Wenonah knocks off Lady Patriots in battle of state's best

Two of the top girls basketball teams in the state battled it out in the 2016 Steel City Invitational Girls Showcase, with Wenonah leaving the Pete Hanna Center with a 74-60 over Homewood.

“Wenonah’s a very good team,” Homewood head coach Kevin Tubbs said. “Coach (Emanuel) Bell and Wenonah, they’re kind of the pinnacle for girls basketball around here.”

The two teams, ranked No. 1 in Class 5A (Wenonah) and 6A (Homewood) traded the lead multiple times in the first two quarters, but the Lady Dragons went on a 9-0 run to end the first half, and never relinquished the lead again.

Alexis Dye caused Homewood an abundance of issues, as she scored a game-high 21 points on an efficient 10-of-12 shooting performance, while also securing nine rebounds. Thaniya Marks reached a double-double, with 10 points and 10 boards.

Homewood picked up the pace offensively in the second half, but simply was unable to cut the deficit significantly.

Hannah Barber led the Lady Patriots with 14 points, followed closely by Ajah Wayne’s 13 points.

The loss was Homewood’s first of the year, and set the Lady Patriots back to 12-1 on the season. Last week, the Lady Patriots won three consecutive games to win a tournament in Orlando, Florida.

“We’ve been very fortunate to win 12 straight,” Tubbs said. “You can grow from these type of games. I wish we could play them two or three games a week. It would only make us better. We need that kind of competition.”