Big plays fuel Alma to second-half victory
By Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
Jordan Gramlich would not be denied.
Neither would her teammates.
Gramlich scored 34 points and the Lady Airedales erased a seven-point deficit with a hard-fought 59-53 overtime win over the Clarksville Panthers Monday at Charles B. Dyer Arena.
"That was such a huge battle," Alma coach Chanlee Bottoms said. "We really battled. Everyone came up big."
None bigger than Gramlich, who scored 23 second-half points, including all seven of Alma's overtime points. With junior point guard Daimya Parker out of town, Bottoms put her best scorer at point guard for much of the night, which tends to take away some of Gramlich’s offensive flow.
MaKinley McCartt had nine points and Chloe Gregory drained two big fourth-quarter 3-pointers to help get Alma to OT. The Lady Airedales trailed by seven (36-29) in the second half, and twice led by as many as five points before the Lady Panthers behind knocking down 3-pointers.
Clarksville hit four of them in the final quarter.
"That's not out of the norm for them," Bottoms said. "We knew they take about 70 percent of their shots from the 3-point line. But like I told them (players), missing DP (Daimya Parker) was huge."
"Missing Daimya, who is a big part of our team, was big," Gramlich said. "But we did a really good job of taking care of the ball. Chloe stepped in and Lilly (Sisemore) stepped in to help fill that role. It was hard, but we did the best that we could, and it was a really big win."
Alma 62, Clarksville 27
BOYS - Miles Kendrick buried three of his four 3-pointers in the first half, and Easton Boggs hit two third-quarter triples and finished with a team-high 14 points as the Airedales rolled past Clarksville, 62-27, in its 2023-24 home opener for their second victory of the season.
"After a hard loss on Friday, it's great to get back home with all of our amazing fans and the energy we need to come up with a big win," Boggs said. "A 40-point win, that's what we need to start off the (home) season right and do what we're supposed to do."
Israel Towns-Robinson and Hutson Boggs scored seven and six points, respectively, and Carmoni Smith and Chris Salazar added five points each for the winners. Eddie Tage had four points, including a thunderous dunk.
The Airedales' bench accounted for 20 points, including a 3-pointer from senior Jackson McMurray.
Alma 56, Clarksville 23
BOYS - Alma junior high boys basketball coach Eddie Corder has coached some really good teams over the years.
But not many had as much depth as his current squad. Which is a good problem to have.
Monday, after a sluggish start, Corder replaced his starters with the first wave of backups. And, down 7-4, Alma quickly blew in front for good. Landon Taylor hit four first-quarter 3-pointers and Boaz Benson added another trey as the Airedales rolled to a 56-23 victory over the Clarksville Panthers at Charles B. Dyer Arena.
Taylor, who had but one basket in the team's first four games, led the way with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 5-for-8 from beyond the arc. Alma finished with eight 3-pointers.
"Whenever I made my second shot, I felt like I was in the zone," Taylor said. "I felt like I couldn't miss. We have a lot of depth."
Luke Stogsdill, the team's leading scorer this season, scored 10 of his 14 points in the third quarter. Nine different players scored in all, including Cade Moore who had eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Alma's bench accounted for a season-high 40 points.
Benson, Julian Spears, Chase Parker, Sammy Moore, and Hudson Loughridge had three points each. Chase Wood finished with two points and a team-high three assists.
Loughridge leads comeback
The Alma Airedales' junior high boys basketball team fell behind late against Northside in the finals of the Charleston Tournament. And, while the Grizzlies began to take the air out of the ball, Hudson Loughridge waited for his moment.
Loughridge hit a go-ahead 3-pointer and finished with eight points to help the Airedales topple the Grizzlies, 37-34. Loughridge also had three rebounds.
"I think the team fought through a lot of adversity. I mean, that's a 7A team," Loughridge said. "We made a couple of mistakes early, but we learned from it and we came through in the pressure. This team's really hot."
Alma (5-0) led 29-25 before Northside (4-1) rallied for a 32-30 advantage, setting the stage for Loughridge's big basket. Luke Stogsdill led Alma with 11 points, five boards, and two blocks.
Carson Curd and Drake Ciampoli had six points apiece, and Lawson Adams added four points, five rebounds, and three assists. Boaz Benson had two points.
Another championship
Alma junior high girls basketball coach Angela Rushing's squad repeated as champions of the Charleston Tournament Saturday.
Olivia Hughes had 13 points Faith Sartor finished with seven as Alma held off the Northside Lady Bears, 33-30, to win the Charleston Tournament for the second time in as many seasons.
Jaeda Cahoon added a key free throw and Izabella Plourde drained a big 3-pointer in the team's win.
"It's always big to come out over Northside, or Bentonville, or a big school like that," Rushing said. "Northside, they're a great team, and it's always huge to hang with them."
With Lauren Settle on the bench in foul trouble, Cahoon stepped up and had two key rebounds and a free throw.
"We came up big at the end," Rushing said. "Jaeda stepped up big for us and made a big free throw. and we came up huge at the end and held on."
Alma 43, Clarksville 8
GIRLS - The most amazing statistic in Alma's 35-point win over Clarksville Monday was that the Lady Airedales actually trailed 3-0 to begin the game.
Oliva Hughes made sure it didn't last.
Hughes scored seven of her game-high 14 points in the first quarter to fuel a 43-8 victory, Alma's third win in four games.
Anna Swarnes and Maddie Dunn added eight points each, and Faith Sartor and Lauren Settle finished with six and five points, respectively.