Lady ’Dogs advance on impressive wins

By RANDY CAVIN
Press Sports
Gleason defeated two quality teams, including a Class 3A Dyer County squad, in the Lions Club Christmas Tournament before falling to Westview in the finals.
The Lady Bulldogs defeated Halls 62-30 thanks to rebounding in the semifinals for the right to play Westview in the finals after opening the 48th annual event by knocking off the Lady Choctaws 51-44 behind some excellent shooting.
Gleason head coach Joel Ayers had to sit out the first two games of the tournament because of two technical foul calls he received in Gleason’s last game against Huntingdon just before the Christmas break.
He was back on the bench for the finals against Westview.
Ashley Ayers took over the coaching duties during the first two days of the tournament.
Gleason 62, Halls 30
The Lady Tigers could not stop Gleason on the boards with the Lady Bulldogs grabbing 31 rebounds in the game — 23 coming on defense.
Briana Jones was highly active on the boards with 11 rebounds to give her a double-double for the game. She led all scorers with 22 points and also had four assists in the game.
Halls, which upset a shorthanded USJ team 54-36 in the quarterfinals, was never really a threat as Gleason shot 58 percent from the field to Halls’ 30 percent.
Gleason led 14-4 after one period of play behind Jones’ five points and Kim Quick’s five points. The Lady Bulldogs expanded their lead to 24-9 at the break and 38-17 after three.
The Lady Tigers biggest scoring period came in the fourth with 12 points, but Gleason answered their 12 with 24 points.
Jaclyn Montgomery was second in scoring with 12 with Emily Bell right behind her with 11. Quick finished the game with seven points for the Lady Bulldogs.
Halls lost to Madison Academic 56-54 in the third-place game Saturday.
Gleason 51, DC 44
The Lady Bulldogs did not get many shots off against the Lady Choctaws, but Gleason made the most of its scoring opportunities by hitting 74 percent.
Gleason only had 19 shots for the game thanks to some good defense by Dyer County. The Lady Bulldogs were forced into 24 turnovers, while the Lady Choctaws only made 10.
Dyer County only made 33 percent of its 39 shot attempts because Gleason played some good defense of its own by limiting the Orange and White’s good looks at the basket.
Jones once again proved to be top ’Dawg for Gleason by getting a double-double in the game. She had game highs in points with 21 on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 at the line and in rebounds with 15.
Montgomery scored eight points and was a perfect 6-of-6 at the line.
Jasmine Taylor and Emily bell each scored six points for the Lady Bulldogs.
Gleason will return to action on Thursday when both the girls and boys play at Bradford.
District 13A play starts back up the foollowing night with the two Bulldog teams on the road again, making the short trip to McKenzie.
Dyer County finished fifth, beating University School of Jackson 52-40 and Humboldt 65-43. Published in The WCP 1.1.13

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