Highlights
Friday December 29, 2006
By KEVIN WISEMAN
Athens Messenger sports editor
LOGAN — After an 8-0 start, the Alexander Spartans had visions of a perfect regular season, such as the one experienced by the volleyball team in the fall. After Friday’s game with Little Miami, the Spartans are left to hope for a similar tournament run that led to a Regional Championship in volleyball. That’s because Alexander suffered its first loss of the year, 55-44, Friday. Little Miami defeated the Spartans in a first-round game of the Wendy’s Holiday Classic in Logan. Little Miami pushes its record to 9-0 while Alexander falls to 8-1. To discover why the Spartans lost by 11 points, look no further than the second quarter. Alexander entered the second quarter in a tie game, but left the quarter trailing by 13 points. Little Miami put just enough full-court pressure on the Spartans to throw them off, and outscore them 16-3 in the quarter. The Spartans made just one field goal on six attempts, and were within seconds of going the entire frame without a field goal. The only bucket came on a putback by Keilee Guthrie that just beat the halftimebuzzer. Alexander didn’t score a point in the quarter until Amy Smith made a free throw with 2:06 remaining. By that point, Little Miami led, 25-14.
The reason Alexander got only six shots off all quarter was due to 12 turnovers in the second frame alone. Little Miami had two defenders applying full-court pressure on the Spartans,causing many unforced errors. “We picked up our dribble,” Alexander head coach Denton Guthrie said. “They weren’t trying to steal, they just put token pressure on us. We had a bad pass, a couple bad decisions and then you could just see them get tight. It just snowballed from there.” The Spartans committed 22 turnovers overall. Alexander made the game interesting in the third quarter. The Spartans started the quarter off on a 4-0 run in the first minute. A three pointer by Little Miami’s Stacy Goode eventually pushed the lead up to 37-24. The Spartans continued to fight back and were a Guthrie three-pointer or a Whitney Smith putback away from cutting the lead to single digits going into the fourth quarter. Both of those shots missed in the final seconds of the third, leaving Alexander down, 39-29. The Spartans cut the lead to single digits, 40-31, on a Whitney Smith field goal. However, Little Miami used more pressure to go on a 7-0 run in less than a minute. The run started with a Kelly Goode three-pointer and was followed with field goals by Stacy Goode and Brooke Sowards for a 47-31 lead with just 5:58 left. Turnovers set up the Stacy Goode and Sowards’ buckets.
“They were tight. We tried to loosen them up, get them to relax,” Guthrie said of the Spartans. “(Little Miami’s) a good team, I’m glad we played them.” Guthrie said the main thing Alexander can take from the contest is learning to keep its composure. “We lost our composure the second quarter I thought,” Guthrie said. “And there were little spurts where we’d lose it, then get it back. I think that’s the main thing, how they see that we’ve got to relax and play hard every time.” The Spartans were led by Guthrie who scored 16 points. Amy Smith tallied 12 points on the strength of three treys. Jami Turrill finished with five points. The senior didn’t take a shot in the first half, but took seven shots in the second half. Little Miami was led in scoring by Courtney Grambley (14 points), Sowards (11 points) and Kelly Goode (11 points).
Next up for Alexander will be a contest with Bexley in the thirdplace game of the Wendy’s Holiday Classic. Tip off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Katie Smith Gymnasium.
kwiseman@athensmessenger.com
Monday December 18, 2006
The Lady Spartans defeated Southern 71-35. Whitney Smith led the Spartans with a game-high 22 points and Jami Turrill added 14. Heather McClain and Keilee Guthrie chipped in with nine, Kara Endick added five. Turrill completed a double double by adding 10 rebounds. Whitney Smith chalked up six of Alexander's 24 steals. Alexander won the JV contest 19-16. The game consisted of only two quarters. Kathy Kasler netted nine points for the Spartans
Saturday December 16, 2006
The Lady Spartans defeated Minford 66-58. The win moves Alexander to 7-0 on the season. Five Spartans were in double digits with Amy Smith pacing 15, Jami Turrill 14, and Keilee Guthrie, Lauren Raines and Whitney Smith with 10 apiece.
