Another basketball season is coming to an end, and with it, another crop of talented seniors are playing their last games in high school.
Eastside already made its swan song at home in the regular season last week, Alcovy’s seniors bowed out last night and Newton takes its home court for the last time (excluding playoffs) Friday.
The memories run deep for the class of 2013 with Eastside’s AlexisStokes, Journee Stokes, Kianna Mullins, Keisha Boyle and Diamond Humprey leaving the Lady Eagles behind.
On the boys’ side, the 12-5 Eagles say farewell to four players, including one of Class AAAA’s top scorers in Quindarrious Russell. As of Tuesday, Russell leads Region 8-AAAA with 19.4 points per game and has been Eastside’s go-to scorer.
Also leaving the Eagles are Lamar Johnson, Aaron Flash and Bilia Prince. From Newton, Kishon Rogers, Rashard Cabane and Albert Zachery will play their final games on Newton’s home court, along with Micah Sneed and Tatianna Palms.
Tuesday, Alcovy’s lamel Johnson, Shane Lawrence, Justin Wallace and Marcus Beasley ended their careers with the Tigers, just after the Lady Tigers celebrated their seniors.
While all the area seniors should be celebrated the Alcovy girls leave behind the most memorable. There is plenty of talent on the Lady Tigers with seniors Jasmine Hodges, Ayanna Wimbush, Kaci Palo and Laeiyah Sorrells having memorable careers at Alcovy.
But in 13 years of covering high school sports, I’ve seen dozens of college players, several Division I future stars and even a few professional athletes star in their prep days. However, as rare as it is to see a major D1 player, two on one team is something to take notice of.
That’s exactly what Alcovy has brought to the table over the last four years, with Ashley Williams and Meagan Tucker raising their games to All-State levels in their senior years.
Williams and Tucker both committed to the Southeastern Conference in 2012 with the former going to Alabama and the latter to Auburn next season.
Alcovy made a big run to the Class AAAA final four last season and have had a successful season to this point, going 17-6 with an unbeaten 10-0 region season prior to Tuesday’s matchup with Rockdale. Both Williams and Tucker are a huge part of that success, but it goes beyond the stat sheet.
When Alcovy is threatened to be in a game, usually in the first quarter, it’s fun to see the two leaders decide it’s time to stop playing around and head off to the win column.
Tucker is a constant example to her team what to do, seemingly always in the right place in full-court traps, her steals sparking game-clinching runs. Williams is an aggressive tone setter, owning the painted area and working as the Lady Tigers’ go-to offensive weapon.
Both play most every minute of the game, without complaint and with an eye on leading by example. Then there’s the duos statistics which have been dominating in Region 2-AAAAAA, but never in a boastful way.
The two set school records, with both going over 1,000 points and Williams going over 1,000 rebounds. The Williams and Tucker duo will continue to be together for a few more playoff games, leading their team to more impressive wins for sure, giving everyone a little more time to enjoy watching the two compete with each other.
For over the next four years the two will compete against each other in the SEC, leaving Alcovy fans waiting for the next big-time college player, appreciating even more having had two big-time D1 talents on one team.
Bryan Fazio is Sports Editor of The Covington News and can be reached at 770-728-1438 or by email at BFazio@covnews.com.
