Girls
Alabama Christian defeated MA for the second time this season with a 39-31 triumph over the Area foe. Both offenses struggled to score, but ACA did enough on to take home the victory on their own floor. Jaide Newkirk scored on the first possession of the game, but the Eagles managed just one more score the rest of the period. MA built an 8-4 lead after one as the home Eagles did not score over the last five minutes of the quarter. Newkirk scored four quick points to open the second tying the score, 8-8. ACA scored the final six points of the half highlighted by a Rachel Rine bomb to take a 17-11 lead into the locker room.
ACA would never trail in the second half although MA did cut the lead to two points a couple of times. Izzy Warrick and Katelyn Sutton each scored to start the second half to build a 21-11 lead. The duo closed the quarter as Sutton found Warrick for a score to give the Lady Eagles their biggest lead of the night, 29-18. MA scored at the buzzer to cut the lead to nine heading to the fourth. Senior Rachel Rine was injured near the end of the third and the offense sputtered for a while in her absence. ACA failed to score over a five minute stretch that covered parts of the third and fourth quarters. The visitors cut the score to 29-27 before Jaide Newkirk scored to extend the lead to four points. Sutton took the reins from there and guided the team through the final minutes contributing to the team’s final eight points. The sophomore guard assisted on the next two baskets and drained a three herself after grabbing two offensive rebounds earlier in the possession.
Jaide Newkirk led the squad in scoring with 14 points and added six rebounds and a block. Izzy Warrick scored 11 points, 10 in the second half, with five steals and four rebounds. Katelyn Sutton had nine points, eight in the second half, with eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
Boys
The boys capped the night with a hard fought effort against MA, but in the end fell 44-55. ACA trailed by just two points midway through the fourth, but were unable to score down the stretch. Neither offense was clicking in a methodical opening period as the teams shot a combined 6 for 25 from the floor. MA led 7-6 after one. Devin Moseley connected from deep to open the second to give ACA its first lead of the game. Conner Mark and Christian Snipes also dialed long distance with threes to help keep the game close. Alabama Christian led 21-19 at the half.
ACA led for most of the third as Jayden Jones and Darius Gardner combined for 12 of the team’s 14 points in the quarter. MA hit a three with 1:08 left in the period to take a lead they would not relinquish. The home team was able to tie the game at 43 apiece as Tyree Saadiq found Christian Snipes for a score, but mustered just a single point the rest of the game as MA finally pulled away for the eleven point victory.
A trio of players scored eleven points to lead the offense. Christian Snipes had eleven with seven rebounds and two assists. Jayden Jones had five rebounds to go along with his eleven points and Darius Gardner finished with eleven points, two blocks, and two assists.