Dougherty takes pair of wins over Albany

ALBANY — A non-region matchup against Albany High School served as a tune up for the Dougherty Lady Trojans as they cruised to a 52-20 win Tuesday night.

ALBANY — Dougherty head coach Khadijah Ali said coming into the game, the mindset was simple.

“We were just trying to get our first win of 2017 and hopefully build some momentum from that and keep going,” she said. “We just wanted to keep working on everything that we’ve been working on over the break and since the Monroe game and get better like we’ve been doing.”

Dougherty defeated Albany 52-20 in a nonregion game at Dougherty High.

For the Squaws, the game served as a distraction from the destruction caused by the storm last week according to Albany head coach Candenesa Thomas. The game was supposed to be played at Albany High, but the school is still without power as are several of her players.

The first quarter was tight with both teams working to find their rhythm offensively. The Squaws struggled to get into their halfcourt sets and Dougherty’s defense made it hard to find a good shot. The Lady Trojans, on the other hand, got good looks at the basket but couldn’t convert.

After a putback from Albany’s Jasmine Walden, Dougherty led 4-2. Kianna Lancaster sank a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to end the first giving Dougherty a 9-3 advantage.

The Lady Trojans went on a 10-2 run in the second quarter to build a 19-5 lead at the 2:33 mark after Shamya Loman ended Albany’s scoring drought. They went into the half with a 23-7 lead. Ali said her team struggled in the first quarter, but she told them to just keep shooting.

“I always tell them the only thing they can control is the next play, so we can’t worry about the shot we just missed,” she said. “We gotta go and work on making the next one.”

Thomas said the game got away when Dougherty started making shots.

“We were getting shots up, we just weren’t making a lot of shots,” she said. “Then of course (Dougherty) started making a lot the shots they were missing.”

Dougherty was able to get out in transition and get baskets from Jah’ne Brown and Shy’Keria Williams and capped off 10-4 run with a putback by Raven Cox. From there, Ali was able to put in her second unit and said they held their own.

“They know what’s going on, they know the game plan,” she said. “I was able to see them run the offense the right way, making the right cuts, making the right drops and for the most part we did that. We’re still not shooting the ball the way I would like to see them shoot.”

Lancaster led Dougherty in scoring with a game-high 12 points, while Loman led Albany with seven.

As both the teams get into the thick of their region play, both coaches believe their teams will come out better at the end.

Ali sees her team playing with more confidence and is hopeful it will translate into wins.

“I see it in practice, I see it in games, they’re playing with a lot more confidence,” she said. “They’re believing in themselves and believing in their coaches and that’s what we’ve gotta do.”

The young Albany team is still working on putting all of the fundamentals together and Thomas said it will definitely be a learning experience that will prepare them for years to come.

“I knew we were young and I knew it was going to be challenging,” she said. “We’re just in that roller-coaster phase right now where we’re gonna have those games when we’re playing up and then those games when we’re playing down. So this year is just a building year where to get that confidence in them and to buy into the system, and hopefully it’ll stick with them and next year we’ll see a big turnaround.”

Dougherty boys 65, Albany 55

Nothing came easy for either team as the Trojans and the Indians fought to the very end, but it was Dougherty who was able to put together one last late-game spurt to close the game.

In the fourth quarter, the lead changed hands several times before Michael Sawyer’s free throw gave it back to Dougherty. From that point, the Trojans started to pull away and built a slight 50-47 lead after an emphatic Carlos Curry dunk that got the crowd and team energized.

The momentum instantly shifted back to Albany as a technical foul was called for leg-flailing on the way down from the dunk that struck another player. Albany’s John Flood knocked down the ensuing free throws and it was back to a one point game with 4:19 left to play.

Dougherty’s defense came alive at that moment and sparked a late-game surge. Terry Lewis got a steal and took it in for two, then got another steal a few plays later and found Charles Porter for two. The Trojans were then on top at 55-49 and head coach Rufus McDuffie said his team buckled down and played hard-nosed defense after the technical.

“Of course it gave us some energy, but we did a better job defensively,” he said. “Probably did the best job all night defensively in the fourth quarter. Contesting shots, cutting down on penetration and rebounding on the defensive end won the ball game for us tonight.”

Kamron Peterson stopped the bleeding temporarily with a jumper for Albany to cut the lead to four, but Dougherty answered with two free throws from Curry and a hard-earned bucket by Jamie Williams to go up 59-51 with 1:28 left. From there, they held on.

Albany head coach Archie Chatman said he was very proud of how his team was able to put together nearly a complete game against a formidable opponent. He said free throws were once again their Achilles heel and if they can get that under control, they should fare well in their region games coming up.

“I feel pretty good, this game gives me a lot of confidence going forward,” he said. “I told them that if we play this way on Friday night, I really like our chances.”

Darrell Bryant was the leading scorer for Albany with 16 points, followed by Flood with 15 and Peterson with 12.

Porter finished with 19 to lead the Trojans while Curry had 12.