Xavier Prep basketball coach Jennifer Gillom didn’t know how it happened – she was just glad it did.
Her Gators
did not do much right in the first half of their 6A Conference Premier Region
game at Gilbert Perry on Monday (Jan. 31). The game, which started at an
unusual 5 p.m. time, was the makeup of a contest that had been postponed
earlier in the season.
But Xavier
regained its composure in the second half and went on to post a 52-45 victory.
And now, as
fate would have it, the two teams will meet again just a little more than 24
hours later – in a regularly scheduled game at Xavier’s Activity Center on
Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Xavier has a 13-5 overall record, while Perry is 16-6.
“I’m not
really sure what happened in the first part of the game,’’ Gillom said. “There
was no defense, not many shots were falling and we were not rebounding. We
still managed to win. We had hustle at the end and were able to turn it around
enough to win.’’
The
rebounding in particular left quite a bit to be desired.
“It was
awful. That was the first thing I put on the board (at halftime),’’ she said.
Xavier also
did a better job defensively in the second half against Perry’s Khamil Pierre,
a 6-foot-1 junior.
The Gators
outscored the Pumas 15-8 in the third quarter and managed to keep the home team
at arm’s length the rest of the way.
Sophomore
guard-forward Maureen “Mo’’ Ulrich had a stro;ng game, sophomore reserve Gosi
Alilonu had one of her better games of the season with three key baskets for 6
points. She kept the ball alive under the basket on quite a few occasions.