Varsity Girls:
Italy — The Italy Lady Gladiators (7-12,0-3), head coached by Melissa Fullmer, were led by a 32-point scoring effort from sophomore Kortnei Johnson for the second consecutive game in a crushing 74-10 victory over the Grand Prairie Advantage Academy Lady Eagles. Johnson accounted for 6-out of-7 of Italy’s first points with Alyssa Richards making 1-of-2 from the stripe and Kendra Copeland scoring inside the lane to get Italy off to a 9-0 start. Monserrat Figueroa made a bucket from the left block and Tara Wallis swished in a 3-pointer to give Italy a 14-0 lead before GPAA answered with a 3-pointer to make the score 14-3.

Richards, with a strong power-dribble move inside, makes the score 16-3 followed by a basket from teammate Ryisha Copeland to extend the lead 18-3 with 1:30 to play in the opening quarter. A pass from K. Copeland to Taleyia Wilson results in a shooting foul and a trip to the line for Wilson. Wilson sinks both freebies and Italy leads 20-3. Attacking the rim, Johnson scores again, Italy leads 22-3. The quarter ends with Johnson launching a running shot from mid-court that hits the glass but the score remains 22-3.

Johnson pushes the ball up court early in the second-quarter and passes to Richards who passes back to Johnson for the fast-break lay in, 24-3 Italy leads. GPAA swishes their second 3-pointer to make the score 24-6 but Italy is not concerned. Wallis puts up a shot that careens off the rim but Johnson executes an aerial put back to make the score 26-6 with 6:03 to play in the first half. Exploding down court on another fast-break, Johnson makes the layup to give Italy a 28-6 advantage. Again, Johnson scores in the lane, Italy leads 30-6 with 4:43 before halftime.

With K. Copeland setting up the half court offense, Johnson rises with a hand in her face and knocks down the jumper, Italy leads 32-6. Haylee Turner and Bernice Hailey check in for Italy with 3:26 remaining. A K. Copeland steal results in two free shots for Turner. Turner splits the charity shots and Italy leads 33-6. R. Copeland steals the ball and passes ahead to Figueroa who scores inside, 35-6 with 1:00 showing.

Turner inbounds to K. Copeland who tries a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer. The shot is off the mark but, overall, the Lady Gladiators were on target throughout the first half and left the court all smiles at halftime.

With Johnson scoring the first two buckets to start the second half, the Lady Gladiators continued to roll in the third. Turner scores on a bank shot to make the score 52-8 and, with time winding down, Alex Minton dropped in the front of end of a 2-shot foul to give Italy a 55-10 lead entering the fourth-quarter.

The Lady Gladiators finished as strong as they started with Wallis passing to Turner who makes the layup to beat the final buzzer as well as to beat the GPAA Lady Eagles 74-10. Turner scored 5-points in the fourth and 8-points in the game while Wallis dropped in two 3-point bombs to finish with 6-points. Kendra Copeland and Figueroa also finished with 6-points each to help Lady Gladiators begin district with a 3-0 record.

Lady Gladiator Scoring:

Varsity Boys:
The Italy Gladiators (6-4,1-0), head coached by Brian Coffman, were led by center Cole Hopkins who recorded 23 rebounds, 5 blocks, 2 steals and 1 assist, along with a game high 18-points, in Italy’s district opening win against the Grand Prairie Advantage Academy Eagles Friday night inside Italy Coliseum.

Italy led 5-0 early after a Marvin Cox 3-pointer and then built an 11-4 advantage. Hopkins made the score 13-4 and then Darol Mayberry draws a charge to keep the Eagles from closing the gap with 2:55 to play in the first-quarter. A block by Hopkins setup free-throws for Cox who puts in both to give Italy a 16-4 cushion. Caden Jacinto splits a pair of free shots and Italy leads 17-4 with 0:49 seconds to go. Both sides add a basket before the buzzer to leave GPAA facing a 19-6 deficit after one.

Cox put in 8-points during the opening quarter with Hopkins good for 4-points, a perfect 4-of-4 from the line. C. Jacinto scored 3-points while Kelvin Joffre and Ryheem Walker both scored 2-points each.

Italy outscored GPAA 10-5 in the second. Hopkins led the second-quarter scoring with 6-points while Cox added a basket for his 10th point of the game. Gladiator Reid Jacinto closed out the first half by knocking down 2 free-throws to give Italy a comfortable 29-11 advantage at halftime.

The third-quarter was highlighted by back-to-back-to-back layups from Walker who totaled 6-points in the quarter as the second half seemed to run at a more fluid pace for the Gladiators. Hopkins added 4 additional points as did Joffre to give Italy a 43-13 lead heading into the fourth-quarter.

Tyler Anderson dropped in Italy’s second 3-pointer of the game to put in all 5 of his points in the fourth-quarter including 2 free-throws. Hopkins and Joffre repeated their third-quarter scoring output in the final frame putting in 4-points each. Mayberry, Byers and C. Jacinto and Cox each made a basket as well to help the Gladiators begin district play 1-0 after defeating the GPAA Eagles 64-23.

Gladiator Scoring/Roster:

Go Italy!