Selma girls, boys race past Wilcox Central
Published 12:33 am Saturday, December 12, 2015
It’s not often a high school basketball player sinks four 3-pointers in the same game, unless her name is Jamya Smith.
Smith’s four 3-pointers, along with 14 points from Jacquetta Dailey and 13 points Areyana Williams, gave the Selma Saints (9-1) a comfortable 59-34 victory over the Wilcox Central Jaguars Friday at home.
“Overall they did pretty good,” said Selma head coach Anthony Harris said. “We got the victory. I’m satisfied with that, but we’ve still got some work to do.”
Dailey scored the first two field goals of the game for the Saints. Selma grabbed a lead when Smith stole the ball and dished it to Williams for a layup and a 7-6 lead midway through the first quarter.
Kynadra Lewis extended the lead to 10-6 when she stole the ball and broke into the open court for a layup.
Selma led 16-8 at the end of the first quarter. Smith drained two 3-pointers early in the second quarter to push the Saints’ lead to 22-12 with 6:05 left in the second half. Smith hit her third 3-pointer of the quarter with 3:20 remaining in the first half to give the Saints a 26-18 halftime lead.
Aaliyah Hatcher connected on a three-point play in the third quarter to push Selma ahead 33-23.
Williams followed it up with two straight two-point shots to give the Saints a 37-23 advantage. After missing a foul shot with 1:14 left in the quarter, Williams pulled down two consecutive offensive rebounds and hit a jumper to make it 43-29.
In the fourth quarter, Dailey scored on a fastbreak layup to put Selma in front 52-29, and Smith added a fourth 3-pointer for good measure with 4:29 left in the game to give the Saints a 57-29 lead.
“When she’s on, she’s on,” Harris said of Smith.
Selma 66, Wilcox Central 46 (boys)
Selma allowed its opponent to hang in the game into the third quarter, but once Kentravious White started knocking down shots, the Saints ran away with the game.
White led the game with 19 points as the Selma Saints (7-3) rolled past the Wilcox Central Jaguars 66-46 Friday at Selma. While White’s third-quarter scoring outburst ultimately allowed the Saints to pull away, Selma head coach Woodie Jackson said it was the team’s pressure defense that gave the offense a chance for some open shots.
“We got some easy shots from the defense,” Jackson said. “The defense created some easy buckets. That was a help.”
Loveless Craig and Kentravious White traded scoring duties early on to give the Saints an early 10-3 lead. Quentavious Davis knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:14 left in the first quarter to give Selma a 13-7 advantage.
“You never want to try to play from behind, and you won’t get out to a good start and somewhat keep the momentum,” Jackson said.
Wilcox Central came back, however, and tied the game 13-13 at the end of the first quarter.
Trailing 15-13, Jerryonne Patterson hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter to put his team back in front 16-15. The Saints didn’t trail for the rest of the game.
After scoring help from Ivan Williams and Kiwansis Jones in the second quarter, Selma took a 31-21 lead at halftime.
Wilcox Central began the second half on a 7-0 run to narrow the score to 31-28, but White swung the momentum back in Selma’s direction with long two-point shot with 5:32 remaining in the third quarter.
“He’s not a big kid, but he’s real scrappy,” Jackson said of White.
White followed it up later in the third quarter with a layup, a 3-pointer and a two-point shot to put Selma ahead 44-33. The Saints led 52-33 at the end of the third quarter, giving them the cushion they would need to close the game out in the fourth quarter.
Selma’s girls and boys teams travel to play Anniston Saturday at 4:30 p.m.