Tuscaloosa News
By Edwin Stanton
Posted Mar 6, 2020 at 10:33 PM
And the beat goes on for Shelton State.
And for the Duff sisters.
The Lady Buccaneers claimed their fifth straight Alabama Community College Conference championship game with a 90-69 win against Wallace State-Hanceville on Friday at the Umphrey Center on the Shelton State campus.
Shelton State (29-2) advances to the NJCAA national tournament in Lubbock, Texas, next week.
"It never gets old," Shelton State coach Madonna Thompson said of celebrating another ACCC title. "It's a whole different group of kids. It's a whole different team so they are all special because all of them had this opportunity because it's so fun."
The Duffs were unstoppable with LaTascya scoring 30 points and LaTora right behind with 25 on 8 of 18 shooting. LaTascya, the tournament MVP, was 12 of 23 from the floor. The only thing that did stop her was a leg cramp in the fourth quarter. By that time the Lady Bucs had the game in hand with a 15-point lead.
"I knew I had to come out and play hard," LaTascya said. "It was a tough game. It was our last game of making it to Lubbock and we wanted to make it there."
"We're not done yet."
Wallace-State Hanceville brought the intensity and attitude from the opening tip and led 22-18 late in the first quarter.
They combined for 29 of Shelton State's 45 halftime points and each went 6 of 12 from the field.
"It's all about execution and not letting up no matter what the scoreboard says," LaTora said. "You just keep playing and don't give up."
The charge continued in the second half and Wallace-Hanceville had no answer for the Duffs from the perimeter or in the paint.
Shelton increased its lead to 17 points in the third quarter and Wallace was done.
Also for Shelton, Thaniya Marks scored 12 points and Cierria Cunningham had 10.
Men
Snead State 68
The Buccaneers hit some big 3-pointers in the second half and earned the ACCC Tournament championship to earn a trip to Hutchinson, Kansas, for the NJCAA national tournament.
This is my fourth year as head coach at Shelton and the third trip in fourth years (to Kansas)," Shelton State coach Joe Eatmon said. "We are very excited."
Anquaevious Pollard was the tournament MVP, leading the Bucs (28-5) with 18 points and nine rebounds against Snead. Also, Dylan Robertson, Jaylon Johnson and Sean Elmore were all-tournament team members.
"We led most of the game. We got off to a hot start. Then they caught up to us and went ahead by six or seven points. But we hit some good shots to go back up and then sealed it late with free throws."
Shelton State will find out who they play in the tournament on Sunday.