The Escambia Academy Varsity Boys continued their undefeated streak with a lopsided 58-42 win over Wilcox Academy.

The game was a contrast to the Varsity Girls game, which came down to the wire even though the overall outcome was the same with the Lady Cougars also beating Wilcox Academy by a final score of 71-68.

In fact, all four of Escambia Academy’s basketball teams beat Wilcox Academy. The JV Boys won their game 31-20, and the JV Girls won their game 28-22.

The Varsity boys team won through a balanced effort, as the top four scorers on the team were each separated by one point. While the team trailed 10-8 early on, they had a 38-19 commanding lead by halftime.

Head coach Kevin Woods said his team did not play their best game; they simply made fewer mistakes than the opponent.

“I think we played terrible tonight,” he said. “I think we had 30 plus turnovers, but we forced them into a lot of turnovers. I just think we forced them into a lot of turnovers, then got the lead and kind of played decent defense later on and finally started making some shots. I think we forced them into more turnovers than we had.”

Scott Brantley came off the bench to finish as the team’s leading scorer with 13 points while also getting two rebounds, three assists and two steals. It was actually frontcourt player Blake Quimby who led the team in steals with four while also managing to score 12 points, grab eight rebounds, and get an assist. Garrett Kirk finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, an assist, three steals, and two blocks. Jordan Sasser led the team in assists with seven to go along with 10 points, six rebounds, a block and two steals.

“It was definitely Blake’s best game this year, maybe one of the best games he’s played ever,” Woods said of Quimby’s performance. “He seemed to be all over the ball. There at the beginning, he seemed like the only one that could actually make a shot. He got a lot of rebounds and Blake can’t jump that high, but he knows how to read the ball when it comes off the board and he gets himself into good position. Tonight, he was right there when we needed him.”

The Varsity girls team had the closest game but came out as a 71-68 winner.

The Lady Cougars dug themselves out of an early 14-3 deficit by retaking the lead 16-14.

By halftime, they had built the lead up to 36-27.

Wilcox battled back to tie the game at 36-36, before the Cougars managed to regain another strong lead of 51-44 by the end of the third quarter.

Wilcox continued to hang in the game, cutting the lead to 65-63.

Grayson Emmons was important to the team’s win, as she sank five of six free throws in the waning minutes of the game.
Emmons finished the game with 21 points and a steal. Lacie Flowers was the second-leading scorer with 20 points while also having four assists and two steals. Sydney McGhee led the team with five assists to go along with 16 points, a block and a steal.  Peyton Snider contributed nine points, two assists, two steals and a block.

According to the school’s unofficial statistics McGhee led the team in rebounding with 14, while Snider finished as the second-leading rebounder with 11.

The JV boys team beat Wilcox Academy 31-20, despite trailing early in the game.

The team fell behind by a score of 10-4 at the end of the first quarter.

The Cougars fought to tie the score at 16-16 by halftime.

They outscored Wilcox 15-4 in the second half, building the lead to 28-17 before finishing the game with a 31-20 win.

Ben Martin led the team in scoring with 14 points while also having a rebound and two steals. Tim Finklea led the team in assists with four.

He also had five points, four rebounds, and three steals. Trae Lee led the team in rebounds with eight to go along with four points, an assist, two blocks and a steal. Kevin Gumapac contributed four points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.

The JV girls team beat Wilcox Academy, but it required a strong comeback effort.

Down 10-3 early on, the team battled back to win by a final score of 28-22. The team fought to take a strong 21-14 lead by the end of the third quarter.

Wilcox also made a comeback, cutting the lead to 23-22. But Mikayla Spruill made a nice pass to Alia Snow, who sank a three-point shot. Kaylee Rider made an inside shot to seal the game.

Snow finished with 18 of the team’s 28 points along with four rebounds. Spruill led the team with five assists, while Rider was tied with Snow for the rebounding lead with four. Rider also had four points. Bailey Lancaster contributed six points and two rebounds.

Escambia Academy faced Central Christian on the road Tuesday night, and their next game will be another away game at Bessemer Academy this upcoming Friday with the Varsity boys and Varsity girls teams scheduled to play with tipoff starting at 5:00 p.m.