By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA – After taking a 29-15 lead in the first half thanks to the scoring production of Sarah Goodwin, Tyesha Haynes and Tia McCarter, Calera easily outpaced Shelby County on the road by a final of 62-46.

Shelby County all night was able to get to the bucket, but couldn’t finish around the rim time and again, allowing Calera to keep a healthy lead throughout the second half. In the fourth quarter the Lady Wildcats made things interesting, as they climbed back to within 10 points at 43-53 thanks in part to their press defense that seemed to confuse Calera slightly. But the Lady Eagles proved to be too much down the stretch, and scored 25 points in the fourth quarter thanks in large part to 11 points from Haynes, and Calera preserved the win.

“In spots we played pretty well,” Calera head girls coach James Knowles said after the game. “We did push the ball down the floor and played pretty good on defense. We have a tendency to fall into a lull every now and then, but that’s just something we have to work on.”

Haynes led the way for Calera with 19 points, 11 coming in the final quarter, while Bre Caldwell finished with 11 for the Lady Eagles.

Shelby County time and again was able to come up with offensive boards that kept possessions alive and led to easy buckets, which kept the game closer than it should have been down the stretch. Knowles acknowledged after the game rebounding is an area of concern for his team at the moment.

“We’re not a very good rebounding team,” he said. “We’ve got to become better (at rebounding) if we’re going to do anything. We got to learn to do that better, got to learn to shoot free throws better. There’s a lot of stuff really. It’s early in the year though, and it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

Shelby County was led by Marjorie Head, who led all scorers with 22, accounting for nearly half of her teams total points.