Messenger file photo by Chris McCarthy
The Sardis High girls basketball team won the Second Annual Liberty Bank Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 21 in Sardis City. During the tournament, the Class 5A No. 7 Lady Lions (15-3) fell to Fairview, 57-49 before defeating Jacksonville, 68-45. Sardis finished in a three-way tie for first place and won on point differential.
‘We just came out flat Fairview and shot the ball really bad,” said Sardis head coach Heath Cullom. “Fairview has a very fast team and played harder than we did. The one highlight of the game for us was Vada Willmore. She was unguardable and gave us a chance to win on an off night.”
Willmore finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Delaney Lee added six points, while Mollie Brock chipped in five. Jordyn Knight pulled down 10 rebounds.
Against Jacksonville, Knight scored 13 of her game-high 16 in that second quarter.
“Jordyn caught fire [in the second quarter] and really sparked us to this win,” said Cullom. “We were playing our third game in less than 24 hours and really needed someone to get hot and give us some energy, and she came through for us.”
Willmore finished with a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. Mya Glass added 11 points, followed by Jacee Holcomb (pictured above at left) with 10 and Lee with eight.
On Friday. Dec. 20, Sardis secured us the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Etowah County Schools Tournament with a 52-31 victory over Southside.
The Lady Lions led 16-11 after one period, 34-21 at halftime and 42-23 after three quarters.
Holcomb scored 16 points, including 11 in the first quarter. Lee added nine points, followed by Wright with eight and Knight and Emily Zavala with six each.
On Tuesday, Nov. 17, Sardis defeated Class 3A No. 5 Glencoe, 70-43. The Lady Lions forced 36 turnovers and came up with 31 steals.
“Our press really gave [Glencoe] problems early on and we were able to build a comfortable lead,” said Cullom. “Mollie had seven steals in the first quarter that led to 12 easy points and really set the tone for the game.”
Brock finished with 14 points and 10 steals; Glass had 10 points and five steals; Lee and Holcomb each scored 10 points; Knight contributed eight points, eight rebounds and eight steals; and Willmore and Wright each scored eight points.