Sports
Alexander Spartans Offensive Suffocating Opponents in Victories
By: Connor Martin
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The Alexander Lady Spartans came into this week of action boasting a 3-2 record and in the midst of a three game road streak.
After suffering a close three point loss last Saturday, the Lady Spartans were able to bounce back Monday night against the Vinton County Lady Vikings. With the help of Jala Mace and Leah Richardson, Alexander found itself with a 28 point victory, defeating Vinton County 65-37.
Jala Mace led all players on the court with 22 points and even tacked on 15 rebounds.
“She did a piece of everything, brought everyone to her level,” Alexander head coach Corey McKnight said.
Leah Richardson put up 17 points to go with nine boards, further proving the point that she is one of the best players in the league.
Two nights later, the Lady Spartans would play even better, conquering the River Valley Lady Raiders 67-24.
Alexander had a very balanced offensive attack Thursday night, with Leah being its leading scorer with 12 points. The entire team was contributing on offensive, helping the Lady Spartans tie their season high score total.
“Defense lead to offense, put pressure on the basketball and created turnovers,” Coach McKnight said when asked about how his offense performed in the game.
On Saturday, the Lady Spartans would have their biggest test of the season yet when they welcomed the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs.
Coach McKnight said that there is a lot of similarity between the two teams, both having won districts last year, both returning their three best players, and both having dominate twins on the team.
Alexander came into Saturday’s game confident and ready to play and it showed as they handed Lynchburg-Clay its first loss on the season, 56-47.
“It’s our best win so far this year,” coach McKnight said.
The Lady Spartans held the Lady Mustangs to 28 points below their season average, and Lynchburg-Clay had scored at least 60 points in every game this season.
Rachel Richardson went off with 26 points and 11 rebounds for Alexander, with her sister Leah adding on eight points of her own.
Both Richardson twins played great defense the entire game, but the same can be said for every Alexander defender.
Lynchbur-Clay’s top scorer was able to score 22 points, but the rest of the team was held under their season average.
Alexander is now 6-2 and will face an undefeated Nelsonville-York team on Monday night.
Coach McKnight believes that Saturdays win will help them prepare for that match up as the keys in both games is finish possessions with rebounds and keep the guards out of the paint.
The Alexander Spartans were 2-1 entering this week with two big matchups against league opponents in Meigs and Trimble.
On Tuesday night the Spartans traveled to take on the Meigs Marauders and lost a heart breaker 53-50.
The Spartans found themselves in a hole early with their starting five player, Jake Coley out with a concussion sustained in a previous game, and their back up five player, Genesis Williams fouling out in the first 12 minutes.
Ryan Davidson lead all Spartans with 17 points but as a team they were 5 of 24 from behind the arc, which usually helps lead to a defeat.
Coach Kearns believed his players were taking good shots, they just could not convert. He was also proud that they only converted four turnovers in the final three quarters.
Coach Kearns emphasized the little things from this loss, that just cleaning up defensive assignments would “make a huge difference.”
Alexander then hosted the undefeated Trimble Tomcats Saturday night, holding them to a season low 31 points and giving them their first loss of the season 50-31.
Though it did not look good early for the Spartans as they were down 12-6 at the end of the first quarter. However they fought back and in the final seconds of the second quarter, then went coast to coast and made a lay-up with .1 seconds left before halftime to go up 17-16.
The Spartans then exploded in the third quarter, outscoring Trimble 21-2. Chase Harris led Alexander with 17 points off of 8 for 11 shooting. Luke Kish added 12 points of his own, as Trimble’s zone defense allowed Alexander to shoot open three pointers.
After giving up 12 points in the first, the Spartans only gave up 19 points the rest of the game, coach Kearns said that they changed their defensive game plan and stopped switching guards on the backside screens. Alexander also forced a lot of turnovers and committed nine itself.
After asked about what this win means for his young team, coach Kearns said that it “lets them know when they do play hard good things happen, and just because we are down, does not mean we should be down.”
The Spartans improve to 3-2 on the season and will now look to face the 4-1 Athens Bulldogs on the road Tuesday night, another test for this young but ambitious team.