GIRLS 4A SEMIS: Smith's double-double not enough to take Catholic to finals
Catholic’s Hannah Smith drives on Good Hope’s Ella Gossett in the Raiders’ semifinal win on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
BIRMINGHAM -- Good Hope coach Justin Aby had one goal in mind for his Raiders to return to the 4A finals.
“Something we take pride in is on the defensive side of things,” Aby said, “and just looking at the stats, Hannah Smith, she’s a great player, she’s going to do great things at the next level, but we were able to contain her, holding her to 16 points.”
Aby and the Raiders (29-6), dismantled by Trinity 67-27 in the 4A finals in 2025, a year after winning the state championship, will play in their third consecutive finals after defeating Smith and the Catholic Knights 61-45 at Legacy Arena on Tuesday.
Aby assigned the task of guarding Smith to guard Ella Gossett.
“For those of you that don’t know Ella Gossett, she’s a dog,” Aby said. “She takes pride in guarding the opposing team’s best players. She does a fantastic job today. Hannah Smith went 6 for 17 and only scored 16 points. Kudos to Gossett.”
Gossett had plenty of help as any drives by Smith toward the basket drew additional Raiders, but her defense -- along with struggles from other Catholic offensive players -- played a huge role in helping Good Hope advance.
“Going into the game, I knew she was a lot bigger than me and a lot stronger,” Gossett said. “I knew I was going to have to play my tail off if I wanted to win this game, so that’s what I did.”
The Kinghts stayed close for a few minutes and were able to trim the deficit to nine points late in the third quarter, but never found the offensive firepower or the perimeter defense to overcome the early deficit.
“I could care less about two points, five points, 30 points,” said Catholic coach Courtney Ward, a reference to Smith’s teammates going 2 of 11 from the field in the first half and scoring just five points. “We had 12 turnovers in the first half. Twelve. Six from my point guard. You cannot win games with that. I wouldn’t say that we weren’t ready and we weren’t focused, it was just like shell shocked. They just couldn’t overcome and get back in the zone. We didn’t play Catholic basketball, not at all. Probably for about two minutes when we had a run in the fourth quarter. I have never, ever seen a game like this.”
Good Hope (28-6) will play Plainview (34-2) for the 4A state title on Friday at 4 p.m., while Catholic ends the season at 22-7, making its first trip to the state tournament since losing to Lauderdale County in the 2002 semifinals.
Smith played her final game of a six-year career with 16 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and five steals, leading her team in all four categories.
The 16 points gave Smith the career scoring record for central Alabama girls basketball players, topping Catholic’s Michelle Delongchamp (2,685 points in 1990). Smith finished her career with 2,687 points.
A pair of free throws with 5:25 remaining in the fourth quarter tied her with Delongchamp. Seconds later, with 5:13 remaining, she came up with a steal and a layup to break the 36-year-old record.
“Honestly, that is a great achievement but it really doesn’t mean anything if I’m not playing Friday,” she said.
Despite the semifinal setback, the Knights made a historic run to just their sixth regional appearance and second state tournament under Ward, the first-year coach who coached at Pike Road before spending five years at Park Crossing as the boys’ basketball coach.
“I never came into this culture just to win -- I mean, we want to win -- but I never came into this job to win, I came to give these girls the same opportunity I had in high school,” said Ward, a standout player in the mid-2000s for Tim Miller’s Jeff Davis squads. “My coach brought me here in ‘06 and it wasn’t easy getting here. This is a passion of mine, so it’s my job to give these girls the same opportunity I had from here to college to whatever they want to accomplish in life. That’s my championship.”