By Scott Nickerson
Elmore Autauga News
Girls Basketball
Prattville – 64
Stanhope Elmore – 24
The Prattville Lady Lions jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the 1st quarter of their rivalry game against Stanhope Elmore, despite two normally big contributors not starting the game. The Lady Lions never looked back and cruised to a blowout 40-point win over their rivals.
The comfortable margin of victory allowed Prattville Head Coach Erica DuBois the chance for the reserves to get valuable minutes. “Playing in the Stanhope game allowed a lot of my younger players the opportunity to get a lot of time and experience under their belts. I have a good bit of players including freshman, that didn’t see much time on the court last season. Having this opportunity should help them and us as a team down the road.”
Despite the big win, Coach DuBois knows that the team needs to improve on some things prior to opening up area play in Class 7A Area 5, a new area that includes an 11-0 Hillcrest team. “We have a lot to clean up. Everyone needs to learn and accept their role. Believe it or not losing one player last year was huge for us. A lot of players are now having to play new roles this year, whether it is being a team leader or just a new position. We are still putting our puzzle pieces together as a team.
For the game, KeLeigh Mullins had 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals for the Lions. Jayla West-Young had 8 points, 7 assists, 4 steals and 4 rebounds. Jaina Misigah had 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.
“I was really impressed by the shooting of Jaina Misigah,” said Head Coach DuBois. “She is one that is playing a new position this season. I was also impressed with my Lewis sisters. One is a junior and this is only her second year ever touching a basketball, and the other two sisters are freshman. They stepped in and held their own in a fan-filled gym against a rival team. I am big on growth. And from those four I am seeing a lot of growth.:
Boys Basketball
Prattville – 78
Stanhope Elmore – 65
Prattville senior Xavier Dunn had 26 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 assists to lead the Lions to a wire-to-wire victory over the Mustangs. The Lions’ victory was a big turnaround from a contest less than two weeks ago when Stanhope Elmore won in Millbrook.
“The difference in the first game and this game is we wanted to prove that loss was no reflection on who we are. I think we did that tonight,” said Head Coach Jason Fisher. “We preach defense first and tonight we got back to that identity. Stanhope Elmore is a very well coached team and I told my guys that it is going to come down to who wants this game more, us or them. I think we proved that we wanted it more.”
While Dunn was the only Lions’ player in double figures, 13 of 15 Prattville players scored against the Mustangs. “We preach that when we trust each other enough to surrender the ‘me’ for the ‘we’, that’s when we play Lions basketball. It may sound cliché but what impressed me the most is that all 15 of these Lions put We over Me. We had several players step it up. Freshman Jordan Scott, juniors Brayden Graham, Cameron Lewis, and Cameron Crittenden showed out defensively. Senior Xavier Dunn got back to his groove offensively. But these guys couldn’t do what they did tonight if they didn’t have their other teammates.”
The win is the 4th of the season for Prattville, which has already won more games before Christmas than all of last season. They will look to add to that win total Thursday against Chilton County. “My guys will get to enjoy this win until 7:30 tomorrow morning when we get back to keeping that defensive identity so we can take the same mentality to Chilton County on Thursday night,” said Coach Fisher.
