Dekaney Moves To Head Of The Class

This was one of those games that had sort of a playoff type atmosphere and it reminded me of the old days. It was cold outside, the stands were almost full and you knew it was going to be a game from the very start, not to mention several college coaches were in the house and the “Dad’s Basketball Club” had most of their members checking things out. Let me start out by saying this, Kayla Nevitt is a LEGITIMATE Top 100 ball player, the stamp has been placed on her and she continues to deliver as her 10 first quarter points are the only reason Cy Falls didn’t truly open this game up early as they led 21-15 after one behind Lauren Goodwin’s 7 points, including one three, Kit Metoyer’s 6 points, 2 of them threes and Carol Willie’s 5. Sadalia Ellis also nailed a long one from the time line giving the Eagles 4 threes for the quarter; they finished with 10 in the game. Dekaney cut the lead in half after the second quarter as Alexis Durley and Nevitt combined for 11 and had Ellis not heated up, Cy Falls would have lost the lead but held on 35-32. Interesting note, 9 threes from both teams in the first half, Falls had 5 of them.

I made a comment during the game that Dekaney is the type of team you don’t want to play around with. They are too athletic and they have too many players that can create off the dribble. Brianna Taylor came off the bench and proved what I had just said, GURU like, as Dekaney outscored the Eagles 22-10 in the third quarter, capped by an alley-oop for a bucket by Taylor with 1.4 seconds left in the quarter. At 7:32 left in the game, Sadalia Ellis split a couple of defenders for a layup and came down wrong and had to leave the game for a couple of minutes which all but sealed the victory for Wildcats as they won 71-62.

This wasn’t Shernise Robertson’s best shooting night but she heated up in the final period, as well as Jaleesa Chappel who has given Dekaney another offensive threat. Goodwin continues to show her value along with the fact that she can hurt you so many different ways. She is also one of the toughest female players I’ve seen as she led the Eagles with 20. Without Ellis running the point, the Eagles aren’t soaring at the highest altitude they can fly at; she added 17 points in the losing effort. Durley was simply another “Amazing Alexis” as she finished with 23 points, baby girl Nevitt scored 20 while Chappel added 10. Dekaney is now the top team in the city or maybe they always were but didn’t realize it.