PREP HOOPS: Beauregard cruises into regionals

BEAUREGARD — Beauregard’s girls’ basketball team runs the full court press. Its game plan is to force turnovers and get easy baskets in transition.

Laveeta Bellamy and Valeeta Bellamy, the Hornets’ two leading scorers who are also twin sisters, do the rest.

Put it all together and Beauregard heads to Alabama State for the AHSAA Class 5A Central Region tournament after a 61-44 win against Sylacauga on Thursday.

Laveeta, the shorter sister and team point guard, led the Hornets with 21 points while Valeeta added 20 points and nine rebounds.

“It feels real good to get the win,” Valeeta said. “We come out and get steals and get easy baskets. We also committed a lot of turnovers so we have to pick that up.”

Beauregard coach Kelvin Philpot makes no secrets about his team’s intentions.

“That’s what we do, night-in and night-out,” he said. “It helps us get in the flow and get some easy baskets.”

The Hornets led 34-19 at halftime and, with the game in hand, the focus of the crowd seemed to switch to Shakayala Thomas, Sylacauga’s leading scorer, who is only in the eighth grade.

Several Beauregard fans came down to the scorer’s table to confirm her age. Thomas led the Aggies with 27 points, but went just 12-of-28 from the field.

“She’s awesome and she’s going to be something special,” Philpot said. “We knew we would have our hands full with her and knew we had to pressure her.”

The Hornets constantly knocked the ball out of Thomas’ hands. They forced Sylacauga’s leading scorer to six first-half turnovers. Every time Thomas shot, she was double-teamed.

“She averaged a double-double for us this year and she’s phenomenal,” said Aggies coach Derrick Crawford. “She had 565 points coming into this game tonight on the year, but she can’t do it by herself. We need to develop the players around her.”

The Bellamy sisters also had help on the offensive end. Paris Oglesby chipped in 13 points, while Ariel Mitchell had 9.

“We just couldn’t handle their pressure,” Crawford added. “We got in our alignment, but I think we got a little fatigued in the second quarter. That was the difference in the game.”

The Hornets held only an 18-13 lead after the first quarter, but with pressure came results. Sylacauga could only score 14 in the next two quarters. When the full-court pressure helped Beauregard take the lead, the team kept on and didn’t let up until late in the fourth quarter.

As the game came to an end the home crowd even started a wave. Several students also celebrated with the cheerleaders on the floor after the win.

Beauregard will now travel to Montgomery on Wednesday to face No. 6 Selma at noon in the region semifinals.