By By Robby Atkinson/staff writer
Jan. 12, 2002
The Lady Bulldogs almost came back from twenty points down to take a big win, but the Lady Yellow Jackets of Williams-Sullivan held on for a 67-50 win over the Lady Bulldogs in local high school basketball action. "We played an awful first quarter and came back and played well," Clarkdale head coach Jeff Davis said. "We didn't make some offensive rebounds at times, but our effort was good," Davis added.
The Lady Bulldogs did show plenty of effort after a dreadful first quarter were Clarkdale trailed 30-8. The Lady Bulldogs showed spirit by coming back and making the halftime score 36-18. Clarkdale went on a shooting spree after the intermission as Tamara Brown hit a basket and drew the foul to give the Lady Bulldogs a small piece of momentum. After a successful free throw from Brown Clarkdale came up with a turnover and took advantage of the miscue and scored on a jumper from Brown to cut the lead to 36-23 with 6:42 remaining in the third quarter of action.
After a bad trip up the floor for the Lady Yellow Jackets Clarkdale got a big spark from Misti Alexander who delivered a long three point shot and draw the Lady Bulldogs to within ten points with 6:00 left in the third period of play. William Sullivan finally found some offense behind Keilandra Scruggs who made a quick basket to extend the lead to 38-26 with 5:35 left in the quarter. Alexander answered with another three point shot on the next trip for Clarkdale and make the score 38-29.
The Lady Yellow Jackets score six consecutive points to build an even bigger lead at 44-29 with 4:45 left in the third quarter. Mary Timms got four of the six points in the small run for Williams-Sullivan. The Lady Yellow Jackets rode the hot shooting of Timms to a 48-33 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The closest the Lady Bulldogs came to make a threat was with 5:49 left in the fourth quarter on a basket by Felicia Kirksey to make the score 50-41. From that point on it was all down hill as the Lady Bulldogs dropped their second straight loss of the week by a final score of 67-50. "We just ran out of gas at the end, but we made a good run," Davis said. Clarkdale dropped to 6-13 overall on the season and 0-6 in division play. Angela Houvard had 24 points in the win for Williams-Sullivan and Timms followed with 16 for the Lady Jackets.
Brown finished another great night for Clarkdale with 17 points and Danielle Gaddis followed with 15 points. Alexander also chipped in 11 points in the loss for the Lady Bulldogs. Clarkdale returns to action Tuesday at Nanih Waiya.
Williams-Sullivan (boys) 88
Clarkdale 70
The Yellow Jackets used a big fourth quarter run to dispose of the Bulldogs and secure the sweep. William Sullivan held a 24-15 lead at the end of the first quarter by the Bulldogs came fighting back with plenty of offense. The Bulldogs got some hot shooting from Brnadon Mabry and Bryant Gaddis to tie the game at 30-30 with 2:07 left until halftime. The Yellow Jackets got a pair of baskets from Anthony Washington before the buzzer to give Williams-Sullivan a one point advantage at the break.
The Yellow Jackets dominated the rest of the contest and took the decision from Clarkdale by eighteen points. Mabry finished with 22 points for Clarkdale and Gaddis put up 17 points in the loss for the Bulldogs. Quinton Walker also added 12 points in the scoring department for Clarkdale.