By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
CLAY – The Hueytown Golden Gophers traveled to Clay on Tuesday night with hopes to ruin senior night for the Cougars, but Coach Kevin Carter’s girls were up to the challenge, dominating the Gophers by 28 points.
Clay Chalkville Point Guard Aniyah Crenshaw. (Photo by Loyd McIntosh)
Clay’s defense would smother the Gophers in the first quarter, only allowing them to score 4 points. Senior Aniyah Crenshaw and Junior Kamoriah Gaines had 5 points each in a 16-point quarter for the Cougars that also saw Senior Cheyenne Pearson add 4 points.
The second quarter would be much of the same as the defense held Hueytown to 3 total points, dominating them once again. This time, Clay would score 13 points in the quarter, led by Booklyn Phillips, a Junior, who scored 8 points to send the home team into the half with a 29-7 lead.
Hueytown would make adjustments in the third and come out and almost double their first half point total, putting up 13 points on the Cougar defense. Not to be outdone, the Cougars would answer with 15 points of their own. Seniors Renesha Smiley and Cheyenne Pearson would lead Clay with 4 points each to send Clay into the fourth quarter with a 44-20 lead.
The final quarter would spell more dominance from the home team with Clay outscoring the Gophers 19-10. Leading the scoring would be Gaines who exploded for 10 points in the final frame, leading to the 63-30 final.
On the night, Kamoriah Gaines led all scorers with 18 points. Cheyenne Pearson followed with 13 points, while Brooklyn Phillips and Kameron Sanders contributed 11 points each.
Clay Head Coach Kevin Conner said, “I thought we played really well defensively. Hueytown has one of the best players in the Birmingham area. We talked all week about trying to limit her production. I thought we did a really good job against her which gave us the ability to pull away.”
The Lady Cougars improved to 13-5 heading into a key area matchup on the road at Mortimer Jordan Friday night.
