Bob Jones girls win tournament
Bob Jones girls on the All Tournament team.
BY LINDAY VAUGHT
Four games in three days did not slow down the Bob Jones Lady Patriots one bit as they dominated Austin in the championship game of the Huntsville Times Ladies Classic played in the main gym at Bob Jones High School.
The 48-32 win returns the title to Bob Jones after Madison Academy upended the Lady Patriots last season. Bob Jones posted wins over Madison County 67-40, Mountain Brook 47-35, and Arab 58-21 to reach the final.
Bob Jones senior Tierra Jones was named MVP of the tournament and four Lady Patriots were named to the All-Tournament team.
Early on a blocked shot by Jasmine Jones and a three-point play by Joidan Jennings sparked Bob Jones to an early 9-4 lead. Chandler Elder came off the bench and hit a baseline jumper to put the Patriots up 13-8 at the end of one quarter. She hit the Patriots only 3 point basket of the game in the second quarter for a 16-10 lead.
Bench play was a key for the Patriots as both Katie Colson and Meredith Lovelady drew charging fouls on defense and Elder had her best game of the season with seven points.
“That’s what we play in tournaments for is to develop the bench,” said Bob Jones head coach Tim Miller. “It’s a good win for us. We executed. We learned some things that we can and can’t do because I know we are going to see them again. Hopefully it will carry over to the second half of the season.”
- Tierra Jones.
Jasmine Jones took over the game in the second quarter. Her two free throws built a 10 point lead at 24-14. Jones played into the fourth quarter and punctuated her night with a steal and driving score to make it 39-25 in the fourth quarter. She finished with 12 points.
Lindsey Jennings got the start and had four assists and scored a basket in each quarter to finish with eight points.
“For Lindsey that was a breakout game for scoring and we are going to need some scoring from her,” Miller said. “Lindsey is going to be playing more minutes for us.”
Tierra Jones took charge of the game in the fourth quarter as she dominated in the paint. She had two offensive rebounds that she put back up for buckets. She hit two free throws and converted a running jump shot as Austin never cut the lead to less than 14 points.
She finished with eight points and 11 rebounds.
Even though he didn’t have a vote, Miller said that Tierra Jones deserved to be named tournament MVP.
“Over the course of these four games she was consistent. She played hard, she played smart, she played under control, drew fouls, got some big rebounds, and hit some big buckets when we needed it,” Miller said.
“It means a lot,” Jones said of the MVP award. “Its payoff for the hard work I’ve put in and our team has put in. I needed to do more to help Jasmine because they knew we were going to her so I was able to get some production by rebounding to take some pressure off her.”
“We got better at playing our zone offense playing through their zone defense so they would have to play us man,” Jones added.
The girls will play in a tournament in Greenville, Tenn. starting on Dec. 27. Their next home game is Jan. 3, against Florence, an area game.
