4A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: St. James can't stop Deshler's 3s in defeat
Deshler’s Chloe Siegel shoots for 3 against St. James’ Katie Brightwell in the girls’ 4A championship game at Legacy Arena. (AHSAA/Marvin Gentry)
By TIM GAYLE
BIRMINGHAM -- Chloe Siegel and Emma Kate Tittle came out firing.
And kept on firing.
It didn’t help that St. James struggled to get its offense rolling in Friday’s 4A state championship game with Deshler. No one will remember the Trojans shot poorly in the first quarter of a 74-42 loss. What they’ll remember are the 14 3 pointers shot by the Tigers, who got six each from Siegel and Tittle to settle Friday’s game by halftime.
“The plan going in was I liked my length in my 1-3-1 (zone) and we were going to try and disrupt them a little bit,” St. James coach Katie Barton said. “Of course, when you shoot 14 of 29 from the 3, that’s kind of hard to stop.”
The Trojans got an early basket from Ava Card, but would hit just three of their first 14 shots, including an 0 for 7 performance from behind the 3-point arc in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Tittle nailed a couple of 3 pointers and Kate Brooke Clemmons added another to give the Tigers an 11-point lead a little over six minutes into the game.
The Trojans were still fighting to get back into the game at the half, trailing by 14, when Siegel opened the second half with a pair of 3 pointers, Mary Alice Murner added another and suddenly Deshler was leading by 20 points on the way to its eighth state championship.
“I’ve dreamed of winning a blue map ever since I was a kid in the fourth grade, watching them win back-to-back (championships),” Siegel said. “I’ve just always wanted to win one. It just feels great.”
The championship was the seventh for Hall of Fame coach Jana Killen, who finished the season with a 34-1 record. The eighth title by the school is tied for the third most in Alabama High School Athletic Association girls basketball history.
“I’m just so honored to coach these kids,” she said. “They’ve been a joy all year. It’s been remarkable. I can’t express the work they put into this. I’m so happy to see that it’s paid off for them.”
Siegel, the 2,000-point scorer who set an AHSAA record earlier this season with 18 3 pointers against Oak Mountain, was 6 of 11 against the Trojans to finish with 20 points. Tittle, a Winfield High transfer, was 12 of 18 from the field, including six 3 pointers, to finish with 30 points.
“She sort of went out the same way last year and had the same hunger and the same drive,” Killen said. “So put her hunger and drive with our hunger and drive and this is what we have.”
Deshler lost to Good Hope in the regional semifinals last year, while Tittle lost to Lauderdale County in the regional semifinals a year ago. On Friday, there were plenty of smiles to go around on the Tigers’ squad.
“This is the best way to go out,” said Clemmons, who had 13 points and eight rebounds.
St. James (25-7), meanwhile, reached the state tournament for only the third time in school history and the championship game for only the second time. KK Hall led St. James with 13 points, followed by Card with 12 points.
“I think we’ve come a long way this year and I’m glad that we came so far with this team,” Card said. “It was really fun. Next year, I think we can only go up from here.”
The positive points from the 2021-22 season, including a regional championship over Geneva and a semifinal win over New Hope, were building blocks for the future, Barton said.
“I’m just really proud of my team, making it to the state championship game,” she said. “I wish we could have put up a little better performance overall, but I thought that they fought hard. Today, we just met a really tough opponent that only lost one game to (Class 7A) Sparkman the whole year.”