3A CENTRAL REGIONAL: 'Fun' win propels MA boys to final; MA girls eliminated
Braden Gordon dribbles past Gage Mayfield in Montgomery Academy’s win over Hale County in Wednesday’s Class 3A Boys Regional semis at ASU’s Acadome. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
There was no drama, there were no big plays in Wednesday morning’s Central Regional semifinal matchup between St. James and Hale County at Alabama State’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
Just a methodical march to the regional finals for the Trojans, who ran out to a 17-0 lead and polished off Hale County 60-42 in the 3A Central Regional.
St. James (32-2) set a school record for wins in the process and will play Midfield, a 67-34 winner over Montgomery Academy, in the regional finals on Tuesday at 9 a.m.
“It feels really good, I’m not going to lie,” St. James coach Katie Barton said. “Especially to do with this group of girls. They’re young, they believe in each other, they lean on each other. They enjoy being at practice, they enjoy the whole process. We don’t ever talk numbers in the locker room. We want to keep the main thing the main thing and if it leads to 32 wins -- and 33 and 34 and 35 -- then that’s what we’re doing. Right now, we’re trying to go 1-0.”
That 1998 team that posted 31 wins lost in the regional finals, as have six previous Trojan squads in their eight trips to the finals. Wednesday’s win put the Trojans in the regional finals for the fifth consecutive year.
“It feels good, really good, because we work really hard,” said the Trojans’ leading scorer, Natalie Barton. “It kind of shows our hard work has paid off. We’ve got to keep going and keep pushing.”
The Trojans lost a little of their fastbreak transition when point guard Morgan Lilly picked up her second personal foul in the first quarter and a little of their post defense late in the second quarter when center Jordyn McRae picked up her third personal foul, but the Trojans’ depth and its defensive pressure were enough to overcome any shortcomings, even as Hale County cut the deficit to 13 points late in the second quarter.
“That will always affect us, that’s two of our starters,” Katie Barton said. “Morgan picked up two and had to sit the rest of the first quarter, but I was proud of KK (Corley). She came in and did a great job. The whole year, I’ve had girls that have played in spots, so when things like that happen, they don’t miss a beat. Jordyn has been phenomenal all year and I was trying to get her out in the second quartter and I couldn’t get her out fast enough. It always hurts when your players get in foul trouble, but it’s nice to know that as a unit we can still function.”
Kaitlin Michell’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave St. James a 27-12 lead at the break.
“I think in the second quartter, we kind of took our foot off the gas and they scored with us, 10-10, in the second quarter,” Katie Barton said. “We talked about that at halftime. We talked about how we needed to rebound a little bit better, give ourselves some second-chance opportunities, and we talked about our pace and playing our speed. On their made baskets, we were kind of walking it up and that’s just not what we do.”
The second half was delayed approximately 10 minutes while officials cleaned up rain water from in front of the Hale County bench that leaked from the ceiling.
A pair of Barton 3-pointers pushed the lead back out for the Trojans, who took a 22-point lead into the fourth quarter.
“We weren’t playing to our standard in the second quarter,” Natalie Barton said, “so she told us to keep our standard the standard and we kept going in the third and fourth quarters and that’s how we came out strong.”
Barton finished with 27 points, five rebounds, an assist and five steals, followed by Mitchell with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals. Lilly had 10 points, four rebounds, five assists and three steals and McRae had seven points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Lailah Hill led Hale County (19-7) with 26 points.
Sophia Cho drives for a layup against Midfield in Wednesday’s loss by the Eagles. (Tim Gayle)
Midfield eliminates MA girls
Montgomery Academy coach Wright Ward knew his team would have to play a near-perfect game to have any chance of beating Midfield in the Class 3A Central Regional semifinal at Alabama State’s Oliver-Dunn Acadome on Wednesday.
Instead, the Eagles were beaten badly on the boards and committed 27 turnovers, falling behind Midfield early and falling to the Patriots 67-34.
Midfield (28-3) will play St. James for the Central Regional championship on Tuesday at 9 a.m. Montgomery Academy ends the season at 12-19.
“They didn’t do anything we didn’t expect them to do,” Ward said. “We just didn’t execute. We didn’t play well. There were no surprises. We knew they were physical. We just didn’t bring it today and I blame myself for not having us fully ready to go like we needed to be.”
In the first quarter, the Patriots jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the first seven minutes before Kaci Armistead finally answered with a 3-pointer for the Eagles. Montgomery Academy trailed just 18-10 entering the second quarter, but the Patriots responded with 16 unanswered points to put the game out of reach.
“We’ve got four seniors, but they haven’t experienced all this and I think that plays a role in a lot of it, without a doubt,” Ward said.
Montgomery Academy was making its first trip to the regionals since 2021 before any current player was on the roster.
This was also the Eagles’ first season with Ward, who watched a team shake off a 2-9 start with a 10-10 mark since Dec. 21.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this group for everything,” he said. “They were fantastic all year. At the end of December, we were 4-10. They’ve done everything we’ve asked. I’m proud of them. I’m hoping this is getting us back where we want to be (as a program) and it’s more of a regular thing.”
While the current group was new to the regionals, Montgomery Academy has made 11 regional appearances in the last 16 years. Wednesday’s loss was only the second semifinal loss in that time and the first since a 2013 loss to R.C. Hatch.
Early foul trouble plagued the Eagles against a more physical Midfield team. Montgomery Academy allowed Midfield to grab 16 offensive rebounds and both Caroline Waller and Bennett Britt got in foul trouble in the first half, hampering the Eagles’ efforts to match their opponents’ intensity in the paint.
Armistead led Montgomery Academy with 14 points and a rebound, followed by Sophia Cho with seven points, three rebounds, an assist and two steals and E.G. Hines with three points, six rebounds, an assist, two steals and a blocked shot. Garland Thomas and Bailey Davis each added three points, while Britt had two points and two rebounds.
Kamiya Webb led Midfield with 28 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots, followed by Lauren Stokes with 15 points and four steals and Jazmin Johnson with 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and six steals.