Area schools well represented on All-State teams
By Staff
Justin Schuver, Hartselle Enquirer
Morgan County schools were well represented on the All-State basketball teams released by the Alabama Sportswriters Association Sunday.
Hartselle's Lauren Drake and Priceville's Josh Bedwell were each named to the first team in their respective classifications. Making the list as honorable mentions were Danville's Lauren Simmons and Falkville's Heath Alford.
Drake became the first Hartselle girls player named to the first-team Class 5A team since Jeaniece Slater made it in 1988 after the Lady Tigers finished that year as state runner-up. Drake's Hartselle team advanced to the state semifinals before falling to eventual champion Ramsay.
She had a strong senior campaign to help Hartselle to a 28-7 record, averaging 13.8 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per game. She also helped in other aspects, collecting 68 blocks, 104 steals and 90 assists.
Bedwell, who was named to the Class 2A All-State team as a junior last season, made it this year to the Class 4A team after Priceville moved up in classification. He averaged 24.8 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per contest. His scoring output was helped by a phenomenal free-throw percentage of 88.3 percent (158-of-179).
Simmons was named honorable mention in Class 3A after helping the Lady Hawks reach the Northwest Regional before falling to eventual state champion Sheffield. She averaged a double-double for the season, finishing with 10.2 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per game.
Perhaps her best performance of the year came in Danville's road victory over Sumiton Christian in the sub-regional round of the playoffs. In that game, Simmons finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.
Alford had a solid senior campaign for Falkville, averaging 21.5 points per game and 11.4 rebounds per game.
For his career of three seasons, he scored 1,741 points (an average of 21.7 points per game) and pulled down 815 rebounds. In 80 career varsity games, Alford never scored fewer than 10 points.