Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts

Davie Enterprise Record

The Ellis girls basketball team added to its cartoonish dominance when it faced North Davie and Selma Burke.

The outcome at North Davie was a predictable 55-21 victory on Nov. 16. Despite missing one of their top players in Gracyn Coleman, the Jaguars dazzled during a 41-point first half. Gracie Shore (28) fell one point shy of Emma Slabach’s single-game scoring record from the 2013-14 season and raised her season average to 20.5. Olivia Smith was next with 15 points, including three triples.

“Gracie was having a stellar performance, rarely missing a shot and dropping in two 3-pointers,” coach Susan Jones said of Shore’s 22-point first half. “Olivia’s shots were falling.”

Layla Hazlip contributed six points and seven rebounds. Zoe Summers and Sydney Ward had four and two points, respectively.

“Layla continued to hold us steady in the paint,” Jones said. “The stats each game do not show how invaluable she is to us.”

For North, Jaynie Patton (10) cracked double figures for the third time. Zariya Oliver had six, Calloway Spillman three and Mabyn Morris two.

Ellis 38, Selma 17

The Jaguars mashed the gas pedal at the opening tip and didn’t let up until the coach called off the dogs early in the third.

They were locked in at tipoff because the first meeting was a 10-point game before Ellis pulled away in the second half. This time, Ellis absolutely obliterated the visiting Bears in the first half, taking a 22-0 advantage into the locker room on Nov. 20.

“Selma Burke was a team that gave us a good run for our money when we first played them (on Nov. 2),” Jones said. “So this time we made a few changes and had the girls ready for a competitive start.

“(Ten seconds into the game), Gracie picked a pass and threw it ahead to Gracyn, who was already on the way to our basket, getting a quick layup off the assist. (Later in the half), Olivia caught it, stepped back behind the 3-point line and drained it. We never looked back.”

Coleman had 11 points and four steals. Smith had 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Hazlip had seven points, three rebounds and three steals. Shore had seven points, seven steals and four rebounds. Summers had two points.

The 10-0 Jaguars are winning 51-17 on average and own the second-most wins in program history. They are chasing the record that was set last year (12-4).

SD 26, ND 19

A 12-9 deficit at the end of the third quarter wasn’t what South Davie coach Julie Snow envisioned when the Tigers visited North Davie on Nov. 20.

When the teams met Nov. 2, South led 30-12 after the third and won in lopsided style, 32-12. Although South was underwhelming for three quarters, they put it together when it mattered most, scored 17 fourth-quarter points and stopped a four-game losing streak.

“The first three quarters were so ugly,” Snow said. “But we scored 17 in the fourth and it was awesome.”

Allie Cothren hit four straight free throws in the fourth and scored six of her team-high eight points at crunch time. Natalye Keeton (four points) and Miller also provided clutch buckets as South evened its record at 5-5.

Sakariah Allison had six points. Sarenity Miller had all six of her points in the fourth. Akiela Young had two.

“Natalye hit one basket and two free throws in the fourth,” Snow said. “Everyone was so excited and that gave us the spark we needed. Then Allie going 4 for 4 from the free-throw line was huge.”

Meanwhile, the Wildcats (1-9) clearly gave it all they had. They led at the end of the first, second and third quarters. Spillman erupted for 12 points, or six more than her previous high, by draining three 3s.

They might have pulled it off had Morris, North’s most important defender, not gotten hurt in the third.

“If my five player didn’t get hurt in third quarter, I think we would’ve won,” coach Austin King said. “She bounced her head off the floor. Mabyn was the best defender of the game. She completely shut down their No. 15 player, who is really tall. Defensively, she’s a lot of the reason we were ahead most of the time. She just played super aggressive and got in their face.”

Oliver had four points, Zoe Shore two and Patton one.