Darton returns with victory over Fort Benning

ALBANY — The Darton Lady Cavaliers started 2015 off with a 101-59 win over Fort Benning in the Darton Military Classic Friday afternoon at the Cavalier Arena.

Darton went back to their old ways despite a new look. Forward Tamarah Fisher was declared ineligible due to academics and is done for the rest of the year. Head coach Lea Henry said losing her production and leadership is a huge blow and they must quickly adjust to playing without her.

But Henry was pleased that various players stepped up to fill in the void, particularly Tyeshia Smith who finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds in Fisher’s absence. Shaineequah Fluellyn was inserted into the starting lineup and finished with a season-high 16 points to go with four assists. Shanea Armbrister carried the brunt of the offensive load, finishing with a game-high 41 points in 30 minutes of action.

“I was really pleased today,” Henry said about her team’s overall performance. “I thought that Tyeshia did a good job inside and Shai [Fluellyn] came into the starting lineup and she scored like she’s gonna need to for us. So it’s kind of a big adjustment for our team losing a kid that averaged 15 and 8, but everybody’s handling it really well.”

Darton finished the first half with a 55-24 lead. Fort Benning came out in the second half and continued to chip away at the lead. Darton never let the lead get below 20, but Henry said not having that extra leadership on the floor affected her team throughout the game.

“We had moments when we kinda lost our focus a little bit,” she said. “Because now, we don’t have four upperclassmen on the floor. Now we’ve got three and two freshman and then when we come off the bench we actually go with a freshman. So we become a younger team, and I think that being a younger team is gonna create some lack of focus here and there, so I thought today we had moments when our focus wasn’t there.”

The Lady Cavaliers resume play today at 2 p.m. against Fort Gordon.

ALBANY TECH WOMEN 75, FORT GORDON 51: Albany Tech put together a solid performance against Fort Gordon in the Darton Military Classic and started 2015 off with a win.

The Lady Titans started the game off with a 16-3 run and never looked back despite a game-high 30 points from Fort Gordon’s Kristina Farmer.

Albany Tech had a balanced scoring attack. Quiondra Darrishaw led the way with 19 points, followed by Kayla Bowens with 18, Naomi Wilds added 15 and Jenisha Hollins finished with 10.

Head coach Kenneth Williams said starting the second half of the season off with a win is big for his team, but they still have a lot of work to do if they’re to get the season back on track.

“[The win was] really big,” he said. “We haven’t been playing really well, haven’t been shooting the ball well. I thought we shot the ball decently tonight. Right now, we’re just losing focus too much, especially defensively. Sometimes everybody doesn’t know what defense we’re in and that’s something we’ve got to correct.”

The Lady Titans will play again today at 4 p.m. against Fort Benning before their first conference game against Georgia Highlands on Jan. 7. Williams said they have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time.

“It doesn’t get any easier whatsoever,” he said. “So we’ve got to pick up the pace defensively.”