More with Gore

I am sure Brandon Speck will be updating the sports section of monroe360.com during the game tonight – so you click here to stay up to date on the game.

You can also sign up for text updates from me during the game and you will also be able to get updates from other games I attend this season – click here.

A Vardaman loss will eliminate them from post-season play with Calhoun City taking the number 2 seed, Smithville number 3, and West Lowndes number 4.  A Vardaman win will put them at the number two seed, Calhoun City three, and Smithville number 4.

Remember Shaq calling the Spurs cowards for the Hack-A-Shaq game plan in the playoffs last year…

Well here is the best thing I’ve seen in my life by a coach:

Now that beard… that’s another story!

Here are my predictions for the first round of the 2, 3, and 4A playoffs. Winners in bold.

2A

Eupora vs Riverside
Bruce vs South Delta
Ackerman @ Simmons
Water Valley @ Leland
Baldwyn vs Coahoma Co
Walnut vs Leflore Co
Hamilton @ West Tally
Belmont @ West Bolivar

3A

Corinth vs Holly Springs
Ripley vs North Panola
Booneville @ Senatobia
North Pontotoc @ Rosa Fort
Louisville vs Amanda Elzy
Aberdeen vs Lexington McClain
Winona @ Velma Jackson
Amory @ Charleston

4A

Shannon vs Ridgeland
Itawamba AHS vs Yazoo City
Pontotoc @ Vicksburg
Tish County @ Pearl
Cleveland vs Neshoba Central
Lafayette County vs West Point
Hernando @ West Lauderdale
Oxford @ Noxubee County

Wesley Jumper tries to drive pass Matt Purvis.

West Union came to play against Ingomar early as the two teams battled to a 12-10 first quarter score in favor of the Falcons, but that is close as it would get for the Eagles as Ingomar established their press to shift the flow of the game in their favor.

“Tonight we were playing shadow ball,” Coach Norris Ashley.  “We were following them around like we were their shadow, but we finally started picking them up full-court to speed the game up a little bit and we were able to start to get some turnovers.”

And those West Union turnovers led to Ingomar points and lots of them as the Falcons scored 32 points in the second quarter to break open a two-point contest and take a 44-24 halftime lead after a first half that saw the resurgence of Ingomar big man Zach Carnell.

“That was the Zach I’ve been looking for, “ Ashley.  “He has been hiding the last few games, but when he is getting his points and rebounds then blocking a few shots when the defense forces the ball in there that’s what we got to have out of him.”

Carnell scored 13 of his team-high 21 points in the first half and saw limited action in the second half, but was a welcomed breakout game for Coach Ashley.

“I was glad to see that out him because if nothing else we got a lot out of Zach tonight,” Ashley.

Ingomar outscored West Union 30-12 in the third quarter to take a 74-36 lead in the third quarter before cruising to a 89-56 victory.

Matt Purvis added 18 points in limited action for the Falcons with the bulk of his points coming in the second and third quarters.

“Matt was kind of going a little bit too slow for what was good for him, but he started playing there towards the end of the first half,” Ashley.  “I thought Tyler McCay came in and played good defense and usually when you start playing good defense your offense gets better.”

Hunter McQuary led the Eagles with 25 while Wesley Jumper scored 20 points.

Ingomar will travel to Hickory Flat on Friday.

“It will be a very tough game because they have a lot of good players and are well coached,” Ashley.  “It will be a good challenge for us because we need to play somebody that will make us have to do things right because that’s the only way you are going to get better.”

The Falcons and Lady Falcons will stay on the road next week as they travel to Pine Grove on Election Night and will make the short trip up the road to Myrtle on Friday night before the girls take on Ashland at 3:30 on Saturday in the West Union Challenge.

Ingomar          12  30  30  15        89
West Union     10  14  12  20        56

Ingomar – Carnell 21, Purvis 18, McCollum 17, McCay 12, Foster 10, Ownes 4, Diaz 3, Stout 2

West Union – McQuary 25, Wesley Jumper 20, Wait 6, Zak Jumper 3, Hobson 2

Robyn Taylor (25) blocks out Ingomar's Shelly Grisham as April Rollins (24) moves in for the rebound.

The West Union Lady Eagles executed their game plan to near perfection on both sides of the floor against the Ingomar Lady Falcons to pick up a convincing 63-44 victory on Tuesday night.

“I was real happy with the way we played tonight,” Coach Andy Kirk. “We’ve been trying to hold our opponents under 40 points… they ended up getting 44 which is the most we have given up all season.”

The two teams battled back and forth in the first quarter until April Rollins connected on a pair of threes late in the quarter to give West Union a 17-11 lead and sparked the Lady Eagles offense on the night.

“April hit two big threes there in the first half that gave us some breathing room and gave us our lead that we were able to extend in the second half,” Kirk.

The outside shooting of Rollins opened up the paint and the Lady Eagles took advantage with an unselfish style of play to race their way to a 32-18 halftime lead. The Lady Eagles carried their solid team play over to the second half to put more distance between them and the Lady Falcons sparked by another Rollins three-pointer.

“We were able to share the ball… we had several assist and a lot of good drives to the basket tonight,” Kirk.

Lyndi Kidd uses a Maggie Cobb (20) screen to drive to the basket. Also in photo Carley Wilkerson (31) and Rachel Baker (14).

Ingomar closed the third quarter with a small run to cut the Lady Eagles 24-point lead to 49-30 heading into the fourth quarter, but West Union continued to play well as Claire Wilkerson led the way with 20 points to help her team pick up a 63-44 victory.

“Up until tonight we have had different a leading scorer for each game and this was (Claire’s) second time to lead us in scoring and she really stepped up for us” Kirk.

Rachel Baker scored 13 and Rollins added 10 while Kayla Stevens led Ingomar with 12 points.

West Union will travel to South Pontotoc on Thursday and will travel to Jackson on Friday to participate in the state cross-country meet on Saturday. The Eagles will host Blue Mountain on Tuesday and Baldwyn next Thursday before hosting the Third Annual West Union Girl’s Challenge on November 8th with all the Union County schools expect New Albany participating in the event.

Box Score

West Union   17 15 17 14     63
Ingomar        11   7 12 14     44

West Union – Claire Wilkerson 20, Baker 13, Rollins 10, Jumper 9, Taylor 8, Carley Wilkerson 2, Ganger 1

Ingomar – Stevens 12, Kidd 9, Shelly Grisham 9, Edwards 6, Cobb 4, Wise 4

Brandon Speck, Sports Editor of the Monroe County Journal, along W07BN Sports Director and Monitor-Herald sports columnist Adam Gore are at it again — this time asking you the readers to get involved with naming the rivalry game between Vardaman and Smithville.

Click here for the story at Monroe360.com

The duo did a similar act to bring interest to the 2008 North State Fast Pitch Softball Championship Series between Vardaman and Calhoun City that saw Speck eventually earn his share of world famous sweet potatos from Gore.

It was a move that generate interest in the game through their blogs as the wager drew nearly 2500 hits between the two sites and garnered attention from other media outlets across North Mississippi.

Speck and Gore will pick what they feel are the best suggestions and will allow fans to vote on their favorite series name on their sites.

Please leave your suggest here and/or at Monroe360.com.

The following games will take place at Calhoun City High School this coming Saturday.

12:00 – Vardaman vs Houston
1:30 – Lafayette County vs Okolona
3:00 – Bruce vs Aberdeen
4:30 – Calhoun City vs Charleston

Ingomar dropped their first game of the season to rival Myrtle in the championship game of the Ingomar Tournament.

The Falcons were hampered by turnovers in the first quarter as they fell behind 16-5, but turned things around in the second quarter to rally back to a 28-21 deficit by halftime behind a 9-point second quarter performance from Matt Purvis.

Ingomar also shot 5-of-5 from the free throw line in the second frame, but the Myrtle defense looked impressive in the first half holding Zach Carnell to only 2 points despite not having Jimel Judon to battle with the Ingomar big man in the paint.

Carnell got on track in the third quarter as he scored 6 points in the quarter, but the Hawks were able to outscore Ingomar 19-16 to build their lead to 47-37 by the end of the third quarter.

Tyler McCay tried his best to spark a fourth quarter rally by scoring 9 of his 12 points in the final frame, but once again the Hawks defense tighten down the stretch holding both Purvis and Carnell scoreless in the final frame.  Ingomar shot 9-of-15 from the charity stripe against the Hawks, but struggled to get to the line late in the contest to chip away at the lead as Myrtle picked up the 64-51 victory.

The Falcons advanced to the championship game by holding off a furious come-from-behind fourth quarter effort from the Ashland Devils to pick up a 54-52 win.

Ingomar took a 14-13 lead in the first quarter and quickly pushed their way to a 29-23 halftime lead, but the Devils did not go away quietly.  Both teams scored 14 points in the third quarter and Ashland outscored the Falcons 15-11 in the fourth — just shy of the come-from-behind victory as Ingomar held on for the 54-52 victory.

Box Scores

Ingomar    14  15  14  11        54
Ashland    13  10  14  15        52

Ingomar – Purvis 24, McCollum 10
Ashland – Jeremy Williams 14, Silas Fifer 11

Myrtle         16  12  19  17        64
Ingomar       5  16  16  14        51

Myrtle – Jordan 35, Wilson 10, Russ Yates 7, Montgomery 7, Cummings 3, and Milsaps 2.

Ingomar – Purvis 14, Tyler McCay 12, Zach Carnell 8, Tanner McCollum 8, Kensey Stout 7, and Clay Kidd 2.

Most people wrote off Ingomar in their championship game against the undefeated Myrtle Lady Hawks — everyone but the shorthanded Lady Falcons.

The Lady Falcon slim roster of eight players was one short as Shauna Grisham was gone on a church trip, but in the first half of play fans might have thought all seven players were on the floor at once as Ingomar came to play against their rivals.

Ingomar battled the Lady Hawks to a 26-24 halftime score before Myrtle used their depth to wear down the Lady Falcons to put the game away in the second half as they pressed their way to a 25-point lead before picking up the 68-47 victory.

“I’m proud of how the girls played in the tournament,” Coach Richard Byrd.  “We go from committing 31 turnovers in our first game of the season to having less than that in the entire tournament… the girls have been working really hard and the hard work is paying off.”

Kayla Stevens led the Lady Flacons with 16 while Maggie Cobb added 15 points.

Ingomar advance to the championship game by knocking off the Ashland Lady Devils 51-31 on Friday.

The Lady Falcons overcame a 11-5 first quarter deficit to take a 23-14 halftime lead sparked by their defensive play that only allowed three points scored in the second quarter along with an 8 point effort from Kayla Stevens and connecting on four three-pointers in the quarter.

Brittany Edwards picked up her play in the third quarter scoring 6 of her 12 points as the Lady Falcons outscored Ashland 14-6 and took control of the game defensively to take a 37-26 edge into the final frame.

Stevens and Edwards combined for eight points in the fourth quarter while Cobb added three including two crucial free throws that put the game out of reach as the Lady Falcons picked up the 51-31 win — their first of the season.

Ingomar was led in scoring by 16 points from Stevens while Cobb and Edwards added 12 each.  The Lady Falcon defense kept any Ashland player from scoring in double digits in the contest.

The Lady Falcons shot 6-of-9 from the free throw line while Ashland shot 6-of-14 from the line.

Box Scores

Ingomar      5  18  14  14        51
Ashland    11    3    6  11        31

Ingomar – Stevens 16, Cobb 12, Edwards 12, Lyndi Kidd 5, Shelly Grisham 4, and Anna McCutchen 2.

Ashland – Kiana Jones 7, Trenise Hampton 5, Kawanda Galmore 4, Tendria Smith 4, Lareka Glover 3, Rochelle Strickland 2, Rhadjeh Preston 2, Sharonda Buggs 2, Ieshia Bolden 1, and Tonya Abram 1.

Myrtle        13  13  22  20        68
Ingomar    11  13    8  15        47

Myrtle – Williams 20, Gilbert 14, Cox 12, Goolsby 6, Cobb 6, Suarez 5, Knowles 3, and Jordan 2.

Ingomar – Kayla Stevens 16, Maggie Cobb 15, Brittany Edwards 6, Claire Wise 6, Lyndi Kidd 2, and Anna McCutchen 2.

Despite not having the services of Jimel Judon, the Myrtle Hawks took care of business during the Ingomar Tournament behind the play of JJ Jordan.

“The other kids stepped up finding a way to beat some quality teams,” Coach Jonathan Ashley.  “Offensively JJ stepped to carry us… he made every big shot and that’s what he is going to have to do.”

Jordan totaled 62 points in a 65-47 win over Houlka on Thursday and a 64-51 win over Ingomar in the first Ashley Bowl of the season on Saturday.

Myrtle 65     Houlka 47

The Hawks jumped out to a 20-9 lead in the first quarter behind a 11-point effort from Jordan, but Houlka was able to get back in the contest after Myrtle went cold from the floor being outscored 12-9 to take a 29-21 lead into the break.

The two teams battled back and forth before Myrtle was able to take a 47-33 lead by the end of the third quarter and outscored the Wildcats 19-14 in the fourth quarter to hold off a pesky Wildcat squad for the 65-47 victory.

“Looking back on the game we did enough to win against a quality team with a real good coach that you know is going to be well prepared and have his team ready play,” Ashley.

Jordan led all scorers with 35 while Houlka was led by 11 points from James Stanton.

Houlka shot 4-of-15 from the free throw line while Myrtle was 14-of-27 on the night.

Myrtle 64     Ingomar 51

Myrtle forced Ingomar into a bevy of turnovers in the first quarter to take a 16-5 lead, but the Falcons made their adjustments to the Hawk press in the second quarter to charge back in the game to cut the Myrtle lead to 28-21 by halftime.
A Jordan three-pointer proved to be the difference in the third quarter and took care of business from the free throw line shooting 10-of-11 in a fourth quarter that got very intense both on and off the floor as the Hawks picked up the 64-51 victory.

Both coaches had already been whistled for a technical foul before an elbow to Matt Purvis from Jordan on a jump ball sent the fans into a frenzy, but cooler heads prevailed between the two players as a few short words were exchanged without any altercations — an act of intensity and sportsmanship that reminded everyone this is Union County basketball.

“There is nothing better than a county rivalry… going against Daddy it’s always fun especially when they have a good record and we have a good record and there is a big crowd in the bleachers,” Coach Jonathan Ashley.  “The kids always play hard when they are out there and respect each other when they are on and off the floor.”

Jordan led all scorers with 35 while Purvis led the Falcons with 14 points.

The Hawks will travel to Houlka on election day.

Box scores

Myrtle          20    9  17  19        65
Houlka          9  12  14  14        47

Myrtle – Jordan 27, David Wilson 17, Beau Cummings 6, Robert Montgomery 4, Will Gregory 4, Chad Isom 3, Russ Yates 2, Nick Milsaps 1, and Steven Taylor 1.

Houlka – Staton 11, Kevin Moore 8, Deandre Allen 8, Brandon Moss 5, Rondell Wims 3, Grant Galloway 2, Corey Pulliam 2, Brandon Isabell 2, Brandon Grifis 2, Dante Turner 1, and Lorenzo Jones 1.

Myrtle         16  12  19  17        64
Ingomar       5  16  16  14        51

Myrtle – Jordan 35, Wilson 10, Russ Yates 7, Montgomery 7, Cummings 3, and Milsaps 2.

Ingomar – Purvis 14, Tyler McCay 12, Zach Carnell 8, Tanner McCollum 8, Kensey Stout 7, and Clay Kidd 2.