4A GIRS SEMIS: Card hits game winner to put St. James in championship game

Ava Card hit the game-winning shot to give St. James a 47-45 win over New Hope in the Class 4A girls semifinal at Birmingham’s Legacy Arena on Wednesday afternoon. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE 

BIRMINGHAM – As both teams raced downcourt in the final seconds of Tuesday’s 4A semifinal between St. James and New Hope, everyone in the arena knew who would be taking the last shot. 

New Hope coach Craig McGill was determined not to let Ava Card touch the ball. 

“We were jumping her and trying to get it out of her hands,” McGill said. “We got two (players) on her right there. I think it was an accident, it wasn’t on purpose.”

St. James coach Katie Barton, meanwhile, decided against a timeout and let her team play. 

“We were either going to go to overtime or we were going to win the game on that,” Barton said. “They knew to get the ball to Ava. She (Natalie Barton) knew to throw it right back to Ava on that one. I just trusted my players understood the game plan on that.”

Card took the ball down the left side of the court and flipped it to Natalie Barton, backed up against two New Hope defenders and yelled for Barton to give the ball back. With four seconds remaining, Card took the ball and turned over two defenders, hitting an eight footer that became the most famous shot in St. James’ girls basketball history and giving the Trojans to a 47-45 win over the Indians at Birmingham’s Legacy Arena on Wednesday afternoon. 

“She’s a great player, we knew she was a great player,” McGill said. “You hate for one kid to beat you, but we knew she was going to get that shot. We talk about our defense all the time and we believe in what we do defensively. We talk about making people shoot over the top of us and we did. We made her shoot over the top of us and she just made a play.”

Card’s shot with 3.8 seconds left gave the Indians an opportunity but in the chaotic final seconds New Hope’s desperation 3-point heave by Jordan Spivey wasn’t close and a wild celebration ensued as the Trojans celebrated their first-ever win in the state tournament since the girls’ tournament joined with the boys in 1994. 

“It means so much,” Barton said. “I’ve been there for 21 years at this school. St. James is an amazing place. The athletic program, we are growing it and making a move with it and this is huge for the athletic department. It’s also huge for the kids, for the student body, for the ‘War Zone.’ They showed up big tonight and I can’t thank my students and their classmates enough for being here.”

St. James (25-6) will play Deshler (30-1) for the 4A state championship on Friday at 4 p.m. It marks just the second time the Trojan girls have ever reached the finals. Their only other trip came in 1990 when the team, then a 2A program, reached the finals held at Calhoun Community College in Hanceville. 

New Hope’s offense struggled against the Trojan defense early and St. James built an 11-point halftime lead, then faltered offensively in the second half as the Indians tightened up their defense on Card. 

“We played about as bad as we could in the first half,” McGill said. “Because of their defense. Their 1-3-1 gave us some fits early. I thought we adjusted well. (New Hope players) were down and they could have easily rolled over, but this group doesn’t have any quit in them. They’re going to fight you ‘till the end. I’ll use one of those old quotes: I don’t think we lost, I thought we ran out of time.”

Card scored two baskets in the first three minutes of the third quarter, then the Trojans went silent as New Hope slowly rallied. Four missed shots and a turnover plagued the Trojans, who had used their height earlier to get second chances but now found a more determined foe. New Hope cut the deficit to a basket before KK Hall finally drove through the lane for a short jumper to regain some momentum. 

St. James scored two more baskets to take an eight-point lead with 6:36 remaining before the Indians rallied again, tying the game on a pair of Kaylee Lebon free throws with 16 seconds left to set up Card’s game winner.

“I just knew they had tied the game and I was like, we’ve got to score so we can win the game,” Card said. “I knew there was a tie so I wasn’t as nervous. I just took it to the basket.”

The sophomore finished with 26 points, three rebounds and four steals, followed by Hall with eight and Natalie Barton with seven. 

Jade Bates led New Hope (25-6) with 14 points, followed by Kaylee Yarbrough with 12 points. Yarbrough, the Indians’ proficient 3-point specialist, went 0 for 10 from behind the arc, part of a 5-for-27 day for the Indians. 

“We were either going to (extend the zone defense or) play a tight ‘man’ and try to faceguard her,” Barton said. “I’ve seen a couple of teams try to do that. She’s an outstanding player. She’s so shifty and can get to the basket. I love her jump shot. But we just decided to go with an extended zone. We knew we had them height-wise in that zone and we were going to try to make them pass over or around us and give us time to close out on shooters.”

The plan worked, thanks to Card’s last-second heroics. 

“It was really nerve wracking,” Hall said, “but we were pretty calm because we were it’s like it’s a tie ballgame, the worst that can happen is overtime. But we knew that if we wanted to win this game, we had to attack them.”