Bob Jones, JC girls gear up for region play today at Wallace State

The Bob Jones Lady Patriots won the 7A Area 8 Championship last Wednesday with a 51-33 defeat of James Clemens at home.

Senior Alana Obianozie powered the Lady Patriots with her 16-point showing against JC while teammates Janiyah Bone and Jae Smith both had nine points in the victory.

James Clemens turned to the efforts of freshman Deyon Smith with 10 points for the Lady Jets.

Bob Jones held a narrow advantage at 13-11 after one quarter of play.

The Lady Jets stayed right with the Lady Patriots by the midway point only down 22-19.

It was tied 30-30 with just under two minutes remaining in the third quarter but the wheels were about to fall off for JC.

The Lady Patriots went on a run of 20 straight points to bury James Clemens in the fourth quarter and pull away to the win the area crown with ease.

Both Bob Jones and James Clemens advanced to the regional semi-finals that take place today at Wallace State in Hanceville.

The Lady Patriots square off with Vestavia Hills today at 9 a.m. while Hoover does battle with James Clemens in the second girls game today at noon.

“We are excited,” James Clemens head coach Monica Maxwell said.

“We have another opportunity to face the defending state champs. We have to take care of the ball and box out and limit them to one shot a possession. We have to put together four great quarters against them.”

The mentality for Bob Jones head coach Jazmine Carr is to stay the course with her team against Vestavia Hills.

“We know that Vestavia is a really good basketball team and that they shoot the ball really well,” Carr said.

“But honestly, we have just been focusing on ourselves. Focusing on the details of what we in and out of practice from defense to offense.”

The winners of these two games will face each other in the Elite Eight on Tuesday, Feb. 20 in Hanceville.

In the Girls 7A Area 7 portion of the bracket, the Sparkman Lady Senators rolled through the competition to earn the Area 7 Championship last Thursday.

Sparkman first sent Albertville packing with a 63-14 beating in the semis before a 67-34 drubbing of Grissom in the championship game.

The Lady Senators had major contributions from Tournament MVP Khloe Bradley with 20 points while Abethany James and Jurnee Moore both ended up with 11.

“I was very pleased with our overall performance in both Area Tournament games,” Sparkman head coach Jarvis Wilson said.

“I was especially pleased with our defensive effort. The girls are finding their stride and looking very confident on the offensive end of the court.”

Sparkman and Grissom are part of the Northeast section of the bracket which means these two schools had games on Tuesday in Jacksonville, Ala.

Sparkman faced Chelsea while Grissom had to deal with Hewitt-Trussville.

The winners of these two games play each other in the Elite Eight on Tuesday, Feb. 20