
strong through the final frame with Hudson and Green each
sinking a shot from beyond the arc, as the Lady Dawgs coasted
to 53-26 victory.
Hudson came just
two points short of equaling UC with 24 tallies on the
evening, with Green adding in a dozen in the Gleason (22-0)
win. Brittany Taylor was the leading scorer for Union City
(12-10) with 7 points.
In the nightcap,
the gym sat stunned as Gleason won the jump, but Union City
was quick to get the ball back, igniting a 6-0 run before
Byron Fuqua stopped the Tornadoes with a basket.
Fuqua scored eight
points in the opening quarter, with teammate Cody Ezell
tossing in a trifecta and bucket, as Gleason trailed 25-14
after a quarter. Evan Orr rounded out the Bulldogs' scoring
corps with a free throw in the first stanza.
Colin Bennett and
Fuqua both went long range for Gleason in the second quarter,
but Union City was still capable of doubling Gleason,
out-pacing the Dawgs 31-15 overall in scoring in the quarter.
Union City's M. J. Brown swooshed a pair of treys with Ryne
Simpson adding in another long-range shot, as the Tornadoes
held a 56-29 lead at the halftime break.
With the lead well
in hand, Union City (22-3) coasted to the win, putting up
triple digits as their freshman team hit the floor late in the
102-46 win.
Fuqua led Gleason
with 13 in the loss while Bennett and Ezell each tossed in 12
points for the Bulldogs (1-21).
Jeremy Simpson led
Union City and all scorers in the boys game with 17 points.
Source:
Weakley County Press
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High School Basketball:
Gleason Girls are State's Last Unbeaten Team
By
Joshua Parrott, The Jackson Sun
|
So far this season in
Tennessee high school basketball, 722 teams
have played and 721 have fallen.
Now the Gleason girls stand alone as the
state's only unbeaten team - boys or girls.
For the third straight week, Gleason (20-0
overall) topped the Associated Press Class A
poll, which was released Monday. The Lady
Bulldogs received 16 of 19 first-place votes.
But please excuse Lady Bulldogs coach Randy
Frazier for not getting overly emotional about
the honor.
"As far as being successful it is irrelevant,"
said Frazier, who has been Gleason's head
coach for the past 21 years. "Your ranking has
nothing to do with how well you will do in the
season. It is good recognition, but it's not
the first time this has happened."
On
the boys side, Liberty (Class AA) and Union
City (Class A) are ranked No. 1 in their
respective classifications. Liberty (21-2) is
the defending Class AA state champion and is
ranked No. 16 by RISE/SI.com and No. 18 in the
National Prep Poll.
The Crusaders have been the state's top-ranked
team in all three polls to date. They earned
all 19 first-place votes in this week's poll.
Joining Liberty in the Class AA boys poll is
South Side at No. 10. The Hawks (16-4) slid
two spots after falling to McNairy Central
last week.
Union City (20-3) is the defending Class A
state champion and has been ranked No. 1 in
the state the past two weeks. Two other
District 14-A teams join Union City in the
Class A boys poll - Lake County (17-4) and
Humboldt (14-6) are ranked Nos. 3 and 5,
respectively.
Four of the top five teams in the Class AA
girls poll are area teams from Region 7. North
Side (16-1) moved up one spot to No. 2.
Three District 13-AA teams - Obion County,
Milan and Westview - round out Nos. 2-5. Obion
County (21-2) fell one spot to No. 3, while
Milan (17-2) jumped up three spots to No. 4.
Westview (20-3) dropped one spot to No. 5.
"Those teams are all from the same region,"
said North Side girls coach Farris Lowery, "so
only two are going to get out of there (to
substate). It's a tough region, and you'll
have to be playing well to advance this year."
Included with Gleason in the Class A girls
poll are TCA (18-2) at No. 6 and Greenfield
(15-4) at No. 8.
If
Gleason is able to win the Class A state
championship and go undefeated, the Lady
Bulldogs will become only the fourth area
girls program to accomplish that feat.
Union City (1925), Milan (1960) and Bradford
(2000) are the other three girls teams to go
undefeated and win a state championship.
"It's hard to predict because anything can
happen," Frazier said. "I know if we stay
healthy we're good enough to win our next
game. That's all I know." Source: The Jackson
Sun.
-Joshua Parrott, 425-9634
|
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High School Basketball: No. 1
Lady Bulldogs Still Undefeated
By
David Thomas ~ The Jackson Sun
|
GREENFIELD - Clinging to a
one-point lead with nine seconds left on the game
clock, Kayla Hudson had the chance to preserve
Gleason's undefeated season.
The Union signee
delivered.
A returning first team
All-West Tennessee selection, Hudson made a pair
of free throws while Greenfield missed on a
desperation 3-pointer as the Lady Bulldogs posted
a 44-41 road win in District 14-A play on Friday
night.
Leading 27-17 at
halftime, Gleason - ranked first in this week's
Associated Press Class A state poll - managed just
17 points in the second half. And no player was
frustrated more than Hudson.
Dominating the first
half with 16 points, Hudson took only three shots
from the floor in the final two quarters before
nailing the late free throws as Gleason improved
to 20-0 overall and 13-0 in the district.
"(Greenfield) changed
their defense on us, and we were trying to slow it
down and not force it as much," said Hudson, who
finished with a game-high 22 points. "This was a
typical game in our district."
Greenfield (15-4, 9-4)
nearly erased its halftime deficit by scoring 10
of the opening 12 points in the second half - five
by senior forward Magan Cash - to draw within
29-27.
Candace Green
responded with a 3-pointer for Gleason. The teams
combined for just 32 points through the remainder
of the game.
Annastasia Allen led
Greenfield with 16 points - 12 coming in the
second half. Cash finished with 13 points.
"It was a great game.
We went through one spell where we hurried a few
shots," Gleason coach Randy Frazier said.
"Greenfield's defense was really good."
While Greenfield out
rebounded the Lady Bulldogs, 18-12, the difference
was at the free-throw line - Gleason finished
12-of-17; Greenfield was 9-of-15.
"I thought the game
was dictated in the first half. Gleason's defense
gave us a lot of trouble," Greenfield coach Willie
Trevathan said. "Kayla (Hudson), she makes them
good without scoring."
The game was actually
tied at 39 with 2:16 to play in the game following
a 3-pointer by Greenfield's Pannayiotta Edmontson.
But Gleason recovered to take a 42-39 lead on two
free throws by Hudson and one by freshman Jenna
Frazier.
"We just had to match
their intensity," Frazier said. Source:
Jackson Sun.
-David Thomas,
425-9637 |
|
High School Basketball Midseason
Report: Area Teams Stay Successful
By Joshua
Parrott
|
Quick, take a quick glance at
the top of the high school basketball standings in
West Tennessee.
Look
familiar?
Anyone who
has followed prep basketball in the area over the past
two years would recognize the teams following up last
season's success.
Liberty
and Union City for the boys.
North
Side, Westview and Gleason for the girls.
Continuing
success, Westview girls coach Sean Stephenson said, is
not as easy as replacing graduating players with
talented newcomers.
"You have
to get the kids to buy into the program as a whole,"
Stephenson said. "(The success) was going on before
they got here, so it's bigger than the four years they
are here."
Success is
nothing new to defending boys state champions Liberty
(Class AA) and Union City (Class A). Both programs
have continued to thrive this season after rolling to
state titles last season. Both teams combine pressure
defense with a high-octane offense that runs up and
down the floor at a frenetic pace.
Liberty
lost leading scorer Brandon Evans (now a freshman at
East Carolina) and three key reserves to graduation
last spring, but returned four seniors who had started
since they were freshmen.
This
season senior Josh Sain, last season's sixth-man,
joined a starting lineup that already included seniors
Anthony Sampson, Jewuan Long, Antwan Long and DeVon
Jones. That combination, along with a group of younger
players gaining valuable experience this season, has
the Crusaders (18-2) ranked among the nation's elite
teams and the favorite to repeat as state champions.
That's the
luxury of building a program, Liberty coach Dexter
Williams said.
"A lot of
what we've done this season has to do with my players
and their work ethic," said Williams, whose team is
ranked No. 20 in the National Prep Poll and No. 23 in
the RISE/SI.com rankings. "The kids who sat on the
bench last year watched what the guys who were playing
were doing."
Union City
(18-3) faced a different scenario after winning the
Class A state crown last season. Four starters -
namely Mr. Basketball and state tournament MVP Marquis
Weddle - graduated last spring, leaving a relatively
new cast of faces to fight for a second consecutive
state championship.
Relying on
balance, speed and outside shooting, the Tornadoes are
smaller than last season, but are on track to produce
similar results.
"We're
just playing together," said Union City junior M.J.
Brown, the team's only returning starter from last
season.
The North
Side girls team is employing the same philosophy after
finishing as the Class AA state runner-up last season.
Even with the graduation of two starters and injuries
hobbling starters Gwen Delk, Sequoyah Cliff and
Brittney Williams, the Lady Indians (14-1) have used
teamwork and solid defense to surge to the top of the
District 14-AA standings.
Junior
Lavanda Ross has also emerged as North Side's
defensive stopper and a major threat offensively after
playing more of a supporting role last season.
"Your
program has to be where the kids grow up in it," North
Side coach Farris Lowery said, "and I think we're at
that point right now. We have kids coming through our
program and getting better. When players graduate, we
have kids ready to step in."
The
Gleason girls team has rolled last season's success
over into this season. The play of Union signee Kayla
Hudson, a Miss Basketball finalist last season, has
Gleason (18-0) ranked No. 1 in the state and looking
to erase the memory of a season-ending region
semifinal loss last season.
Stephenson
is doing what he can to forget similar memories. The
Westview girls team lost four starters and 75 percent
of last season's scoring after falling in the region
semifinals.
Freshman
Amber Rechis has been the most valuable newcomer,
averaging more than 20 points over the past two weeks
as Westview (18-3) is state-ranked and tied for first
in District 13-AA as the end of the regular season
nears.
"We've
combined some experience and incoming freshmen who
have matured as the season has gone on, and that's
helped us stay consistent," Stephenson said. "Our
seniors went to the state tournament as sophomores,
and they want to get back. Our older kids have passed
down that hunger, and now the younger kids want to
take that next step." Source: Jackson Sun. |
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More 2006 - 2007 Gleason Basketball News |
