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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CALERA – The Calera Eagles continued building momentum in preparation for their area semifinal against Chilton County on Monday, Feb. 3 as they swept the season series with the Oak Mountain Eagles.

Calera followed up on an opening-night win at Oak Mountain to defeat their fellow Eagles from across the county 51-46 on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at Calera High School.

The two teams were tightly matched in the opening quarter as Calera gained just a 13-12 advantage going into the second quarter. Maddie Green took over for Calera with seven points while Destyni Grays had four first-quarter points.

Oak Mountain responded with 3-pointers from Lucy McKeown and Caroline Kester, but Kester’s struggles from the field were part of the reason why the visitors trailed by one going into the second.

Calera’s defense ramped up even more in the second quarter, surrendering just four points in the remaining minutes of the half. Jakaylyn Jones capitalized on the other end of the floor with four points as she and four of her teammates combined for 11 points in the second.

That gave Calera a 24-16 lead going into the break.

Both offenses hit their stride in the third quarter with Oak Mountain finding more success after a poor second quarter thanks to a pair of third-quarter 3-pointers from McKeown and another triple from Kester.

However, Kora Johnson exploded for eight points in the third, including two of her team’s four 3-pointers while Jones and Mia Wade contributed the other two. The trio combined for 16 points to extend their team’s lead to 40-28 going into the fourth quarter.

Oak Mountain wouldn’t go down quietly as it tried shot after shot from the field to get a response. Eventually, Kester and Marly Brown each scored five points as they and their teammates put up 18 total points in the fourth.

Calera continued to remain in front and used its double-digit lead coming into the quarter along with key shots from Rekenzie Smith and Alanna McNutt-Austin to see out the win.

Johnson led the way for Calera with 14 points and was joined in double figures by Green with 11 and Jones with 10. Wade scored seven points, Grays had five points and McNutt-Austin finished with four points.

Kester led Oak Mountain with 13 points while McKeown scored 11 points. Brown finished with seven points, Zy Walker scored five points and Elizabeth Butler earned four points.