Kennedy Girls Rout McClymonds, 84-53
on December 20, 2013
The Kennedy High School girls’ basketball team put on an impressive show Thursday night, beating McClymonds High School 84-53. For head coach Rae Jackson, the win also marked his first victory over Mack in four years.
“We played well,” Jackson said after the big win. “We didn’t play down. Sometimes when you play a traditional team like Mack, it’s hard to stay up.”
Kennedy needed big performances from its seniors, and they delivered. Center Julian Robinson had a career-high 43 points and 16 rebounds for the Eagles. Her previous career-high was 36 points, set earlier in the week in Kennedy’s 81-37 win over Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento. Robinson added five assists and five steals Thursday. Destanee Alexander had a double-double of her own, with 11 points and 10 assists.
For McClymonds, Daisy Powell and Angela Lee led in scoring, with 18 and eight points, respectively.
The Eagles implemented an aggressive press that stifled the Warriors, forcing turnovers and converting them into easy baskets. Kennedy also suffocated McClymond with a tough, physical defense, and capitalized on fast break opportunities.
At the half, Kennedy opened up a 45-27 lead, but McClymonds would not be put away so easily.
The Eagles came out of the half flat, and the Warriors cut the lead 49-40 with 3:48 to play in the third quarter. But Kennedy bounced back with a run of their own, widening their lead to 63-42 by the time the quarter ended and keeping up the pace in the fourth to close out the win.
For Kennedy, the win avenged last season’s game, when they fell to McClymonds by nine points.
“It felt good to get that monkey off our back,” Coach Jackson said.
As happy as he was with his team’s performance, Jackson said there is always room for improvement.
“A bad habit we have is when we jump out early, we let our guard down in the third quarter. It might be because of fatigue, but we always bounce back,” he said.
With the win, Kennedy advances to 4-2 on the season. The Eagles play Woodside High School next, on Saturday, Dec. 21.
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