3A SE GIRLS FINAL: Prattville Christian returns to Birmingham with win over Trinity

PCA advanced to Birmingham after winning the 3A Southeast Regional title over Trinity at Garrett Coliseum on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Three minutes into Tuesday’s Southeast Regional championship game between Trinity and Prattville Christian, the Panthers had two misses and a turnover on offense and were trailing 8-0. 

“We thought the game was at 3:30 start instead of 3 p.m.,” PCA coach Jason Roberson joked. “To be honest, I was surprised we came out like that because we were the team that’s been there and they haven’t. Winning that (regional final) game last year against Montgomery Academy, I thought we would be ready to play. I thought we were going to come out guns blazing.”

Avery Rogers assisted Kayden Carr on a 3 pointer, then hit two of her own and in less than three minutes the Panthers had grabbed a lead they would never relinquish, holding off the Wildcats down the stretch to grab a 47-42 win at Garrett Coliseum and earn a return trip to the state tournament.

Prattville Christian (34-1) will face Plainview (26-9) in the BJCC Legacy Arena on Tuesday, at 9 a.m. 

“I have all the respect in the world for them,” Trinity coach Blake Smith said. “They’ve helped improve us. I feel like God gave us that team to play against and there are good people over there and they’ve helped us to progress and become a better version of ourselves.

“I think Jason made some good adjustments tonight in that he didn’t press us like he had been doing. If you look at the last game, we scored 52 (points) but 12 of them were off their pressure with hardly any turnovers. They just sat back and played hard defense. We took some uncharacteristic shots but that’s going to happen at this point in the season.”

Tuesday’s game would unfold in three parts, with a trio of Rogers’ 3 pointers staking Prattville Christian to a lead; Trinity playing much of the third quarter without its two post starters as both Mya Moskowitz and Kaylee Peevy were on the bench in foul trouble; and PCA surviving a late rally by turning up the defensive pressure. 

The early 3 pointers, three of the only four PCA would make in the game, were critical to rally a team that looked out of sync in the early moments of the game. 

“It was a little surprising,” PCA point guard Ella Jane Connell admitted. “I don’t really know exactly what it was. Maybe we were all excited. I know we were all very confident. We had met days before this game and talked all about it and we were all ready to go.”

PCA went on a 19-4 run to regain control of the game as Trinity went 1 for 7 from the field and committed three turnovers. 

“The early 3s hurt,” Smith said. “Honestly, if you look (at the score), that’s the difference in the game. We just had a few breakdowns in assignments there. Avery is a great shooter and we say (before every meeting), Avery is not going to get to shoot the basketball.”

Moskowitz, who had 22 points in a dominating performance on Feb. 10 to hand the Panthers their only loss over the last 40 games, picked up her second personal foul during that stretch and was never the same, picking up her third foul late in the third quarter and her fourth midway through the fourth.

“If you know anything about Trinity, you know Emma Kate (Smith) is an unbelievable basketball player,” Roberson said. “Can shoot from anywhere and is deadly from outside. Even though Mya scored 22 on us last time, our priority is always going to Emma Kate and (her sister) Maddie. But we did make an adjustment this time and Hannah Jones guarded Mya and I think that length on her caused her trouble.”

Jones didn’t play to her standard in the Feb. 10 meeting and was determined to have a better performance on Tuesday, earning Most Valuable Player honors in the process. 

“I went into the gym and worked on a few more shots I needed to improve on,” Jones said. “Going to the gym, working on it, helped me focus on going to the basket and not falling away.”

Smith, meanwhile, couldn’t help but question two of the fouls on Moskowitz that took the aggressive fight out of his freshman. 

“I don’t understand what she’s doing differently from the others,” Smith said. “That’s the way they called it. 

Peevy’s absence in the paint, he added, was just as crucial.

“People don’t realize how big a part of what we do she is because she never scores,” Smith said. “But she knows where to be, she positions herself where her player can’t help as much so it creates more space for the other players. All those little nuances she is attuned with, so when you get her off the floor, the spacing gets a little off. 

Surprisingly, with Moskowitz and Peevy on the bench, Trinity remained close. Maddie Smith had 16 points and Emma Kate Smith had 11 to keep the Wildcats within nine. Just as MA let up in the final minute of last year’s regional final and lost to PCA, Roberson suddenly watched his team take its foot off the gas pedal as Maddie Smith’s putback cut the lead to 45-41 with 44 seconds left.

“I sensed that they (PCA players) thought the game was over,” Roberson said. “We were up nine, 10 points and with someone like Trinity, where the Smiths can bomb away, the game is never over.”

Rogers sank a pair of free throws and the clock ran out on Trinity as the celebration for PCA was markedly different from last year’s win over MA. 

“It was very exciting internally, but we know what’s coming,” Connell said. “It’s a business trip so I think we all know the seriousness of it.”

CoCo Thomas led PCA with 14 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Jones with 13 points and nine rebounds, Rogers with 13 points and five assists and Connell with four points, three assists and 10 rebounds.

Just as Montgomery Academy players felt the state championship was decided at Garrett Coliseum in 2021, there was a similar feeling among the Trinity coaches and players on Tuesday.

“I don’t want to do disservice to anybody else, but I would feel very good (about our chances) in those other (state tournament) games,” Smith said. “I’m not saying those teams couldn’t beat us because they could -- they might beat PCA -- but I feel like these are the two best teams in the state.”

Trinity ends the season at 26-6, with a loss to 5A Ramsay, one to 6A state tournament team Park Crossing and four to PCA. 

“We didn’t have our best night, I didn’t like the way the fouls were called but we fought and stayed in the game,” Smith said. “That is growth for our program.

“We’ve come a long way as a program. I’ve got a formula that I think helps do that at a place like Trinity. To get to where we are, to say we can compete with the best teams in the state, I think is a huge step for Trinity. But we’re disappointed. We came into this thing thinking we could do it.”