BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Keystone Heights High School recorded double-digit wins over Northside Christian Academy and Eastside at the girls basketball program’s annual Winter Shootout, which took place Dec. 3.
Hope Christian Academy, Branford and Fort White were also part of the field.
Tournament sponsors were Vulcan, Southland Realty and Management Co., Hatch Realty Services, Mil-Con Electric, Santa Fe Title Company, Bryan’s Ace Hardware, Hometown Health and Wellness, Custom Screen Enclosures, Karl’s Pool Service, C&C Cabinets and Doors, 3G Fabrication, Beal’s Team Lake Area Realtor, the Massey family, Conant’s Remodeling LLC, Fancy Nails and Spa, and Urban Finds.
The day was supposed to consist of six games, but Hope had to pull out of its matchup against Fort White due to a player illness.
Keystone took on Northside to start the tournament at 9 a.m., with the Indians getting 12 points and 10 rebounds from Dezaray Bright in a 57-13 win.
Bright and Kiley Channell proved to be tough defensively, with each coming away with seven steals.
Channell scored 12 points as well, while also adding five assists and two blocks. Yasmin Bryant scored 11 points, with McKinlee Kirkland adding six and Alana Anderson, Bryanna Channell, Jaynell Hill and Kadence Massey each adding four.
Massey grabbed 10 rebounds, while Kirkland had three steals.
Northside got four points each from Jacee Smith and Ava Welsh. Leona Harden and Kiara Boyd scored 3 and two points, respectively.
The morning session also featured Branford defeating Hope 42-11 and Fort White defeating Eastside 38-25.
3-point contest, All-Tournament team
A three-point shooting contest took place after the third game of the tournament was played, with players from each team taking turns to see how many shots they could sink in a minute.
The Indians’ first contestant was Bryant, who made six. Kiley Channell then made seven, which put her at the top of the field until Branford’s Annmarie Mowrer made seven as well.
A four-way tie for first was eventually created when Fort White’s N’Coreyia Atkins and Eastside’s Precious Marshall also made seven each.
Fort White’s Madison Brown came up just short up joining the leaders, making six.
Atkins, Channell, Marshall and Mowrer each participated in another round to determine the event’s winner, which turned out to be Atkins, who made six shots. Channell made five, followed by Marshall with three and Mowrer with two.
Following the three-point contest, the All-Tournament team, as voted on by coaches, was announced, with Keystone’s Kiley Channell named MVP. The other members of the team were Keystoone’s Bright, Hope’s Brooke McCloud, Northside’s Smith, Branford’s Keera Hunt, Eastside’s Aniya West and Fort White’s Atkins.
NCA falls in 2nd game to Branford
It was just a five-point game at the half, but the Northside Eagles eventually lost 22-6 to Branford when action resumed after the naming of the All-Tournament team.
The Eagles turned the ball over 11 times in the first quarter, but trailed only 4-0 going into the second. Northside got a strong defensive effort from Welsh, who had three steals and forced another turnover in the opening quarter.
Branford’s Mowrer had two baskets to put the Buccaneers up 8-0.
Arianna Norman finally put the Eagles on the board when she made a free throw with 1:31 to play in the first half. Less than a minute later, Smith scored on a layup, which made it an 8-3 game going into the break.
Northside had few highlights in the second half, though the Eagles’ Smith did score a basket off an offensive rebound.
Welsh had four steals in the second half.
Bright pours in 20 points in KHHS win
Bright led all scorers with 20 points as the tournament concluded with the Indians defeating Eastside 44-30 and improving their record on the season to 5-2.
The first quarter began and ended with three-point baskets by Bryant, with the second sending Keystone into the second quarter leading 15-9.
After scoring eight points in the first quarter, Bright poured in 10 points to help the Indians take a 29-17 halftime lead. Six of her points in the quarter came on eight free-throw attempts.
Eastside faced some serious defensive pressure from Kiley Channell, who came away with four steals in the first half. She also drew a charge on Eastside’s Kacie Singleton after Singleton made a backcourt steal in the second quarter.
The Indians held Eastside to three points in the third quarter as built a lead of 18 points. Keystone’s Jaynell Hill had two steals in the quarter, which consisted of seven Eastside turnovers in all.
Bryant and Channell finished with eight and seven points, respectively. Anderson, Hill, Brynn Creekmore and Rexi Lewis each had two points, while Bryanna Channell added one.
Bright and Kiley Channell had 12 and eight rebounds, respectively, while Hill had six. Channell led the team in steals with seven and assists with five.
Upcoming games for KH, Northside, Hope
Keystone (5-2) played Union County this past Monday (Dec. 5) and will host Baldwin on Friday, Dec. 9, at 6 p.m. The Indians then travel to play Middleburg on Monday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m.
Northside (1-4) played Corinth Christian on Dec. 5 and will host Cedar Key on Friday, Dec. 9, at 6 p.m. The Eagles travel to play Covenant School of Jacksonville on Monday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m.
Hope (1-2) travels to play Gainesville Christian Community on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at 6 p.m. and will travel to Jasper to play Corinth Christian on Thursday, Dec. 8, at 5:30 p.m. The Lions travel to Jacksonville to play Old Plank Christian on Monday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m. and then travel to play Ocala Christian on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 6:30 p.m.
