TUESDAY HOOPS: St. James sweeps Catholic; LAMP 'shuts out' Autauga Academy
St. James’ Wilson Aman drives past Catholic’s Kristofer Hampson (11) and Dezmont Simpson (2) in Tuesday’s matchup. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
It was that kind of night for St. James and Catholic, who were both looking for some offensive consistency as the pair battled on Tuesday night in the St. James gym.
The Trojans tied the game midway through the fourth quarter, the Knights responded with a pair of baskets and that’s all Catholic needed for a 39-33 victory.
Dezmont Simpson hit a 3-pointer to break a 32-32 tie and AJ Dottery added a basket on a drive through the lane to give the Knights what turned out to be an insurmountable lead.
St. James was held without a field goal for the remainder of the game.
“Dez made that one in the fourth quarter that really kind of separated us,” Catholic coach Mike Curry said. “We got a two-possession lead which really helped us. We tried to speed the game up, but we’re four games in -- we’ve probably had the same number of practices -- and we’ve got a long way to go.”
Caleb Ellis and Wilson Aman each hit a field goal in the early to middle moments of the fourth quarter, rallying the Trojans from a 32-28 deficit. But no one could find their range the remainder of the game with the Trojans’ only point coming on a Jordan Williams’ free throw.
Williams finished as the Trojans’ leading scorer with 12 points.
“Sometimes I have to remind myself of the ages I’m coaching right now,” St. James coach Mark Hall said. “At one point in that stretch, I had two eighth graders, a ninth grader and a 10th grader on the court in varsity basketball. I have to be patient, knowing they’re going to go through growing pains.
“But this was a good test for us. Catholic is a very athletic team. We’ll see some teams as athletic or possibly more athletic, but not many. That gives us a good measuring stick, especially in region play.”
Simpson led Catholic with 12 points, but the Knights could not shoot their way through the Trojans’ zone defense and hit just 6 of 18 free-throw attempts.
“They do what they do very good,” Curry said of the St. James’ defense. “They wanted to sit back in the zone and make us have to work and we couldn’t make shots. We couldn’t take care of the basketball. We tried to play inside out but it seemed like our ‘bigs’ couldn’t hang on to the ball.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff to work on. We’re just happy to get a win.”
St. James’ defensive effort kept the Trojans in the contest, but they couldn’t find any offensive rhythm when it counted most.
“We accomplished the goal,” Hall said. “We muddied the game up a little bit, we held them to 39 points and when you hold someone in the 30s, you feel like you have a chance to win. Mission accomplished as far as defensively. Now we’ve got to go back to the drawing board and find more ways to score.”
Catholic (2-2) will travel to Pinson Valley on Friday, then play host to Charles Henderson on Saturday afternoon. St. James (2-3) will travel to BTW Magnet on Friday, then play host to Trinity on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Catholic’s Hannah Smith and , St. James’ Jordyn McRae battle for possession in Tuesday’s matchup at St. James. (Tim Gayle)
St. James girls 79, Catholic 50
The St. James girls were plenty tough in their Tuesday night matchup with Catholic, but Trojan coach Katie Barton is looking for a little more from her players.
“It might sound silly because people may see us and say your girls are tough, but we want to be tougher,” Barton said. “We want every play to matter, we want every blockout to matter. Just the little intangible things that toughness brings, it’s just such a focus of ours right now at practice.”
It paid off on the court as the Trojans pulled away from a 10-point halftime lead with 23 points in the third quarter and 24 more in the fourth for a 79-50 win over the Knights. St. James got a pair of 3-pointers from Natalie Barton and a pair of baskets in the paint from Jordyn McRae on the way to an 11-0 lead.
“I think we shared the ball well,” Barton said. “Initially, in the first half, I felt like we should have opened up the game a little sooner, but we were settling for outside set shots instead of finding our way to the rim.”
Catholic cut into the lead with a trio of 3-pointers from Kierstyn Green, helping the Knights cut the deficit to three points in the second quarter.
“I was really impressed with Kierstyn and her accuracy,” Barton said. “I know she’s a good shooter but she came out pretty hot. She really stepped up big in that spot and made me adjust my strategy a little on defense.”
The game was missing a little with the absence of Hannah Smith, the Knights’ leading scorer who was held without a point in the first half, sitting on the bench for much of the second quarter with three personal fouls. She finished with eight points after picking up her fourth foul early in the third quarter.
“Hannah Smith is an outstanding player,” Barton said. “She’s left her mark in Montgomery with high school girls basketball. She is a beast of an athlete and hard to defend. So when she plays me, she’s going to get a lot of our attention and that’s the biggest compliment you can give a player. At times it may be frustrating to be on the receiving end of that, but she gets the attention because she’s such an outstanding athlete and basketball player.”
Catholic (3-1) got 19 points from Green, eight from Ajah Tuggle and seven from Lela Rogers but the Knights weren’t the same without Smith.
“I’ve been telling them all year long we have to be a team and not to just depend on Hannah,” Catholic coach Courtney Ward said. “Just like today, I told them this doesn’t define our season. We still don’t have a full team. We’re still playing with just six players, so it’s a learning lesson on effort and being dogs and fighting for what we have.
“Right now, we’re the team that’s out of whack until our (three basketball players that are) flag girls win the championship tomorrow. When they come back and get a rhythm, that’s when we can be a complete team. Everybody else has been a complete team since June or July, not to mention that with a new coach there’s a different style. We’re not a complete team.”
Natalie Barton finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals for St. James (8-1), while Kaitlin Mitchell also had 18 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal. Jordyn McRae added 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals, Morgan Lilly had 12 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal and Kaden Fair had eight points and two steals.
Catholic plays host to Charles Henderson on Saturday, while St. James returns to action next Tuesday at Trinity.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
LAMP 45, Autauga Academy 0
PRATTVILLE -- Caroline Russell had 13 points, five steals and six rebounds to lead the Golden Tigers in scoring, while a team effort held the Generals scoreless in a 45-0 victory in the Autauga Academy gym on Tuesday night.
J'Kyria Eutsey added seven points and five steals for LAMP, while Chloe Thomas had seven points and three steals and Amira Rudolphi had six points and six rebounds.
LAMP (2-3) returns to action on Friday at Brew Tech.
Stanhope Elmore 67, Chilton County 41
CLANTON -- The Mustangs had three players in double figures on Tuesday to defeat the Tigers 67-41 in the Chilton County gym.
Kuraji Crosby had 20 points, eight rebounds, three steals and four blocked shots, while Heaven Bailey had 17 points, eight assists, six steals and four rebounds.
Kurja Crosby added 10 points and three assists and Teonna Davis had nine points, eight rebounds, seven steals and four assists.
Stanhope Elmore (6-2) travels to Prattville on Thursday.
Greenville 45, Prattville Christian 20
PRATTVILLE -- Avery Mann led the Panthers with nine points as the Tigers defeated PCA 45-20 in the PCA gym on Tuesday.
Laney Little added five points and nine rebounds for PCA, followed by Reagan Houston with three points and six rebounds. Baylee Rogers added three points and five rebounds. Leah Cate Wilson grabbed eight rebounds.
PCA (2-7) will travel to Holt on Friday for the area opener.
Dallas County 53, Alabama Christian 47
PLANTERSVILLE -- Jaidyn Dixon scored 36 points, hitting 18 of 19 free-throw attempts, to rally the Hornets past Alabama Christian in the 3A Area 5 opener for both teams on Tuesday in the Dallas County gym.
Campbell Hammett had 16 points and nine rebounds for ACA, while Adalyn Newkirk had 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Peri Laine Holley added seven points, four rebounds and three assists.
Dallas County (2-4) improved to 1-0 in area play, while ACA (2-3) dropped to 0-1. The Eagles return home to face Thorsby on Thursday in another Area 5 matchup.
Trinity 57, Elmore County 21
The Lady Wildcats got 14 points from Lizzie Causey while Lilly Smith and Ellie Causey each had 11 points in the win over the Panthers.
Emory Causey scored seven for Trinity.
The Wildcats will return to action Friday night to face Montgomery Academy.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Dallas County 63, Alabama Christian 54
PLANTERSVILLE -- The Eagles tried to cut into a 14-point deficit in the final quarter but couldn’t catch the Hornets as Dallas County held off ACA 63-54 in the Class 3A Area 5 opener for both teams on Tuesday.
Christian Snipes led ACA with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists, including 10 points in the fourth quarter, while Levi Summers added 15 points and 10 rebounds, going 5 of 6 at the free-throw line in the final period. Alex Heilman had 10 points and six rebounds.
Myles Nix led the Hornets (5-1, 1-0 in area play) with 17 points. Deshawn Craig added 13.
ACA (2-3, 0-1 in area play) will return home to play Thorsby in an area game on Thursday.
Greenville 67, Prattville Christian 54
PRATTVILLE -- Justin Chapman had nine points and 10 rebounds for the Panthers in a 67-54 loss to the Tigers on Tuesday in the PCA gym.
CJ Robinson added nine points and eight rebounds, while Cody Chapman had nine points and four assists. Ethan Girlie dished out 10 assists. Carter Fiacco scored 10 points and Ethan Kiefer scored nine points. Wade Mora added eight points and five blocks.
PCA (3-6) will travel to Holt on Friday for the area opener.
In the junior varsity game, Ethan Kinne hada eight points and six rebounds for the Panthers (0-6) in a 59-20 loss to Greenville. Jayvion McMillion added six points and Easton Carr scored three points.