By Al Muskewitz, East Alabama Sports Today
PIEDMONT — Cherokee County basketball coach Caleb Hays has been waiting all season to see his team win a big, close game on the road. He finally got it Tuesday night against his team’s biggest rival.
Slade Alexander hit a turnaround jumper from just inside the free throw line at the overtime buzzer to give the Warriors an intense 58-57 win over Piedmont.
The Warriors (6-5) had been looking to have something good to happen after recent close losses to Fort Payne and White Plains and their senior-laden lineup delivered.
“They’ve been needing a game like that,” Hays said. “We’ve had some big wins this year and we’ve had some tough losses as well. Most of our big wins have come at home. What I’ve really been wanting to see out of this group is when we win that really big game on the road and we gut it out when we’re down a little bit in the fourth quarter or overtime.
“In the past we’ve lost our poise a little bit, we took some bad shot selection, trying to get back in it, which has ended up costing us to lose the lead a little bit more, so I knew when it was a three-, four-point game I was like guys don’t get in a hurry. We don’t want to rush into the situation and lose our composure trying to get back in it and make it a worse game than it needed to be. They did a good job buying into that.”
Connor Elrod’s 3-pointer with 26 seconds left in overtime got the Warriors within 57-56.Piedmont had a chance to extend the lead but after working the clock down and finding a lane to the basket leading scorer Alex Odam lost the ball along the baseline with 15 seconds left, setting the final exchange in motion.
The Warriors called time with 8.4 left when nothing developed. Piedmont knocked the ball out of bounds along the baseline with 6.3 left.
The shot was going to either Elrod or Alexander. The inbounds went to Elrod at midcourt but he had no clear path to the basket. The ball got to Alexander, who took one dribble and turned in traffic and fired at the basket. The ball dropped just as the horn sounded.
“That wasn’t the designed the play,” Alexander admitted, “but Malachi (Horton) got it to me and I just went up with a shot I’ve been working on a good bit and it happened to fall in. It was definitely some luck. To be honest I never even take that one dribble pull-up. Normally I’m just a drive to the basket guy. They were all giving me a hard time about that.”
“Any time he gets the ball inside the paint, if he’s feeling it, it’s a pretty good look,” Hays said.
The Warriors had a chance to win it at the end of regulation. They got the ball with 33 seconds left after Odam pushed off trying to get separation on an inbounds pass. They worked the clock down but no shot looming called time with 3.3 seconds left.
Elrod got the ball at the top of the key but his shot with one second left missed and there wasn’t enough time to collect the rebound and shoot again. His 3-pointer tied the game at 52 with 49 seconds to play.
“He’s been a little bit cold the past couple games, from the outside,” Hays said. “He’s still been scoring the ball well, but I told him in the shoot-around we’re going to need you again in the fourth, it’s going to be a dogfight. We wanted to make sure we got Connor Elrod some opportunities.”
Elrod led all scorers with 25 points; he hit five 3-pointers. Alexander finished with 12.
Odam led Piedmont with 23 points. Odam struggled with his shot in the first three quarters but came to life in the fourth and in one two-minute stretch played a role in eight Piedmont points that gave his team a five-point lead with 5:46 left in regulation.
His steal and layup gave the Bulldogs their first lead since the first quarter. On the next three possessions he answered an Alexander 3 with his own 3, grabbed a rebound and fed Cassius Fairs for a layup and hit a free throw in a three-shot situation. The lead eventually swelled to seven with 4:19 to play.
The Bulldogs were hurt by not being able to score early, turnovers in key situations and shooting only 13-of-24 from the free throw line.
They also were missing two regulars – Jakari Foster and Sean Smith, in Mobile for the North-South All-Star Football Game – whose presence would have helped.
“Turnovers hurt us – and free throws,” Piedmont coach JoJo Odam said. “We missed too many free throws in regulation. We shouldn’t have been in that position.”
Girls
Cherokee County 77, Piedmont 44
PIEDMONT – Leah Nelson has been coaching the Cherokee County girls basketball team for eight years and she’s never experienced a first quarter as explosive as the one her team enjoyed Tuesday night.
The Lady Warriors plugged in a trapping press that forced numerous turnovers and led to 32 first-quarter points on the way to a 77-44 victory over Piedmont, their eighth win in nine games to open the season.
The 32 points were the most the Lady Warriors have scored in a quarter this season.
“That’s the most points I think we’ve scored in the first quarter since I’ve been coaching,” Nelson said. “They shot the ball well and got after it. That’s something we’ve talked a lot about, just getting down here and getting after it, and letting our defense turn into offense.”
The Lady Warriors made it work with very little prep time. The game was moved Monday from its original Jan. 16 date the Lady Bulldogs thought might conflict with the Calhoun County Tournament. When they went searching for a replacement for Saks following Monday’s announcement that Calhoun County Schools teams were shutting down athletics until Jan. 1 for COVID reasons the mutual date allowed them to move Cherokee County.
The Lady Warriors forced Piedmont into 33 turnovers, a sin that will have the Lady Bulldogs running in practice Wednesday. Nineteen of the turnovers were steals; Mary Johnson had nine of them.
“We were worn down from last night,” Piedmont coach Terrace Ridley said, referring to Monday’s tight loss to Gadsden City. “We needed the look that they gave us, because it’s going to help us in the long run. Give us something to go back and work on at practice tomorrow. Next time we’ll be better prepared for it.”
At the beginning it was Ava Pope’s game. The Piedmont gunner scored the Lady Bulldogs’ first eight points with help from two of her three 3-pointers. But then the Lady Warriors plugged in the press, bringing a third player in to close the door, and it touched off a 19-1 run that gave them a 24-9 lead with two minutes left in the quarter.
Audrey Green scored 12 of their first 14 points in the game and had 15 of her 23 in the quarter. Karlee Perry had 10 of their last 18 points of the quarter and finished with 21. Green was 8-of-17 from the floor, 5-of-8 from 3-point range. Perry was 8-of-20 with four 3-pointers.
“One of our biggest strengths is our speed and our quick hands,” Nelson said. “And if we can use that against a team with our press, then I feel like we’ve got a good chance to create a lot of turnovers and they’ve been very successful in taking those turnovers and finishing at the basket and creating some points.”
It was the seventh time this season the Lady Warriors had scored at least 20 in a quarter. They are averaging a fraction under 20 points in the first quarter this season.
“Ever since our White Plains game we were kind of starting off bad and we decided to start off strong and we really got after it,” Green said. “That’s when I hit those 3s because we were getting after it, getting open looks.”
Pope led Piedmont with 17 points, going 3-for-5 both inside and behind the 3-point arc. Lele Ridley had 12.
