LEROY – As far as school records are concerned, it will have to be listed as “unofficial” for the time being.
But as far as performances, it’s official – Altoona-Midway freshman Sandra Morales turned in a game for the ages here Friday night.
Morales poured in 33 points – unofficially a single-game record for Lady Jet basketball – leading the AMHS girls to an impressive 54-18 victory over Southern Coffey County.
In the nightcap, the Altoona-Midway boys also took care of business with a workmanlike 49-19 triumph over the Titans, giving the Jets a sweep of the Three Rivers League matchups.
With the win, the Lady Jets grabbed their fourth victory in their last five outings and improved to 4-8 overall. The AMHS boys, also victorious in four of their last five, moved to 7-6 on the year.
Altoona-Midway has a busy week coming up with three dates scheduled. The Jet cagers will be at home Monday, Feb. 3, when they host Crest, then hit the road to Chetopa the following day (Feb. 4) for another doubleheader. The AMHS boys return home on Friday when Marmaton Valley invades Milo Peterson Gymnasium. The Lady Jets will be off that day, as the Wildcats do not have a girls’ team this season.
AMHS GIRLS
The Lady Jets took control early, rushing to a 15-4 lead after one period and 29-10 at halftime. AMHS increased its lead to 46-12 and went on to win 54-16.
Morales tallied six points in the first period, then got red-hot with 12 points in the second stanza and 11 more in the third. For the game, the super frosh hit 14 two-pointers, went 1-for-2 from three-point range and connected on 2-of-5 free throw attempts.
“Sandra simply went off tonight,” said AMHS head coach Jessica Porter. “She had the opportunity for many fast break layups and also hit her jump shots as well. The girls fed her the ball and provided her with many of her opportunities to score.
“We got the lead and never looked back, and I was very pleased that the bench got a lot of playing time and that multiple girls scored again tonight. Still, this definitely wasn’t our best played game,” Porter added. “At times we were sloppy and didn’t run our plays very well.
But all in all, I was very happy with how the girls played. We used this game to work on things to help us prepare for Monday’s game. We’re definitely improving, and that’s the important thing.”
In addition to Morales’ historic performance, the Lady Jets also got nine points from senior Emmalynn Pupanek (seven of them coming in the first period) four points from Autumn Raymond and two points apiece from Chantal Morales, Keyleigh Clines, Mika Parsons and Brooklynn Collins.
Pupanek was credited with five rebounds to pace the Lady Jets, who were listed with 24 steals, including four each by Morales, Ava Tindle, and Pupanek.
AMHS BOYS
After having already posted two lopsided wins over Southern Coffey County (85-19 in the MDCV Tip-Off Classic and 92-10 in the Milburn Apt Memorial Tournament), it might be expected that the Altoona-Midway boys would enter Friday’s rematch without 100 percent focus.
Add to that the fact the Jets were missing one starter and had several others battling illness, and the AMHS unit was happy to grab the 49-19 win and move forward.
“It wasn’t our best effort tonight, but it was good enough to come away with the win,” said AMHS head coach Dave Vance. “Still trying to recover from colds and flu, and playing without Taj Chism, we managed to shoot basically 50 percent from two-point range but we were only 50 percent from the line only 20 percent from three-point land.”
Altoona-Midway led just 12-9 two minutes into the second quarter, but pulled away to make it 26-12 at halftime and 41-16 entering the final period before closing out the 49-19 victory.
“We played multiple defenses, and probably did our best when we were in the full court press,” Vance said. “But we did play some 3–2, 2–3, and some man-to-man also.”
William Stackhouse, held to just three points in the opening half, once again led the Jets in scoring and rebounding with 19 points and 11 boards, and just missed a triple-double as he recorded nine steals.
Joey Lamendola also reached double digits for AMHS with 10 points. Kieran Foster finished with nine points and a team-high six assists, Kage Beck had eight points and seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, the freshman duo of Chance Carter and Chance Mustain, added two points and one point, respectively, but earned the praise of their coach for their overall floor games.
“Kieran and William did a really good job of distributing the ball, and William and Kage led us in rebounding, but our two freshmen really contributed there, with Carter grabbing six boards and Mustain five,” Vance noted. “Mustain also played some very aggressive defense, which was good to see.
“Now we have a couple of days rest, and then we have a busy, tough schedule next week.”