BY NOAH GRIFFITH
FOR THE OBSERVER
BEULAH — On Tuesday, Jan. 6, two Class 3A Region 4 foes went head-to-head as the Beulah Bobcats welcomed the Glenwood Gators to their home floor for an evening of basketball. The Beulah boys came from behind to steal a huge win, while the Glenwood girls took care of business to open area play.
Here’s a recap of both the boys’ and girls’ games.
Boys
Though Glenwood led by 18 early in the second quarter, the Beulah boys showed resilience, edging the Gators 71-65. Beulah improved to 12-2 with the win, and Glenwood fell to 9-8 overall.
Glenwood, led by highly-touted freshman Braylen Alexander, threatened to run the Bobcats out of their home gym early. However, Beulah finished strong behind defensive adjustments at halftime by head coach Thomas Hill. Forced turnovers and a 14-for-15 shooting performance at the free-throw line lifted Beulah in the end.
“I was so proud of how we went against adversity,” Hill said. “We didn’t panic down by 18, and then I really got to see what we’re made of down the stretch… Those free throws were the difference in the game, and that shows you what they have inside of them.”
Despite a pair of Alexander three-pointers cutting Beulah’s lead to 63-60 with 48 seconds remaining, Cam Baker answered by sinking a pair of free throws for the Bobcats. Glenwood’s Tyler Claridy then put up five points of his own in the final 25 seconds, but Beulah’s Beau Duck knocked down four consecutive free throws to help the Bobcats pull ahead by five. After that, a final defensive stand from Beulah was all it took to finish the win.
It was a tight finish, but Glenwood put Beulah on the ropes before its late surge. Glenwood led 20-8 after the first quarter and 30-12 early in the second, but it wasn’t enough.
After going to halftime down 36-26, the Bobcats mounted a comeback, led by Baker and heavy defensive pressure on Alexander. Beulah tied the game at 49 to end the third quarter and stayed hot, outscoring the Gators 22-16 in the fourth quarter.
Baker led the charge with 33 points — 20 of them in the second half — while making each of his seven free-throw attempts. His offensive attack led Beulah to 45 total points in the second half after tallying just 26 as a team in the first half.
“[Baker] is the best player I’ve ever coached,” Hill said. “I believe he is the best point guard in this area, and I can say that he’s a great human being. He’s clutch, and he loves the game of basketball.”
Alexander paced Glenwood with 39 points, his season-high, but Beulah was able to slow him down slightly after he looked unstoppable, with 15 in the first quarter. Although Beulah’s defense forced tougher shots from him in the second half, he still finished 17-for-40 (43%) from the court.
“There’s no containing Braylen Alexander,” Hill added with a chuckle. “He still did his thing.”
While Glenwood head coach Dusty Perdue seemed impressed by the performance from his freshman, he was displeased with the team’s missed opportunities. The Gators shot 3-for-9 from the free-throw line, while Beulah only missed one of 15 opportunities from the stripe.
“We didn’t come out ready to play in the second half,” Perdue said. “They scored 23 and 22 in the third and fourth quarters, and we scored 13 and 16… I told our guys before the game, ‘[Beulah is] dangerous. Especially at their place.’”
There was a rematch between the area rivals on Tuesday, Jan. 13, at Glenwood. Scores were not available at press time.
Girls
The Glenwood girls outpowered Beulah throughout the entirety of the game and took home a 54-15 victory to begin area play. The win boosted Glenwood’s record to 10-10.
The Gators started the game on an 8-0 run and never succumbed the lead. Throughout the night, Glenwood thrived on creating turnovers that turned into fast break points on the other end of the court.
“I thought our defensive pressure was the difference in the game,” Perdue said. “We’re not a great shooting team, but putting pressure on the ball, going down and laying it up on the other end was the difference-maker for us.”
The first quarter ended in an 8-5 Glenwood advantage, but the Gators laid it on in the second. They outscored Beulah 21-2 in the frame to make it 29-7 at halftime.
Keeping its foot on the gas, Glenwood scored 25 to Beulah’s eight points in the second half to seal the 39-point victory.
Leading the way, Glenwood junior Halle Palmore splashed the first of her four three-pointers to open the game before going on to rack up 24 points in a dominant showing. She proved a spark on offense and defense as the all-around leader of the Gator threat.
“Halle was on her game tonight,” Perdue said. “She did exactly what we needed her to do. It’s great to see.”
Complementing Palmore’s strong performance, junior Lillie Moody tallied 13 points, while senior Emersyn White added 10.
The Gators got all 11 available players in the game, with sophomore Cayden Henderson out due to injury. Kollyns Kushmar, younger sister of two Glenwood underclassmen teammates, delivered the final dagger with a buzzer-beating three-pointer from way downtown.
For Beulah, sophomore Kacy Harper did the majority of the ball handling, along with scoring five points. No. 24 J. Gilder also hit two three-pointers for a team-high six points.
The game set up a rematch between the Gators and Bobcats on Tuesday, Jan. 13.
