HANCEVILLE, AL—The Wallace State-Hanceville basketball teams pleased the home crowd with a pair of wins Tuesday night in their first appearance at Tom Drake Colisuem this season.
The Wallace State Lady Lions defeated Alabama Southern’s women 80-64 in the first game of the evening. The Wallace State Lions followed up with a down-to-the wire 75-74 win over the Alabama Southern men.
The Lady Lions managed just a one point lead at half time before pulling away convincingly in the second half.
“We had several people step up the second half,” said Wallace State women’s coach Larry Slater. “We shot free throws well all night.”
Tamika Dukes, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds on the night, scored 16 points during the second half. She hit 10 of 11 free throws.
Jessica Shearer landed three three-pointers and scored 12 points in all. Keri Havis, who hit 3-of-3 field goal attempts, had 10 points. Brittany Allison recorded 10 rebounds and nine points.
“We’ve got to improve with each game,” said Slater.
“There’s no such thing as a freshman in junior college athletics. Everyone is expected to be able to play, so we’ve got to get our freshman some experience early on. The games we have coming up before Christmas will give us the experience we need,” he said.
The Lady Lions are 2-2 on the season. They won their home opener against Columbia State (Tenn.) and lost to Georgia Perimeter and Gulf Coast Community College (Fla.) earlier this month.
The Lady Lions travel to Wallace-Selma on Dec. 7 and return home on Dec. 8 for a 6 p.m. game against Meridian. They will play three more on the road before the holidays.
The Wallace State Lions recovered from a one point half time deficit to win their home opener.
“That was the hardest I’ve ever seen a Wallace State basketball team play,” said Wallace State Athletic Director Randy Putman.
“It’s good to start with a win,” said Wallace State men’s coach Allen Sharpe.
Brad Cochran led the team with 20 points, 18 of them from three-pointers. Emmanuel Griffin scored 19 points. Kindall Butler was 5-for-5 on field goal attempts and scored 11 points in all. Bobby Brown also recorded 11 points.
“Our team will have some close games—that’s just the way we play with the personnel we’ve got,” Sharpe said. Nine freshman and three sophomores make up this year’s team.
“We have to continue to find ways to win, and to do better about making shots when we have to,” he said. “We will improve with each game.”
With earlier wins over Cumberland University (Tenn.) and Lurleen B. Wallace, and losses to Columbia and Faulkner State, they are now 3-2 on the season.
The Lions travel to Millsaps College (Miss.) on Thursday and return home on Dec. 6 for a 7 p.m. game against Cumberland.
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ACCC STATS
Wallace State Basketball Sweeps Home Opener
Cassie Daniels