It was Milestone Monday in girls hoops last night, and here's your boys basketball nursing rhyme of the day:
Jack and Bill went up against Marcus Hill, to fetch a possible victory.
But Jack fell down when he got dunked on, and Bill came tumbling after.
Keep reading. It will all make sense. And remember, hit me up at johncotey@gmail.com if you have any good stuff, and follow me @JohnnyHomeTeam and let's be basketball buddies. Or something.
Leeeeeeet's GOOOOO!:
PLAYER OF THE NIGHT
Bailey Hooker made a 3-pointer Monday night. Then another. Then another.
It all happened so fast, and before you knew it, the Steinbrenner senior was at 1,000 points.
"Everytime I hit a 3, that confidence gets going,'' said Hooker. "It definitely fueled my fire, so I knew I would be hitting for the rest of the game.''
Hooker scored 14 points in the second quarter to put the Warriors ahead for good, and her 29 led all scorers in a victory over Tampa Bay Tech.
But why bore with you all the details when you can just watch this fantastic video. Take two minutes.
RUNNERS-UP OF THE NIGHT
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Armwood's Marcus Hill and East Bay's Anton Crutcher, who had monster nights.
Hill scored 28 points for the Hawks in a win, and added 13 rebounds and eight blocks. And that's just normal for the 6-foot-5 senior, who is averaging more than 21 points a game for thre undefeated Hawks and has 13, 14, and 13 rebounds in the three wins, along with five, eight and eight blocks.
And Crutcher helped East Bay to a 4-0 start with his biggest game of the year, scoring 26 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in a triumph over Durant. Crutcher, a 6-3 junior, was coming off a 19-point, seven-rebound game in a win over Hillsborough, and has increased his point production from the previous game in every outing. That gets a little tougher to do after Monday.
DUNK OF THE NIGHT
Okay, so technically, this happened last week. But someone sent it to me, so I'm using it. Feel free to send along your favorite plays. This is Seminole's Justin Hollis, scoring the last of his 28 points last week when he got Good Morning honors here at Meanderings.
TEAM OF THE NIGHT
This just in: the Clearwater girls are good.
And as is the case with every Clearwater team coached by Tom Shaneyfelt, they are only going to get better.
The Tornadoes beat East Lake 60-20 Monday, rolling to their eighth straight victory (and it's 10 straight, counting a pair of solid preseason wins over Indian Rocks Christian and Boca Ciega) behind 19 points from Aja Jenkins. They're looking like a team that could head into Christmas break perfect.
All of the Tornadoes' six remaining games before the Queen of Palms Classic are winnable.
Of course, they will enter that tough and prestigious tournament without any tests, the way they are playing. The Tornadoes have won six of their eight games by 20 points or more, including three by 40 or more. Defensively, no one has scored more than 35 against them, and in its past four wins Clearwater is only allowing 20 points a game.
And the Tornadoes are doing it without a superstar. Clearwater has a nice blend of size and speed, and has five players averaging more than six points, led by Alex Alford (10.7), Tyra Bolden (9.2) and Aja Jenkins (8.1).
Mark it down: the Tornadoes host St. Petersburg next Monday.
THE TERRIFIC 10
1. Freedom's Faith Woodard scored 28 points, including the 1,500th of her career, as the Patriots coasted to another easy win.
2. Barrett Swartz, a 6-7 senior, scored 33 for the Seffner Christian boys and made six 3-pointers. Swartz has been filling it up this season -- that was his third 30-point performance in the last four games.
8. Durant's Kyle White dropped in 20 in a loss.
9. Katie Horan scored 14 and Christine Oganesova and Brooke Sponheimer added 12 as Osceola erased a halftime deficit to beat Largo 49-38.
10. Zoe Lekakis scored 13 points to help Tarpon Springs bounce back from its first loss of the season to top Countryside.