Gramlich reaches new heights
By Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
Jordan Gramlich scored 18 points and the Alma Lady Airedales held on for a 46-40 win over Sylvan Hills Friday to even their record at 1-1.
A four-year starter, Gramlich surpassed the 1,000-point mark to become the fourth Alma player in school history, joining Babette Dotson (1,500 points), Kim Sullivan (1,344), Thurronda Blanton (1,245), Chanlee Bottoms 1,219), Anika McCoy (1,042), and Gramlich (1,031).
“She’s the sixth leading scorer in school history, and she has a chance to become the all-time leading scorer at the rate she’s going right now,” Bottoms said. “It’s a special moment for our team and program.”
Reaching the 1,000-point plateau can be difficult for larger classification schools like Alma since they don’t have district and regional tournaments like smaller schools.
“For me, getting a thousand points just means that I have teammates around me supporting me,” Gramlich said. “It just means that I have teammates who can score, too, and it means that we can support each other. It’s not me that got a thousand points, it’s the coaches who helped me, and it’s my family and teammates who help me get better every day.”
Gramlich said she didn’t realize how close she was to the record until Bottoms told her last year. “I was 3 ½ layups away from getting a thousand points,” Gramlich said. “I didn’t know until coach Bottoms told me I was seven points shy of 1,000.”
Gramlich is averaging 19 points per game through the first two games. The team will travel to Mansfield on Tuesday and return home on Thursday to face Greenbrier.
Playing alongside her twin sister, Jaden, has been a blessing, Gramlich said. “I don’t think I would be playing basketball if I didn’t have Jaden with me,” Jordan said.
Alma (1-1) led Sylvan Hills 11-9 after one quarter and pushed the lead to as much as nine (22-13) in the second quarter.
The Lady Airedales took over in the third quarter and pushed the lead to 34-19. They still led by 14 (42-28) after two Olivia Hughes free throws with 4:07 left in the game.
But Sylvan Hills (0-1) ran off 10 straight points to close to within 42-38. They got no closer than six the rest of the way.
“We’ve played two quality teams that may end up in the state tournament,” Bottoms said.
“We really just want to figure out who we are and communicate better on defense,” Gramlich said. “Offense is nothing without defense, and I think we’re still trying to figure that out.
“Offense means nothing without defense.”
Along with Gramlich, senior guard Daimya Parker had 10 points and Hughes finished with eight points, including 8-for-10 from the foul line. The Lady Airedales made 19-of-31 foul shots after going 15-for-26 the previous game.
Sylvan Hills 61, Alma 50
BOYS - Sylvan Hills held Alma to just four 3-point field goals (4-of-18) and pulled away for a 61-50 victory in the Airedales’ season opener Friday.
Tyree McGill led Alma with 12 points. The Airedales shot just 33 percent from the field (18-for-54) and were 10-of-15 from the free-throw line.
The Bears made 10 3-pointers.
“We have to make some shots,” Alma coach Dominic Lincoln said. “We want to play good teams to make us better, but at the same time, we can’t think we’re just going to walk in and take it from anybody. We can’t fall back on what we did last year.”
Sophomore Carson Curd was 3-of-5 from the 3-point line and finished with nine points. Eddie Tate had seven, and Israel Towns-Robinson, Easton Boggs, and Miles Kendrick had six apiece.
The Airedales host Shiloh Christian on Tuesday.