Special to The Tribune
MONTGOMERY — Hewitt-Trussville’s April Hooks and Audreona Benson combined with Kalli Tinker of Class 2A state champion Pisgah for 10 of the North All-Stars’ 13 three-pointers and the North players used an intense pressure defense to force 26 turnovers en route to a 75-52 win in the 24th North-South Girls’ All-Star Basketball game at the Cramton Bowl MultiPlex Tuesday night.
Hooks and Benson each ended the night with eight points.
Guntersville High School rising senior Olivia Vandergriff anchored the North defense finishing with a team high six steals, six rebounds and nine points to earn MVP honors for the winning squad. With the victory the North improved its lead in the series that was first played in 1997 to 22-3.
The North All-Stars opened the girls’ 24th North-South All-Star basketball game hitting two 3-pointers on their first two shot attempts to take a 6-0 lead. That momentum didn’t last long as the South’s hustling squad scrapped and clawed its way back and trailed 25-22 at the end of the first quarter.
When Greenville guard JoVala Ocean sank a trey from 25 feet out with 6:34 remaining in the second quarter, the South had tied the game at 25 all. The South led 36-33 at halftime with Ocean making the most of her three shots – sinking them all including one 3-pointer. It didn’t help the North that it made just 3 of 13 free throws in the first half.
The North, stoked with an abundance of hustling guards, turned up the pressure in the third period and slowly began to pull away – outscoring the South 21-8 in the third period and 21-11 in the fourth. North coaches Natasha Smallwood of Susan Moore and Melissa Bennett of Oxford continued to keep the intense pressure going thanks to robust substitution pattern that kept fresh players most of the time.
The South, coached by Melissa White of Pike County and Willie Morgan of Selma, had some success inside when it the guards broke the North pressure. Post player Hannah Jones of Class 3A state champion Prattville Christian, finished with 12 points and eight rebounds despite playing with three fouls most of the second half. Jones was named the South MVP.
North shooters Chloe Siegal of Class 4A state champion Deshler, Kalli Tinker of Class 2A state champion Pisgah, Audreonia Benson and April Hooks of Hewitt-Trussville made 10 of the North’s 13 treys. Tinker was 4-of-6 and finished with 12 points – the only North player in double figures. Hooks, Siegal and Benson finished with eight points, and Hoover’s Alanah Pooler had seven points and five rebounds. Vandergriff, who was MVP in the Class 5A state basketball finals for state champion Guntersville last March, also sank one 3-pointer.
For the South, Ocean had seven points and two steals, and Prattville Christian’s Lameria “CoCo” Thomas had six points and five rebounds. Naomi Jones of Jackson also had seven boards.
The North-South boys’ teams squared off in the second game Tuesday night – meeting for the 79th time in a series that was first played in 1953.