CAK programs rout CCS on Senior Night
Seventeen days later, on Friday, Jan. 23, each Warrior program flipped the script on Senior Night.
Abby Williams’ girls program won 55-27, a stark contrast to their 54-47 win over the same CCS team a couple weeks prior. And, J.D. Johnson’s Warriors ran away with an 80-40 victory after beating CCS 54-50 in the previous matchup.
In the girls’ game, Lexi Hammock led CAK with 15 points while Maddie Braden totaled 12 for the Warriors.
Emory Thomas paced Concord with 7 points, and Kiran Keeton and Brooklyn Brown scored 6 each.
Hammock did go down with a right ankle injury at the 5:21 mark of the fourth quarter, as she moved around on crutches after the game with her lower leg wrapped in ice.
“Obviously she’s an integral part of our program and who we are,” Williams said of Hammock. “She rolled her ankle a couple times this year, so we are hopeful it’s just a sprain.”
The CAK girls coach added her team did a good job of setting the tempo, especially on a Senior Night that celebrated Colie Thompson and Sophie Carroll.
“This was definitely a more collective effort, and we were locked in on the defensive end,” Williams said.
Going forward, CAK will look to continue its push toward a return to the Division II-A state tournament as they are no strangers to that stage.
“How you play and practice is preparing you for what you want,” Williams noted. “We’ve been fortunate to make those runs, but they’re not guaranteed. The work we do over the next few weeks will prepare us for that.”
In the boys matchup, Foster Coleman scored 24 points for CAK with 23 for Rio Curry. Meanwhile, Cole Piers added 14 points off four second-half triples, and Kohbe Ward and Nolen Miller led CCS with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
Curry is one of several younger players on the CAK roster, though head coach J.D. Johnson was quick to note their improvement since the team’s previous win over CCS.
“We’ve improved a lot, and we’ve got some young kids we’re really relying on,” Johnson said. “Sometimes there can be some inconsistency with that, but they can get a lot better really fast, too.
“Foster can do a lot of things, shoots very well. And Rio, even as a freshman, is very talented. This is just the ground floor for him, but the sky is the limit.”
Overall, Johnson’s thoughts on the postseason approach were similar to Williams as well.
“I feel good with where we’re at right now,” he said. “We want to be hitting our stride, and I feel like we are. I think we’re really starting to gel and think we have a shot.”
