Moody Junior High Basketball Wrap-up

Staff Report

The Moody Junior High girls ended their season recently in the St. Clair County Tournament held at Steele. 

Moody was the number one seed going into the tournament and had to face Springville, who had beaten St. Clair County Middle School on Tuesday. Moody had beaten Springville twice this year and Springville proved the old basketball saying “it’s hard to beat a good team three times.” 

In the first quarter of play Moody outscored Springville 11-10 behind Alexus Martin’s seven points. 

The second quarter belonged to Springville as they outscored Moody 12-9 to take a 22-20 advantage into halftime. 

The third quarter was back and forth as Springville also took it 8-6 for a 30-26 lead. Moody took the final quarter 9-6 but it was not enough as Springville took the game and advanced to play Ragland for the championship. The final score was Springville 36, Moody 35. 

“This game was a heartbreaker for the girls, we won 12 in a row and then the Christmas break came and the winter storm came and we had to cancel games. We had not played for almost a month,” Moody coach Terry Etheridge said. “I think we played well but we shot ourselves in the foot. This is a game where we really didn’t get beat we just beat ourselves. Like I told the girls, free throws and defense wins championships and we did not get it done on the free throw line.”  Moody only hit 9-of-30 free throws. 

“I have never seen a team miss 21 free throws and win, and I still haven’t,” Etheridge said.  Moody ended the season 17-8 overall. Leading the way for Moody was Alexus Martin with 18 points, Micaela Robinson with seven points, Alexis Moore with four points, Payton Swisher with two points, Chelsea Goodwin with two points and Sarah Crutchfield with two points. Robinson and Martin were named to the All-County team.

The Ragland junior high girls went on to beat Springville for the championship.

 

* In Boys action: Moody played Ragland in their county tournament game. 

“I was really worried due to the fact we haven’t played in almost a month,” Etheridge said. Moody looked a little rusty in the first quarter as they took a 13-9 advantage. 

The second quarter also belonged to Moody by a score of 14-8. The halftime score was 27-17.  “We were not rotating to our spots like we normally do, I think we did a much better job in the second half,” Etheridge said.

Moody came out and outscored Ragland 16-6 in the third quarter. The fourth quarter also belonged to Moody by a score of 15-9. Moody took the game to advance to the championship where they faced Springville. 

Moody was led by Josh Morgan with 13 points, Michael Barron with ten points, Andrew Murray with nine points, Dee Williams with nine points, Issac Vacheresse with six points, Kenny Dizaar with five points, DeVontae Vandergrift with two points, KaJuan Crawford with two points and Doug Barnes with two points. Moody shot 7-for-15 from the free throw line. 

In the St. Clair County Guys’ Junior High Championship game Moody faced rival Springville.  Moody jumped out to a 10-2 lead, but Springville fought back and the first quarter ended 12-9 in Moody’s favor. Springville took the second period by a score of 7-6 but Moody had a 18-16 lead at the half. 

“Josh Morgan really kept us in the game in the first half by scoring 14 of our 18 points,” Etheridge said. 

Moody extended the lead in the third quarter by outscoring Springville 8-5 for a 26-21 lead. 

The fourth quarter was back and forth as the teams traded a few baskets. Moody started trying to run “4 corners” to put the game away and Springville was forced to start fouling in hopes that Moody would miss their free throws. Unfortunately for Springville they picked the best two Moody free throw shooters to foul. Dee Williams and Issac Vacheresse combined to hit 12-of-14 free throws. 

Moody took the fourth period 20-9, and the championship by a final score of 46-30. Moody went 18-for-30 from the free throw line. Leading the way for Moody was Josh Morgan with 14 points, Dee Williams with 12 points, Issac Vacheresse with 12 points, and Michael Barron with eight points. 

DeVontae Vandergrift and Andrew Murray had big defensive and rebounding games. Moody finishes the year with a season record of 20-2 and undefeated in county games and regular season games. 

“I am so proud of these boys, they had a long layoff and played like they never had a day off.  We are gonna miss these eighth graders, they have given a lot to our program. I am really proud of our program too, we have won five boys’ championships in six years and one girls’ championship the one year the boys didn’t win it,” Etheridge said. 

This championship is the sixth in a row for head coach Terry Etheredge. 

Moody guys on the all tournament team:  Michael Barron, Issac Vacheresse, Dee Williams, and MVP - Josh Morgan.





- Staff Report

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