Calera sweeps Colbert for 2A district titles

Strong first half starts propelled Calera to a sweep of rival Colbert for the Class 2A district championship on Saturday night.

The 12th ranked Lady Bulldogs steadily pulled away in the opener to topple the visiting Lady Leopards, 60-38, while improving to 23-2 on the season.

Calera’s boys raced to a double-digit first quarter lead in a monster opening half before holding off the Leopards, 6452, in the nightcap while improving to 1114.

All four teams will be in Hobart for regional tournament play on Thursday. Colbert girls face Hobart at 1 p.m., Colbert boys challenge Mangum at 2:30, Calera girls face off with Mangum at 6 p.m. with Calera boys battling sixth-ranked Hobart at 7:30.

Girls

Sophomore Carlaysia Brown poured in 10 of the Lady Bulldogs’ 15 first period to help stake them to a 15-9 advantage.

The Lady Bulldogs followed with a 20-8 scoring flurry in the second stanza with Amariah McLaughlin notching eight of those for a commanding 35-17 cushion at the half.

A 17-6 Calera run in the third frame extended the margin to a whopping 29 points through three quarters.

Brown notched a team-high 22 points in just three quarters of action to pace three Lady Bulldogs in double figures. Emma Daniel tossed in 14 and McLaughlin added 10.

Calera also picked up five points from Kaysun Thralls, Kenzie Conder scored four, Jesslyn O’Dell had three and Megan Burris ended with two.

Colbert’s Aericca Olsen led all scorers in the game with 24 points. Dayla Coker contributed eight, Tally Rowland tallied four and Kat Fisher had two.

Boys

Standout senior Devin Brown pumped in eight points in each of the first two stanzas, sparking Calera to an 18-5 edge after one and a commanding 40-18 bulge at intermission.

Colbert responded in the third quarter with a 13-6 scoring flurry and also outpointed the Bulldogs, 21-19, in the final period but could not overcome the double digit deficit.

Logan Bumgarner canned three treys on the way to a team-high 21 points for Calera while Brown tallied 18.

Devan Walton contributed eight, Lex Carlton had seven, Gavin Chaffin pitched in five, Talon Rose and Rance Lewellen scored two apiece with Eason Humphers rounding out the total with one point.

The Leopards got a gamehigh 24 points from Chasien Simes but the only other Colbert player to reach double digits was Zade Simes with 10.

Kyle Peebles finished with eight, Adrian Clement had seven and Fernando Arellano posted three.