Photo: Coosa Christian’s Kaylie Reeves (left) defends Faith Christian’s Sydnee Johnson during the Lady Conquerors 66-28 win in girls basketball last Monday (Dec. 10) in Gadsden. (Chris McCarthy/Messenger)
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
The Coosa Christian girls basketball team earned its third straight Class 1A, Area 12 victory with relative ease last Monday (Dec. 10) in Gadsden.
The Lady Conquerors (8-5, 3-0) overwhelmed Faith Christian Academy on both offense and defense on the way to a 66-28 win.
The hosts had three players score in double figures, led by India Brown with 24. The junior center notched 16 of her points in the first half, at the end of which Coosa enjoyed a 34-13 advantage. Brown also was a force under the glass with 20 rebounds, many of them on the offense.
“When we’re able to get the ball inside to India, it’s create an outside game for us,” said Coosa head coach Jayme Hollingsworth. “She’s used to seeing a lot of double and triple teams, and she’s used to being unselfish and getting the ball to our outside shooters, and tonight we were able to knock them down.”
Senior forward Claire Davidson finished with 19 points along with eight steals, while sophomore guard Chloe Davidson sank four three-point baskets on the way to 13 points. Three of her treys came during the third quarter when the Lady Conquerors extended their lead to 30 points.
Eighth grader Isabella Millirons chipped in seven points for Coosa.
Coosa had the Lady Lions back on their heels from the opening tip. FCA turned the ball over on its first four possessions of the game, and the hosts converted every one of those miscues into points en route to a 19-2 lead after one quarter.
“We want to bring the intensity and pressure to start out in every game,” said Hollingsworth. “We don’t really run a true full-court press, but we know which players we want to keep the ball away from and we bring extra pressure on those players. I thought we did a good job of doing that tonight.”
Brown scored eight more points in the second period to help send Coosa into the locker room ahead by 21 points.
Chloe Davidson’s sharpshooting during the third quarter sparked the Lady Conquerors to a 50-20 lead, and FCA scored just three times from the field during the fourth frame to earn a long bus ride back to Anniston.
Kristin Covington led FCA with 12 points, followed by Sydnee Johnson with six.
Hollingsworth was pleased that he was able to clear his bench for much of the second half.
“We’ve got a lot of new faces this year and players who haven’t seen a lot of minutes, so it’s good to try to get everybody some game time. We’ve got a bright future.”