Ellwood Christian’s La’Darian Parker scored 20 points in Tuesday evening’s game against Selma High but it wasn’t enough to defeat a staunch Saints team that had four players to reach double figures. Ellwood showed incredible effort but eventually fell 66-57.

The Eagles were only 14 of 26 from the free throw line which possibly cost them the game. “Free throws basically killed us tonight,” Ellwood Christian coach Darrel Walker said. “We lost by nine points and we missed twelve free throws, but I’m really proud of our guys and how they were able to hang in there with a good 5A school like Selma.”

The Eagles jumped out to an early lead only to have it dissolved by Juwan Watters, who sank back to back 3-point buckets in the final seconds of the first period to give Selma a 14-9 advantage.

The Saints went on a 17-4 run prior to the half which included three 3 pointers and was concluded by a Khamaul Jones dunk with less than a minute remaining. The Eagles made another layup and went into the locker room down 33-21.

Trailing 48-32 late in the game, Ellwood’s Marquieth Gullett and Anthony Woods both hit 3 point shots and Jalen Furlow added 5 additional points to pull the Eagles within 9 at the 6:45 mark in the final period. Selma was efficient enough from the foul line to pull out of reach in the end.

“I feel like we played real good team ball tonight,” said Selma High’s head coach Woodie Jackson.

“Our boys played pretty decent defense and we shot the ball good a times.”

Juwan Watters led Selma with 13 points, Dexter Hatcher and Keshawn Ford each scored 12 apiece.

 

Selma 55, Ellwood Christian 16 (Girls)

The Selma Lady Saints dictated their contest with the Lady Ellwood Christian Eagles 55-16 Tuesday night.

In overwhelming fashion, the Saints only allowed 8 points during each half of the game. “This is our first visit to Ellwood and I’m happy with the way our team played,” Saints head coach Anthony Harris said. “Our defense really showed up and we were able to take advantage of some steals.”

Selma’s Takeesha Wilson led the Saints with 17 points while Brenna Porter added 9.

Ebony Simpson scored most of Ellwood’s points — 10 of the Eagles — in the loss to the Saints.