Lady Jackets bounce back in big way after first-round loss
— The Calhoun Lady Jackets lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer in the first round of the Rome News-Tribune Holiday Festival on Saturday against Pepperell so coach Jerry Pruett wasn’t really sure what to expect from his team in their consolation bracket contest on Tuesday against Armuchee.
What he got was a team that looked like they wanted to make that opening-round loss a distant memory in a hurry. Calhoun came out aggressive from the opening tip to build a 26-4 lead after one quarter and never let up to roll past the Lady Indians by an 89-54 score. The Lady Jackets (9-3) advanced on to the next round of the consolation bracket to face Darlington on Wednesday night at Berry College while the tournament run came to an end for Armuchee (4-6), who were the runners-up last year.
Pruett said the effort on Tuesday showed what kind of team his squad can be when they play motivated basketball.
“When we’re ready to play with a positive attitude we play really well,“said Pruett. “We’ve shown that before after a loss. We come back as a different team, and that’s what we did tonight. We were unselfish, we distributed the ball well and we were aggressive. We just have to learn to be consistent like that and bring our best effort every night.“
The Lady Jackets cranked up the pace of the game early on with their full-court press defense and got several easy buckets in transition to grab the momentum. They continued that strategy through the end of the first half to take a 56-20 lead into the locker room. The second half was much of the same early on as Calhoun continued to get steals and deflections and turned that into easy offense along with hitting open shots as well. They led 80-37 after three quarters to force the mercy-rule shortened fourth.
“I think when you get off to a good start you feel more confident, and when you make those easy buckets, the girls start to relax and play good basketball,“said Pruett. “Our girls feed off that. This team really enjoys an up-tempo style game like that.“
Calhoun had four players in double figures before the end of the first half. They were led by Jana Johns with 23 points in the contest. Ashlyn Barnes added 16, Ryan Brzozoski contributed 15 and Cassie Henderson scored 13. Erin Hyatt also had eight.
One of the only nega- tive spots on the night was Brzozoski leaving the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury. Pruett said after the game that she will miss the next several games.
For Armuchee, Livia Skinner had 22 points with 14 of them coming in the second half. Brandyann Wacker added 17 of her own.
Pruett said despite his team not being a contender for the Gold Ball Trophy after their loss in the first round, their goal is still to play late into the tournament and hopefully still get that third-place finish.
“Trying to play to the end is good because the more games you can play, the better you’re going to be,“said Pruett. “If you continue to play, you get more game reps and more time together on the court. That can only help us be better once we get back into region play after the holidays.“
In other RN-T Holiday Festival action from the week:
Calhoun girls 59, Darlington 54 ROME
— Calhoun built a double-digit lead at the half and continued that through the end of the third quarter, but Darlington refused to go away on Wednesday in a girl’s consolation bracket game in the Rome News-Tribune Holiday Festival at Berry College. But it was the Lady Jackets’ defense and timely rebounding that allowed them to hold on for a 59-54 victory to advance.
Calhoun (10-3) moved into the Festival’s third-place game against Coosa on Thursday. (For details on that game, see Wednesday’s Calhoun Times.)
“I felt like we played really well in the first half but started slow in the second to let them get back in it,” said Calhoun coach Jerry Pruett. “But we made a run after that to get up again toward the end of the third quarter. We didn’t execute very well for a while there in the fourth, and (Darlington) got hot and started taking it to the rim to get back in it. Our kids made enough plays at the end to get the win, though. We made a few free throws, but I thought we did a good job defensively making it tough on them and then went and got some big rebounds.”
After trailing 48-33 late in the third quarter, Darlington (5-4) started their comeback with two buckets by Anna Claire Atha to end the period. They then continued to chip away with some big shots by several players and aggressive play by Atha to get to the rim and the free throw line. They got as close as three at 57-54 with just over a minute to play and had the ball, but the Calhoun defense came up with a stop, and Ashlyn Barnes hit a pair of free throws to push the Lady Jackets lead to five, which would prove to be the final nail.
Jana Johns led the Lady Jackets with 27 points and had 23 of those over the first three quarters to help her team build their lead. Barnes added 12, including three big free throws in the fourth quarter, and Cassie Henderson contributed eight points.
Calhoun trailed 9-4 in the first quarter before finishing the period on a 14-0 run to take control of the game. They kept the momentum in the second quarter, outscoring Darlington 18-14 in the period to take a 36-23 lead into the locker room.
Atha put her team on her back to score a game-high 33 points, including 18 in the second half to spur Darlington’s rally. Sydney Seymour scored
Calhoun boys 67, Rome 66 (2OT) CALHOUN (67)
Abernathy 3, Law 4, Aker 17, Lawrence 20, Rierson 19, Allen 2, Randall 2.
ROME (66)
Watkins 19, Martin 1, Wright 3, Reddish 19, Sullivan 4, Brown 8, Anderson 8, Klasson 4. Calhoun 13 12 8 14 11 9—67 Rome 9 11 11 16 11 8—66
3-pointers — Calhoun 6 (Lawrence 3, Rierson 2, Abernathy 1); Rome 6 (Watkins 3, Brown 2, Sullivan 1). Free Throws — Calhoun 17-27; Rome 10-24. Records — Calhoun 8-0.
Sonoraville boys 61, East Ridge 47 SONORAVILLE (61)
Key 13, Daniel 6, Walraven 21, Waters 10, Rush 3, C. Brooks 3, Wilson 5.
EAST RIDGE (47)
Johnson 4, Hinton 13, S. Garmany 6, Stewart 4, Simmons 2, Williams 2, E. Garmany 13, Eberhardt 2. Son 15 20 9 17—61 E. Ridge 14 11 4 18—47
3-pointers — Sonoraville 4 (Key 1, Waters 1, C. Brooks 1, Wilson 1); ER 8 (E. Garmany 4, Hinton 2, S. Garmany 2). Free Throws — Sonoraville 5-18; ER 3-4. Records — Sonoraville 9-1.
SONORAVILLE (40)
C. Williams 3, Chastain 3, Garland 2, Fitzwater 4, Smith 6, McMullin 3, Parks 19.
MURRAY COUNTY (32)
Johns 2, Cowart 4, Weaver 3, Hatton 10, Beavers 3, Ashe 7, Trejo 1, Garland 2. Son Murray
Sonoraville girls 40, Murray County 32
9 3 7 9 8 16—40 11 9—32
3-pointers — Sonoraville 1 (Parks 1); Murray County 2 (Weaver 1, Beavers 1). Free Throws — Sonoraville 15-32; Murray County 10-16. Records — Sonoraville 2-8. nine, and Caroline Dingler contributed eight.
Pruett said he looks forward to his team getting a chance to finish the tournament strong tomorrow in the third-place game.
“For us it’s good to get an extra game to play because it will help us with conditioning and having more time on the court together before we start region play again soon,” said Pruett.
“It’s kind of a rehearsal for the region tournament too because you’re playing games on consecutive nights so I like that about these tournaments. Hopefully we can come out and play well to close out the tournament with a third-place finish.”
Calhoun girls 89, Armuchee 54 CALHOUN (89)
Brzozoski 15, Cas. Henderson 13, A. Barnes 16, Wehunt 5, Stewart 2, Hyatt 8, Johns 23, George 3, Greeson 3, Holland 1.
ARMUCHEE (54)
Jones 2, Copeland 6, Wacker 17, Jacobs 7, Skinner 22. Calhoun 26 30 24 9—89 Arm 4 16 17 17—54
3-pointers — Calhoun 7 (Brzozoski 3, Cas. Henderson 1, Wehunt 1, Johns 1, Greeson 1); Armuchee 4 (Wacker 2, Skinner 2). Free Throws — Calhoun 18-31; Armuchee 8-15. Records — Calhoun 9-3.
Calhoun girls 59, Darlington 54 CALHOUN (59)
Cas. Henderson 8, A. Barnes 12, Wehunt 2, Hyatt 4, Johns 27, George 6.
DARLINGTON (54)
Dingler 8, Atha 33, Seymour 9, Adams 4. Calhoun 18 18 12 12—59 Dar 9 14 14 17—54
3-pointers — Calhoun 3 (Cas. Henderson 2, Johns 1); Darlington 2 (Atha 2). Free Throws — Calhoun 4-16; Darlington 8-15. Records — Calhoun 10-3.
K. Williams 2, Chastain 2, Garland 4, H. Williams 3, Pritchett 4, Fitzwater 4, Smith 7, McMullin 7, Parks 5.
DALTON (51)
Marot 8, Toung 6, Sims 11, B. Land 3, G. Wright 4, Parker 15, Bishop 1, A. Wright 3. Son Dalton 8 9 14 6 8 13—38 23 8—51
3-pointers — Sonoraville 2 (Garland 1, Smith 1); Dalton 4 (Young 2, Marot 1, Sims 1). Free Throws — Sonoraville 8-18; Dalton 11-26. Records — Sonoraville 1-8.