Alcovy girls, Newton boys emerge victorious

The Alcovy girls basketball team relied on a strong defense to pull away from its rival Tuesday. The Tigers held Newton to nine fourth-quarter points and ended the game on a 15-2 run to win 60-47.Danyle Forney?s three-point play with five minutes remaining tied the game at 45-45 for Newton, but the visiting Rams wouldn?t get any closer.Alcovy (1-1) got a putback by Meagan Tucker to go up 47-45, and later Kate Palo drained a three-pointer to cap a 9-0 run and put Alcovy up 54-45.Thanks to a suffocating press by Alcovy, Newton would get just two free throws the rest of the way.?We did a better job of moving the ball around (in the second half), try and make them guard us,? Alcovy coach Kidada Holtzclaw said. ?We?re small in numbers so we didn?t press a lot in the first half. We gave them a little bit different look, second half we came out, played a little zone press, little man press.?After taking its first lead at 8-6 on a three-pointer by Precious Price, Newton (0-1) led for the remainder of the first half. The Rams held their biggest lead at 22-15 after Mikola Burts? steal and bucket sealed a 7-0 run. But Tucker sank seven free throws toward the end of the second quarter to help close the gap to 26-24 at halftime.The teams stayed close in the third quarter. Forney got seven of her team-high 15 points during the period, including a field goal that capped a 7-0 run and put the Rams up 37-30. Lakeiyah Sorrells had a putback, and Lisa Kossally and Forney traded field goals to make it a 39-35 game.Tucker, who scored a game-high 18 points, knocked down a three-pointer to help the Tigers close the quarter down 39-38.?Just take it to them and have that no-quit attitude,? Holtzclaw said of the halftime adjustment. ?That?s one of the things we talked about ... was attack the basket. We were able to pull it out.?Newton boys 46, Alcovy 40The Newton boys got some payback in the second game of the night but needed late heroics to win their season opener.In a 40-40 game late in the fourth, Derrick Henry stole a pass and fed Alex Ordu (team-high 11 points) for the go-ahead layup. Ordu was intentionally fouled on the play and sank two free throws to put Newton (1-0) up 44-40.In a defensive struggle, Newton took its first lead on Justin Gates? field goal early in the first quarter and didn?t trail again the rest of the game.Alcovy (0-2) got just two field goals in the second quarter. Willie Smith got a pass from Henry for a basket, then Henry hit two free throws to help Newton go into the locker room up 22-18.In the third, Newton built its largest lead at 34-25 on a three-point play by Henry, but the Tigers ended the quarter on a 7-2 run get to within four.No team held a lead larger than two points for most of the fourth quarter, and Alcovy tied it at 40-40 on two free throws by Devon Edwards, who led all scorers with 15 points.

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