Sara Reid — Special to the Weakley County Pres
Posted: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 5:33 pm

Won’t let go — Gleason senior Ben Sumner (left) fights for possession of the basketball with a McKenzie Rebel during action Friday night in Gleason. The GHS Bulldogs were the victors, 52-46. Photo by Sara Reid

With relative ease, the Gleason squads closed the door on their next-door neighbor, district-rival McKenzie Rebels, this past Friday night in Gleason.
In the first contest, the Lady Bulldogs ran out to a large lead early and coasted to a 46-16 win. The Rebels provided fireworks late in the second game on an attempted comeback, but fell short, 52-46, to the host Gleason boys.
Gleason returns to action on Thursday when it travels to Bradford to make up a pair of contests originally scheduled for last Thursday but delayed because of the week’s frigid weather. For the Gleason girls, the rematch with Bradford will give them an opportunity to avenge their only loss of the season — a 32-20 loss to the Lady Red Devils on Nov. 24 of last year. Since the slim defeat, the Lady Dawgs have stretched together an 11-game winning streak for a record of 13-1.
The Gleason girls are undefeated in District 13-A action with an 8-0 mark after their win over McKenzie. The MHS Lady Rebs now carry a record of 6-7 overall and 5-3 in the district.
Behind six points down low from Taylor Stout and a 3-pointer each from Camille Cooper and Ashley Coble, Gleason proved it could hit from the inside and the outside and took a 12-0 lead after one.
Jenna Frazier scored the first five points of the second, including a 3-pointer, and the Lady Bulldogs increased the lead to 19-0. With 6:05 left on the clock, Travatia Bowden recorded McKenzie’s first basket of the contest, but Frazier knocked down another three and both Kim Edenfield and Stout completed 3-point plays to make the score 30-6 at the break.
Though the Lady Bulldog scoring slowed in the second half, the McKenzie scoring never picked up and the home team sailed to the easy 30-point victory, 46-16.
Frazier led all scorers with 16 points. Stout scored 12. Crystal Doub had seven for the Lady Rebels.
Max Arnold scored the first two points of the game for the Rebels, but from there it was all Ben Rollins for Gleason as the Bulldogs snapped a six-game losing streak dating back to a 75-49 win over Carroll Academy on Dec. 11 of last year. With the win, the Dawgs improved to 3-11 on the season and 2-6 in District 13-A play, while McKenzie falls to 1-13 and 1-7.
Arnold kept McKenzie close with six points, but the Bulldogs’ long-range specialist scored 13 points including a trio of threes and pushed Gleason to an 18-8 advantage after one.
Gleason senior Cody Ezell hit the first shot of the second quarter, but it came with 3:45 left. Preston Frazier made a layup, but these were the only points of the quarter for the Bulldogs as McKenzie scored six and pulled closer, 22-14, at the half.
The Rebels came out firing in the third and cut the deficit to six, 26-20, with 4:52 remaining. Frazier knocked down a three to increase the lead to nine, but with two-and-a-half minutes left, the Rebels shrank the lead to four on a Robert Taylor layup. Ben Sumner won the battle inside with six points to propel Gleason to a 33-27 lead heading into the fourth.
The scoring was dead even in the final quarter. Frazier recorded two threes and hit all three free throws when he was fouled on a long-distance shot.
Arnold kept the Rebels within striking distance with 13 points.
In the end, however, with nothing changing from the third to the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs won by six, 52-46.
Rollins led Gleason with 21 points. Frazier scored 16. Arnold was high scorer for the Rebels with 25
Jan. 8 at Gleason
GIRLS
McKenzie (16) — Crystal Doub 7, Travatia Bowden 4, Angelique Teague 2, Olivia Pate 2, Kelsey Carr 1.
Gleason (46) — Jenna Frazier 16, Taylor Stout 12, Ashley Coble 8, Camille Cooper 3, Kim Edenfield 3, Briana Jones 2, Hollie Townes 2.
3-pointers: McKenzie — none; Gleason — Frazier (3), Coble (2), Cooper.
Records: McKenzie 6-7 (5-3 District 13-A), Gleason 13-1 (8-0 District 13-A).

BOYS
McKenzie (46) — Max Arnold 25, Robert Taylor 8, Alex Pierce 5, Luke Robertson 4, Richie Clark 3, Matt Thomas 1.
Gleason (52) — Ben Rollins 21, Preston Frazier 16, Ben Sumner 8, Cody Ezell 5, Austin Perry 2.
3-pointers: McKenzie — Arnold (4), Clark; Gleason — Rollins (3), Frazier (3), Ezell.
Records: McKenzie 1-13 (1-7 District 13-A), Gleason 3-11 (2-6 District 13-A).