3A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: Connell, PCA bring another championship back to River Region

PCA’s Ella Jane Connell scored 39 points to earn MVP honors in the 3A state championship game on Friday. (AHSAA/Marvin Gentry)

By TIM GAYLE

Ella Jane Connell admitted it was a different feeling when she stepped on the Legacy Arena floor for the 3A championship game between Prattville Christian Academy and Susan Moore on Friday afternoon.

“It was my last high school game,” the PCA senior said. “I’ve been thinking about it this entire season and leading up to this point. I’m confident in all my teammates’ abilities, but if I had an open shot, I was going to take those for the team.”

Connell scored 39 points, including all 13 of the Panthers’ points in overtime, to give PCA a 72-69 win over the Bulldogs, bringing the state championship back to Prattville for the second consecutive year.

Last year, the Panthers lost to Montgomery Academy in the area tournament finals, then reeled off five consecutive wins -- including an upset of the Eagles in the regional finals - to win the title. This year, PCA was the hunted team for the entire year, but lost to Trinity in the area tournament finals before winning five straight games again.   

“Obviously, both state championships are awesome,” shooting guard Avery Rogers said, “but I’d say this one is greater because there is more pressure when you’re the defending state champs. It was a lot harder and we had to overcome a lot more, especially here in the final four and the state championship (finals). 

No game was tougher than the last one, when Prattville Christian fought its way to a 17-point lead before the Bulldogs battled back with a gritty, never-say-die effort that won over their conquerors. 

“You think those were the two best teams in the state?” asked PCA assistant coach Jim Graham, having to speak at the postgame press conference for head coach Jason Roberson for the second consecutive game. “What a game. Unbelievable. Nobody deserved to lose that game.”

Susan Moore players certainly felt that way, showing a deadly touch at the free-throw line and an equally accurate stroke in the final quarter from the 3-point arc. Those two attributes, coupled with PCA’s fourth-quarter struggles turned a 16-point lead into a tie game in eight minutes.

Over the last minute of the third quarter and the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, the Panthers had the ball for 18 possessions, hitting 1 of 9 shots from the field, 3 of 12 free-throw attempts and committing five turnovers.  

“We just knew that it wasn’t over yet,” Susan Moore guard Kaitlyn Hill said, “that if we could play defense like we know we can, we could come back and win the thing.”

Connell, who was playing her best game of the season, shifted into high gear at that point, hitting a jumper in the paint and adding a free throw with 27 seconds left, only to have Lani Smallwood counter with a jumper in the lane with five seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Smallwood hit a pair of free throws and went 5 for 5 from the field in the final 4:21 to account for 12 of her 27 points that brought the Bulldogs back. 

“They’re hard to ‘help off’ of,” Graham said of trying to corral Smallwood. “Once a couple of their players fouled out, we were trying to ‘help off’ the subs. There right at the end, we were like, we’re not going to let her beat us. We’re were trying not to let her beat us. We’d send two people at her and try to get her to get rid of the ball. Make somebody else beat us.”

Susan Moore had a pair of early misses in the four-minute overtime period, while PCA had a missed shot and a turnover. At that point, the strategy became simple: get the ball to Connell, who would either get fouled fighting off defensive pressure in the backcourt or would race downcourt and get fouled driving to the basket. 

She made one basket, while the other 11 points came at the free-throw line.

“I was just confident that I could make the right play for the team, whether that was scoring the ball myself or dishing it off to someone else,” Connell said. “Props to my teammates for giving me the ball.”

Susan Moore knew what was coming, but couldn’t keep the ball out of Connell’s hands.

“We knew that that’s who they always looked to, to get the ball down the court,” Susan Moore coach Natasha Smallwood said. “And that’s who they run their offense through, to get it started. We tried our best to keep it out of her hands as much as possible. They did a good job.” 

Cali Smallwood’s step-back 3-pointer with 1:08 left cut the lead to a point, but the next shot was a miss by reserve guard Kinsley Quick. Marisa Bryan hit another 3 with 9.5 seconds left to cut the deficit to a point once more, but Connell sank a pair of free throws with 3.5 seconds remaining and Smallwood’s half-court heave at the buzzer was far short of the mark.

“I really don’t think we’ve played any tougher game than that,” said PCA forward Hannah Jones, who had 12 points and 14 rebounds. “That was a pretty tough game.”

Jones and CoCo Thomas, who had three points and 10 rebounds, were limited at times by foul trouble as officials called 58 fouls. The top six players for Susan Moore and all five starters for PCA had either four or five personal fouls and PCA’s 22 for 42 performance at the free-throw line -- countered by Susan Moore’s 19 of 24 effort -- was a primary factor in making the game close.

“That was definitely one of the most stressful games in the entire season,” Rogers said.

In the end, one player stood above the rest as Prattville Christian (35-1) claimed its second consecutive state championship. 

“Scoring points is great, but the end goal was to win the state championship with my team,” Connell said. “It’s just a big blessing to end the year like that.”