Bauxite teams face hard conference road
Martin Couch Sports editor

BAUXITE BASKETBALL BOB MCADORY PHOTOS Left, Lady Miner Jamie Boshears takes a shot against Atkins. Right, Miner G.J. Mayle goes up for a basket against the Red Devils

Bauxite Miners head coach Mark Hall thinks his team should be 2-0 in the 5AAA Conference after one week in the league.

The Miners were narrowly beaten at home by Atkins 52- 48, but rebounded with a 47-37 victory at Magnet Cove.

This week, though, the Miners have two tough games at home against Perryville and Pottsville.

"I felt like against Atkins we should have won the game," Hall said. "We led most of way and they took the lead in the fourth quarter. We ran out of juice, but I always say that going on the road, you have to be 10 or 15 points better, and we were against Magnet Cove."

Against the Panthers, Aaron Mathis came off the bench to contribute 10 points in the second half to keep the Miners in front. Wesley Stubblefield led Bauxite with 14 points, while Derek Glomski added 11.

"We were playing on their home floor and we came out flat," Hall said. "They led at halftime, but in the third quarter, we finally rolled the dice there and played a lot more kids to save our legs a little bit. We got G.J. Mayle a breather with Aaron Mathis coming in off the bench. He played some great defense for us and was a leader."

Mathis had taken the initiative as the third quarter was about to start to retrieve the team's water bottles that were forgotten in the locker room.

"I saw him running across the court to get the water bottles and I said to my assistant coach that Aaron was putting the team before himself and I was going to give him a chance to play," Hall said. "He was thinking about the team out there and he hit some big shots, but those little things he did mean a lot. He is one of those kids who didn't play last year and this is his swan song, being a senior. He really did a great job for us and calmed the team down. He worked well with Mayle, running the game plan at the top and playing defense. The kids at Magnet Cove played extremely hard and we were fortunate to come out with a win."

Against Atkins, the Miners started off with the hot hand, jumping out to a 16-5 first-quarter lead. Mayle scored six of the first eight points for Bauxite, with Spencer Workman hitting for the other two.

Glomski scored twice and Chase Dunlap scored to account for the Miners 16 points.

A shot by Jacob Barnard led to him making two free throws along with Stubblefield's one, then Glomski scored inside, Stubblefield hit twice from the wing to push Bauxite's lead to 27-11 with 2:27 left in the first half. Atkins came back to score seven straight points and cut the Miners lead to nine, 27-18, by halftime.

The Red Devils added a three-point play to start the third period and continued to cut into the Miners lead.

A made shot from Stubblefield and a free throw by Workman were all the points Bauxite scored in the third quarter until Dexter Reed hit from the inside to make it a 32-30 Miners lead with 1:36 to go in the period. A 3-pointer put Atkins ahead 33- 32 by the end of three.

A Red Devils 7-0 run started the third period until Mayle sank a free throw with 3:54 to play. A three-point play pushed Atkins' lead to 10 points and another basket made it a 12-point game with 3:09 to play.

The Miners fought back with two more free throws from Mayle, who also added a 3-pointer to cut the lead to nine points.

Stubblefield hit two free throws and Mayle sank another 3-pointer to make it a 47-43 game with 1:24 to play. Two more free throws from Mayle closed the gap to two points, but that's as close as Bauxite would get.

Atkins scored five straight points, but free throws by Mayle and two from Travis Wood cut the lead to four points with 14 seconds remaining.

Mayle led Bauxite with 18 points, while Stubblefield hit for 11, Glomski scored six points, Barnard added four and Workman scored three, while Wood, Reed and Dunlap all had two points.

This week the Miners turn their attention to Perryville and Pottsville.

"The boys gave a great effort, but the effort that is coming from those two teams are going to make it a tall mountain to climb," Hall said. "We're going to have to be ready to play. Those guys are the top teams in our conference and it's good that we're getting to play them at home. They are coming to win, so every one of us has to step up and get in position to win these ball games."

Lady Miners

The Bauxite Lady Miners aren't undefeated any more.

Much to the disappointment of Lady Miners head coach Josh Harrison, Bauxite dropped two 5AAA Conference games last week to Atkins and Magnet Cove. Harrison thinks that those two losses should have been wins.

"The effort hasn't been there," Harrison said.

Against Atkins, the Lady Miners were down by 21 points in the third quarter, but came back to have a chance to tie the game by the end of the period.

"It took a minute," Harrison said. "We lost another six points to them and I pulled the starters. If they weren't going to play, it was time to let someone else play and that kind of prodded them to give effort. It's not that the talent or system wasn't there, the effort wasn't there. It wasn't there in the first half or the first three minutes of the third quarter."

The Lady Miners opened the game with Jessica Crow hitting a short jumper; then Courtney Canada made a free throw to tie game after Atkins hit a 3-pointer. Crow scored four more points, but the Lady Red Devils held firm. Jamie Boshears put back an offensive miss, but Atkins took the lead on a 3-pointer.

Four straight Lady Miners turnovers ended up costing them three points, but Rikki Marshall put back an offensive miss and Amanda Bradbury hit a jumper with two seconds left in the first period to tie the game 13-13.

The Lady Red Devils hit 10 of 20 free throws in the second period and added a couple of three-pointers to post a 10-point halftime lead 31-21. Marshall made a 3-pointer and Crow hit a free throw, but for two and a half minutes, the Lady Miners didn't score. Megan Creekmore sank two free throws, and added an offensive rebound with 1:50 to play in the half, but that was it.

Atkins opened the second half with an 11-0 run to go up 21 points in the first three minutes of the third. Creekmore hit two more free throws to stop the run, then Crow scored on a jumper. After the Lady Red Devils pushed the lead back to 20, Boshears scored, Marshall added a layup and Boshears added a free throw to cut the lead to 15. Crow made a steal and converted a layup; then Ali Sanders hit one of two free throws and came up with a rebound as Katie Riddling was fouled. She sank two free throws, made a steal and hit Marshall for a layup as the quarter closed with Atkins up 45-37.

The Lady Red Devils hit the first shot of the fourth period, but Marshall scored and Crow added a free throw.

Boshears scored inside, Marshall added two free throws and Boshears scored again to cut the Atkins lead to 51-46 with 5:12 to play. Four straight free throws by Atkins pushed the lead back to nine points, but Marshall added two free throws, Boshears scored a field goal and Marshall hit two more free throws to make it a 55-52 game at the 2:50 mark. A steal by Crow resulted in a missed shot and then a foul. Atkins made the free throws, but then when Bauxite was fouled, the rim wasn't as kind.

A basket by Canada with 1:40 to play cut the lead to three points again, but the Lady Miners turned the ball over three times in the final minute as the Lady Red Devils scored three more points to ice the game 60- 57.

The week didn't get better for the Lady Miners. In an expected win at Magnet Cove, Jessica Goodnight of the Lady Panthers was on fire and the Lady Miners fell by two points.