CLINTON, Mississippi — The Alabama boys and girls' high school all-stars team scored a pair of victories Saturday against all-stars from Mississippi.
32nd Alabama-Mississippi Classic Alabama Girls 89, Mississippi Girls 81
Alabama’s girls rolled to its fifth straight all-star win Saturday beating Mississippi 89-81 in the 32nd Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Basketball Classic at played at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College at Clinton, MS Saturday.
Alabama’s girls have now won five all-star games in a row – including the last three played at Clinton – and hold an 18-14 edge in the series. The Alabama-Mississippi Boys’ All-Star Game tipped off at 3:15 p.m.
Hoover senior Aniya Hubbard scored 17 points and had a game-high 10 rebounds to earn MVP honors for Alabama. Mississippi MVP was Carly Keats of Neshoba Central. Keats scored 24 point with six coming on two late 3-pointers.
Hubbard was 8-of-16 from the field with one trey and also had four assists and four steals in a very strong all-around effort.
The talented Alabama squad led 27-23 early in the second quarter but by halftime had a 54-37 lead – outscoring the visitors 27-14 in the final seven minutes before intermission.
The visitors, coached by Rogers’ Blake Prestage and Hewitt-Trussville’s Tonya Hunter, took control early in the first quarter thanks in big part to the play Hubbard. The Florida Atlantic signee had 11 points in 11 minutes of play in the first half. More importantly, she gave the Alabama squad a calming presence – especially on offense.
Hubbard picked up where she left off in the second half providing one big play after another, albeit a rebound and bucket or a pass to an open teammate. Shaniah Nunn of Fairfield had a big steal midway through the third period and fed a pass to Kelsey Thompson of Davidson who sank a trey to extend Alabama’s lead to 53-40. A trey and a putback by Hazel Green’s Samiya Steele stretched Alabama’s lead to 16 at 60-44 with two minutes remaining in the third period as well. When Hubbard went to the bench with four fouls in the second half, Steele, the Class 6A MVP stepped to the forefront providing strong floor leadership on defense and on the boards as Alabama took full control rolling into the final quartet with 65-49 lead.
Steele finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists for Alabama. Park Crossing’s Alexis Andrews scored 16 – including 4-of-7 from the 3-point arc, and Hartselle’s Masyn Marchbanks had seven points. Emma Kate Tittle of Deshler had six points, Emma Smith of Vestavia Hills added six points, four rebounds and two steals with some strong minutes in the second half, and Pisgah’s Molly Heard had five points, six rebounds and two assists for Alabama.
Alabama was 11-o-27 on 3-pointers with eight different players sinking at least one. Mississippi, coached by Devin Hill if Biloxi, was just 8-of-30. Keats was 6-of-9, however. The rest of the team was 2-of-21.
Alabama Boys win 32nd Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic, 96-89
Alabama’s Boys’ All-Stars push the pedal to the metal in the first half building a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter and staved off a late Mississippi rally to post a 96-89 win over Mississippi in the 32nd Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Basketball Classic played at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College at Clinton, MS Saturday afternoon. Alabama’s girls won earlier Saturday to give the visitors a complete sweep.
Alabama’s boys now hold a 17-15 edge in the series which has been played annually since in 1991.
The visitors, coached by Montgomery Catholic’s Mike Curry and Spanish Fort’s Jimbo Tolbert, totally dominated the opening half thanks to the strong play of McGill-Toolen Catholic’s 6-foot-6 Barry Dunning, an Arkansas signee, and Sipsey Valley’s 6-4 Martavious Russell, a Mississippi State signee.
Russell put the icing on the cake in the first half with a steal and dunk followed by a behind-the-head dunk over a 10-second span in the final two minutes before intermission. His two buckets stretched Alabama’s lead to 53-31 with 1:30 left and led 55-33 heading into the second half.
Mississippi rallied in the second half to cut the lead to nine with 10 minutes to play, but Russell stepped in with Dunning out of the game to stretch the lead by to 13.
Mississippi’s all-stars cut the Alabama lead to 78-70 with just over seven minutes left to play, however, and got the ball back after two straight Alabama misses. Lee-Huntsville’s Jacari Lane got the steal and fed to Dunning on the fast break who slam-dunked for two, was fouled and sank the free throw to stretch the led back to 11 at 84-73. Although Mississippi rallied late, the hosts never recovered.
Dunning finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and was 3-of-3 at the foul line. Russell added 19 points, nine rebounds and finished 9-of-14 from the field. Grissom’s Efrem Johnson chipped in 15 points, Midfield’s Anthony Johnson had 10 and Lane had eight points, three steals and one assist. Enterprise’s Elijah Terry, the Class 7A state tournament MVP last week, had 11 rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and four points – turning in one of the defensive efforts of the game for Alabama.
Kimani Hamilton, 6-8 guard heading to Mississippi State, earned Mississippi MVP honors with 23 points and seven rebounds. George Marshall of Forest Hill also had 23 points and Samuel Murray II of Harrison Central had seven points and team-high 10 rebounds. Mississippi’s head coach was Kendrick Davis of Wayne County.