Calhoun girls beat Cass, keep on rolling
The state-ranked Calhoun High School girls basketball team went unbeaten in January.
Now they are hoping they can continue that type of perfection in February.
The Lady Jackets capped off an outstanding first month of 2023 Tuesday night with a 6055 victory over spunky Cass for their 10th consecutive win and, most importantly, their seventh consecutive Region 7-5A conquest, keeping them two games ahead of the competition with three games left on the regular season schedule.
“We always talk about January being our grind month,” Calhoun head girls basketball coach Jaime Echols said. “But we didn’t lose in January. We went undefeated in
January, so we’ll take that. I mean it’s tough right now. You’re playing everyone for a second time and like I’ve said before, when you’re talking about the top five teams in this Region, anybody can beat anybody. And that’s why right now you’re grinding. You’re seeing everyone again and you’ll see a few teams a third time in the Region tournament here in a couple of weeks, so you’ve got to keep working. You’ve got to keep grinding every day and that’s what we need to keep doing.”
The Lady Colonels entered the ring at 1-5 in the Region but they didn’t play like it.
“Cass always plays us tough,” Echols said. “But I didn’t think we played our best. I didn’t think we played well defensively. We let them get to the basket way too much. And I didn’t think we shot the ball very well. I mean it
wasn’t a terrible shooting night, but we have had better. And I think you’ve got to give Cass some credit for that because they always play us tough. And (this game) was no different. But it’s always nice sometimes to have to slug it
out, so to speak, and still be able to get the win.”
There were a couple of different instances in the game where it looked like Calhoun might pull
away, but Cass didn’t let that happen.
The Lady Jackets, who began this week as the seventhranked 5A team in the state, took a six-point lead in the first quarter, a couple of seven-point leads in the second and got it out to 10 at 41-31 midway through the third. But with under 30 seconds left in the game, Calhoun had just a three-point lead at 58-55 and Cass had the ball.
Calhoun was up 29-27 to begin the second half and after the game was knotted at 29 and 31, Calhoun went on a 10-0 run in 62 seconds to grab a 41-31 advantage.
Post Allie Duke started the spree with a layup, followed by a Britiya Curtis layup, and then back-to-back three’s from Saniah Dorsey and Curtis again, causing a fast Cass timeout with 4:17 left in the third period.
However, the Lady Colonels came back with a 10-2 spurt of their own, getting the margin back to 43-41 before Calhoun was up 48-44 going into the fourth.
“That was a nice little run there,” Echols said. “We hit a couple of long ones. Made a couple of other nice shots. But in the next three minutes after that, we made some very poor decisions. We had a 10-point lead and we wanted to take smart shots. We didn’t want to rush anything. And instead, we jacked up a couple of three’s. Gave them an open three. So we’ve got to be better in that situation. But I think that was a real learning experience for us.”
Cass tied the game at 48 with a pair of baskets in the first minute of the fourth quarter, before Calhoun went on a 10-2 flurry over the next five minutes to take the lead for good.
It began with six straight points with Dorsey making a three, Duke a foul shot and
Watson a breakaway layup for a 54-48 lead with 3:40 to play. Cass cut it to four with a layup, but Curtis got a steal off a layup and Dorsey converted after a nice assist from Curtis for a 58-50 lead with just over 90 seconds showing.
Cass responded with five straight, including a threepointer with 24.5 to cut it to 58-55. But Dorsey, who led Calhoun with 18 points, iced things with a pair of free throws.
After Dorsey, Watson had 16 and Curtis finished with 13.
Echols said while they have the winds at their backs right now, they have to stay in the one-day-at-a-time, one-gameat-a-time mentality. In other words, they ended the week with the focus on Hiram, who they had to play on the road Friday night. (Details of that game were not available at press time).
“Our focus is on Hiram right now,” he said. “We don’t want to have a repeat of what happened last year. Last year, we beat Hiram at our place and then they got us twice. They got us when we went to their place and then they got us here in the Region tournament, and you know they’re thinking that way again. So
I think we have a chance to end the year in a special way, but right now, every game as they come, will be a huge challenge for us. And hopefully we’ll respond. But our focus right now is Hiram because that is who we play Friday.”
Cass took its only lead of the game on the first basket of the night — a 3-pointer exactly one minute into the contest — but Watson responded with a 3 of her own to tie it.
Duke made a layin close to the basket and Cass knotted it at 5 before Watson connected on back-to-back treys for an 11-5 advantage with three minutes left in the period.
From there, the teams traded shots and Calhoun led, 16-10, as one quarter closed.
The Colonels scored the first four points of the second period, but Curtis made two freebies and Watson made her fourth shot from behind the line for a 21-14 margin.
A Dorsey layup with 3:01 to go in the half gave them a 2518 advantage, but Cass ended the frame with a 9-4 run and Calhoun led by a deuce at the half.
Calhoun has now won 10 straight games and is 18-3 overall, besides being 7-0 in the Region.