By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



The Gardendale Lady Rockets won by a blowout to open the night and the Rockets took a big first quarter lead, but didn’t get a blowout win as Woodlawn would close the gap before Gardendale held on to pick up the Rocket’s first area win this season.



Gardendale girls 64,

Woodlawn girls 43

The Lady Rockets led by nine at the half, but poured it on in the second half, as the return of point guard Kaitlyn Plan helped Gardendale wear the Lady Colonels down.

“We had Kaitlyn back for the first time since before Christmas and it allowed us to get back to our old rotation of players and we just wore them down with our depth,” Gardendale head coach Tom Hannah said. “We finally made some shots as well. This was an important area win for us.”

The Lady Rockets sank eight 3-point shots during the game, the most they’ve made in several outings.

Kristian Moody led the way with 23 points, followed by Taylor Powell with 10, Alison McCaleb with nine, Bekah Myers, Plan and Elizabeth Schultz had four points each, Taylor Lindsey and Lauren Davis scored three each and Sidney Long and Kenosha Carter scored two points each.



Gardendale boys 72,

Woodlawn boys 67

The Rockets started the game off hot as they jumped to a 23-7 lead. At the half, the Rockets were up by 20 at 40-20. But then the Colonels would start finding the range on their shots.

Woodlawn sank eight 3-pointers in the second half of play, including sinking 3s on four straight possessions in the fourth quarter, before the Rockets held on for the victory.

Drew Faile had 21 points to pace Gardendale. He added seven rebounds, four blocked shots and four assists. Nigel Ramsey had 11 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists and four steals.

Hunter Graveman scored 11, Alan Jackson scored 10, Trey Hilliard had six, Zac Davis added five and Clint Guin and Tyler Burgess scored four points each.

Gardendale won for the first time in four area games.



Fultondale boys 57,

Ohatchee boys 54

The Wildcats clinched a tie for first place in their area. Should Westbrook Christian and Fultondale both win their final area games, the Wildcats will need to win a coin flip to host the area tournament, but should Ohatchee defeat Westbrook next Friday night, while Fultondale whips Victory Christian (a team the Wildcats beat 95-29 earlier this season) the Wildcats will host the area tourney.

Fultondale broke a 51-all tie with 90 seconds to play when Josh Tarwater sank a 3-pointer, but Ohatchee would work the ball around on their next possession and find a open 3-point shot that found the range to tie the score again.

Finally with 25 seconds to play, Sharod Smith sank a 3 to seal the win. Smith scored 15. J.D. Hood led the ‘Cats with 17.