AHSAA GIRLS CENTRAL REGIONAL RECAP: St. James dominates Lee-Scott to advance in 4A; Trinity, Montgomery Academy eliminated

Kaitlin Mitchell with a layup in the Trojans’ win over Lee-Scott on Wednesday at the Alabama State Acadome. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Believe it or not, there were times during the early moments of St. James’ 85-18 rout of Lee-Scott Academy in the Central Regional semifinals where the Trojans struggled to make shots.

 St. James hit some transition layups off of 36 turnovers by the Warriors, but in the early moments the shots wouldn’t fall, the 3-pointers were nonexistent and the free throws were even worse.

The one thing that worked, and worked well, was the Trojans’ defense.

“They don’t (normally miss layups), but it’s a good game for them to miss in,” St. James coach Katie Barton said. “We’re going to do it at one stretch in the playoffs and today was the day. I think we were missing some of those -- at least five of us were missing -- but the more important thing is the energy stays up on the defensive end and you try to create some easy buckets. I think some of those misses are because we love to play fast, but we were almost playing to the next play instead of finishing that play.”

Natalie Barton, who hit the only 3-pointers by the Trojans in the first 23 minutes of the game, attributed the shaky shooting to jitters.

“I think there’s jitters before you go into any playoff game,” she said, “just because there’s so much at stake.”

The jitters didn’t last long. The Trojans outscored the Warriors 25-2 in the second quarter to take a 43-7 lead into the locker room at the half. 

“Honestly, I think it was good to have that game,” Natalie Barton said. “We kind of got all our jitters out before we go into any other (future) games. The shots came. Our defense was great, but the shots started falling later in the game.” 

Kaitlin Mitchell, whose 3-pointer with 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter gave St. James a 62-15 lead, led the Trojans with six steals, part of a 30-steal game by St. James.

 “We just play with high intensity and we lean on each other,” Mitchell said. “Just keep pushing. Even when shots aren’t falling, we find other ways to score. We just pick up the intensity on defense and try to score that way. Put pressure on them so we can get more opportunities.”

Mitchell led the Trojans with 21 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals, while Natalie Barton had 18 points, seven rebounds, nine assists and six steals. Kaden Fair also had 18 points, followed by Jordyn McRae with 12 points, seven rebounds, an assist and five steals and Morgan Lilly with seven points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

St. James (30-4) will advance to the Central Regional finals on Tuesday at 9 a.m., where they will face Midfield (25-6), a 60-30 winner over Montgomery Academy. Lee-Scott ends the season at 20-10.

And while there may have been some early jitters that led to a rash of missed layups, steals and rebounds (where the Trojans had a 40-29 edge) helped the Trojans win their 10th consecutive game by an average margin of 54.7 points.

“I think with those 14 (players), it maybe hits just a little bit different,” Katie Barton said. “They know how close they were last year, they know how important every single game is, they understand that they can’t give away possessions.”

MA’s Garland Thomas challenges Midfield's Kamiya Webb in the Class 3A semifinals Wednesday at the Alabama State Acadome. (Tim Gayle)

CLASS 3A: Midfield 60, Montgomery Academy 30

Montgomery Academy girls basketball coach Wright Ward knew he would have his hands full with Midfield center Kamiya Webb and knew the Eagles needed a good start in Wednesday’s Central Regional semifinal matchup at Alabama State’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome.

Instead, the Eagles found themselves hopelessly behind after a nightmarish first quarter, eventually falling to the Patriots 60-30. 

Midfield (25-6) will face St. James in the Central Regional finals on Tuesday at 9 a.m., while the Eagles end the season at 13-16.

“She’s a tough matchup,” Ward said of Webb, who finished with 22 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots on 11 of 13 shooting. “And they’ve got two good guards around her. It makes it hard. You look back, that second quarter was 11-10. We shifted to ‘man.’ Hindsight, should we have gone ‘man’ earlier? We felt like we could just because of other personnel on the floor. We felt like we might be able to ‘help’ off some spots and what they want to do.

“We did a good job with it. I just feel like you can’t dig yourself that big a hole. I felt like we missed some opportunities in the first quarter. We didn’t shoot the ball when we had opportunities to shoot it. And that’s going to happen. Credit to Midfield. They get to go play St. James.”

Bailey Davis put back a missed shot to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead with 4:16 left in the first quarter and the Patriots went on to score the final 17 points of the first quarter for an 18-2 lead. By halftime, Montgomery Academy connected on a couple of 3-pointers to make it 29-12 but curtailing Webb’s scoring was an impossible task, leaving the Eagles with too big a deficit to overcome.

Midfield’s defense forced 19 turnovers and came away with 15 steals.

“They’re very active,” Ward said. “They’ve got quick hands. They’re physical. They play a compact 1-3-1, which makes it really challenging. You’ve got to be willing to shoot the basketball.”

And while the Eagles fell short of reaching their goal of making the state tournament, each of the five starters return next season.

“I’ve coached a lot of different teams,” Ward said, “and this one is one of the more connected ones I’ve been a part of. I’m really proud of them and their effort. I don’t think a lot of people anticipated we’d get back here but they did. They wanted to be here.”

Wednesday’s Central Regional semifinal between Trinity Presbyterian and Pleasant Grove presented Trinity coach Blake Smith with several obstacles.

First, the Spartans had several players suspended following an incident in the sub-regional game. Secondly, the Spartans had a more experienced post attack that could cause problems for the Wildcats in the paint. Third, the Spartans like to play pressure defense, something that could challenge a Trinity team that only plays six players.

All of those obstacles proved to be too much as Pleasant Grove defeated Trinity 49-42 on Wednesday night at Alabama State’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome, ending the reign of the three-time defending state champions.

Pleasant Grove (22-8) will play Catholic (21-6) for the Central Regional championship on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Trinity ends the season at 20-9.

Lizzie Causey takes a shot from in lane in Trinity’s game against Pleasant Grove at the Alabama State Acadome on Wednesday. (Tim Gayle)

 CLASS 4A SEMIS: Pleasant Grove 49,, Trinity 42

Trinity’s players had one of their best performances of the season in defeating the pressure of the Spartans, owning the lead for much of the first half before Maliyah Dean hit a 3-pointer with 4:24 remaining in the second quarter to break a 14-14, Pleasant Grove would lead the remainder of the game as Trinity was cursed by a lack of depth and an issue every team that played in the Acadome had on Wednesday in trying to get simple shots to fall.   

“In that game, that’s going to be problematic because they’re going to get a few more easy ones than we are,” Smith said. “We knew that going in. I thought our girls were phenomenal. You watch film on them, they’re grabbing four, five, six rebounds on people per possession. We stopped that. They hit a few more 3s than we thought they would.

“We had several (shots) that on any given night could have gone in. And we need them, in that game, to go in.”

The always reliable Lilly Smith, whose mid-range jumper is almost automatic, hit just 5 of 14 shots, an indication of how difficult the night would be for Trinity shooters. Lizzie Causey, Ellie Causey and Emory Causey combined to hit 5 of 16 from beyond the 3-point arc, enough to keep the Wildcats in the game but not enough to pull out a win.

Tournament play in which players are generally allowed to play with more contact was an officiating decision that favored Pleasant Grove, Smith noted.

“It favors them a lot,” he said. “I have a problem with it in a lot of ways. Are double handcheck bumps, are those fouls or are they not fouls? The handbook says they’re fouls. And I’ve been saying that to referees all year. Do I teach my kids that or do I not teach my kids that? If that’s what is going to be allowed at this level, then we’ve got to be able to teach our kids to do it and you let us get away with it.

“I’m not blaming those guys for that, but that’s Officiating 101 to me. What’s going to be allowed? And communicate that to us. And there was a three-minute spurt in the first half when we were getting a lot of calls, in a positive way, and all of a sudden one guy starts making some calls (against us). That’s aggravating.

“To our girls’ credit, it’s a seven-point game. And it’s hard for me to sit back and not say that those stretches had effects.”

Sarah Evans was a decisive force in the paint for the Spartans, finishing with 14 points and eight rebounds, but she might have been one of only two players Smith was certain would play after three starters and five players were suspended after last week’s sub-regional game. That left Smith and the Trinity coaching staff wondering who would start against the Wildcats.   

“You don’t know who it is,” Smith said. “Game planning is really hard when you aren’t allowed to get that information. I’m not sure I liked the way that’s handled. It’s almost an advantage to the other team.”

The veteran coach didn’t want his criticism to detract from Pleasant Grove Walter Hicks, his coaching staff and his players, however.   

“I have a ton of respect for Pleasant Grove’s coaching staff,” Smith said. “Their team plays relentless and with discipline. They don’t give up. I have enjoyed watching that team play and I have learned a lot from them.”  

For the first time since any Wildcats played varsity basketball, they will be sitting at home in two weeks when the teams travel to Legacy Arena for the state tournament.
Smith said he had the conversation last year with a team that had “laid a foundation and a legacy that’s going to go beyond how last season would have ended last season … so we’ve kind of voiced that with this group. We’re going to work hard, we’re going to love each other well, Lord willing we’re going to honor Jesus and we’re going to compete. That’s the primary goal and they fulfilled that goal.

“They still want to win and we do, too. So there’s obvious disappointment. Our goal was to get in the Final Four. And we thought we could.”