Sports
Alexander Basketball Starting Strong on Both Sides
By: Anthony Marino
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For the Alexander girls (8-1, 3-1 TVC-Ohio) and boys (6-1, 2-1) this was just the start they wanted to for the first part of the 2018/2019 campaign. Both the girls and boys suffered one loss in the Ohio but are perfect out of conference.
Spartans
The boys started off the season hot rattling off six straight wins before losing to the Athens Bulldogs Friday night, 49-39. The Spartans took the lead going into halftime 22-18, but Athens started the third quarter on a 16-0 run.
After that run, Athens took the lead 31-22 but Alexander’s J.K Kearns led the Spartans on a 12-0 run to try to mount a comeback win. That run tied the game at 34 a piece with 6:10 left in the game but Athens finished strong with an 8-0 run that would seal the win for the Bulldogs. This is the first loss of the season and also in the TVC-Ohio.
“We have to get more kids involved offensively, we had one kid score 24 out of our 39. Our big kid [Caleb Terry] didn’t score a point so we have to figure out a way to get him involved more and we have to look and see where the problems lie,” said head coach Jim Kearns, referring to the next matchup with Athens on Feb. 1.
The boy’s season hasn’t crossed the halfway mark yet, but players are starting to step up and become leaders. Matthew Brown and J.K. Kearns are two players that have stepped up for this Alexander team.
“Matt Brown has given us really good minutes. He’s scrappy on defense, he takes charges, and he has had some timely scoring. We are highly pleased with Matt,” said Kearns.
The point guard on the basketball court is the leader of the offense. They are like the quarterback of a football team, both take a high level of sports IQ and are very demanding. Alexander point guard J.K. Kearns has stepped into that roll.
“J.K. is a natural leader and leading kind of follows the position of point guard. He works really hard in the off season, he’s a smart kid, guard’s players well, and he leads by example,” said coach Jim Kearns.
The Spartans have a seven-day break to prepare for their next matchup against Minford.
“We go at it pretty hard, so we are going to take a couple days off for Christmas which will help get their legs back. Then we’ll come in with a couple hard practices in preparation for a solid Minford team. We have to get back to some fundamentals like getting better on the boards, getting good shot selection even though we like to play fast, we have to make sure we get a good shot.”
Lady Spartans
The Lady Spartans are having a tremendous start as well. Their only loss is against conference rival Vinton County on Dec. 6 by a score of 54-34. After that loss they have won their last five games.
The Lady Spartans have a strong senior core consisting of Rachel Richardson, McKena Rice, Sydnie Bolin, and Makaela Trout. These seniors are complimented by underclassmen that have given head coach Jeff Grinstead solid minutes.
In their win against Athens on Dec. 17 Richardson only scored 11 points but the scary part about Alexander is that they have multiple players that can pick up the slack and dominate games. Rice scored a season high 27 points on 12 of 16 shooting leading them to over the Lady Bulldogs 75-24.
Even though the season is just nine games in, the Lady Spartans look to be one of the favorites to win the TVC-Ohio if they keep playing the way they are. They look to keep their winning ways when they host Circleville on Thursday, Dec. 27.