4A SUB-REGIONALS: Catholic sweeps Andalusia to move into regional semis
Jayden Phifer dives after a loose ball in Catholic’s win over Andalusia on Tuesday. The Knights advanced to the South Regional semifinals with the win. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
After a couple of close calls in the area tournament, Catholic took a step closer to the team it wants to be with a complete win over Andalusia in a 4A sub-regional matchup in the Catholic gym.
Tuesday’s 73-65 victory wasn’t perfect by any means. The Knights were better at the free throw line (13 of 17) and lowered their turnovers, but still took ill-advised shots and allowed the Bulldogs to score 30 points in the fourth quarter. But after escaping hard-fought area tournament upset bids by Bullock County and Booker T. Washington, getting out to an early double-digit lead and maintaining it for most of the game was a welcome sight to head coach Mike Curry.
“You’ve got to go through those growing pains to get to where we are now,” Curry said. “And sometimes, you don’t get a second opportunity to right your wrongs, but we did. We’ve learned from our mistakes.”
Tuesday’s win allowed the Knights to return to the regionals after a one-year absence. Catholic (16-6) will play Jackson in the South Regional on Saturday at Garrett Coliseum. Andalusia ends the season at 12-14.
“I think we took things for granted (last year), the fact that we had been to the Final Four the last two years,” Curry said. “We’ve got a little complacent, we got a little satisfied and to be honest with you, we were a little full of ourselves. We had to humble ourselves and get back to work, play the game the right way, have a ton of respect for each team that you play and have enough respect for yourself to go out and compete every night, regardless of who you’re playing.”
The two teams played an evenly contested first quarter before Brennan Binns hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer for a 21-16 lead. From there, the Knights started the second quarter with an 8-2 run, with all eight points coming on an offensive burst by senior Josh Palmer that gave the Knights a comfortable lead.
“It was a back and forth game and Coach Curry told us to get the ball out and run, so we did,” Palmer said. “Luckily, I was guarding on the perimeter and my boys got the rebound and we dished it out and got eight quick points.”
Palmer’s scoring spree gave Catholic an 11-point lead they would maintain the rest of the game. The Bulldogs cut the lead to single digits briefly in the final few minutes before the Knights pushed the lead back out in the final two minutes.
Tyler Sigers had 24 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, and Kam Weaver had 22 points, including 11 in the final eight minutes, as the Bulldogs ran through the Catholic defense, but couldn’t stop the Knights from scoring.
“They’re one of the most athletic teams we’ve played this year,” Palmer said.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys,” Curry said. “I’ve watched a lot of film on them these last couple of days and they play a good brand of basketball. But we do, too. I thought we came out really motivated to play.”
Palmer had 28 points and 16 rebounds, followed by Jayden Phifer with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists, LJ Green with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists, Courtney Williams with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists and Binns with eight points, three rebounds and five assists.
The win was the ninth in the last 10 games for Catholic, but more importantly it sent the Knights to the regionals for the third time in the last four years, helping to erase the sub-regional loss at Dadeville last year.
“It’s a great feeling,” Palmer said. “Now, we’ve just got to come out with the same mentality we had tonight, walk in (like) we’re the best team on the court. We just have to play like it, like we did tonight.”
Hannah Smith goes up with a shot against the Andalusia defense in the Lady Knights’ win on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
Catholic girls headed to regionals
Catholic picked up its 25th win of the season on Tuesday with a 57-34 win over Andalusia, but more important than that, the Knights earned a trip to the South Regional after beating the Bulldogs in a 4A sub-regional game in the Catholic gym.
That’s something the Knights haven’t done since the 2017 season.
“I’m excited,” Catholic coach Jill Clark said. “It’s been a long time since we went to a regional. I think they’re excited about it. We’ll see how they react to the big coliseum stage. But when it comes down to it, it’s just basketball, go play.”
Catholic (25-7) advanced to the South Regional and will play Jackson at Garrett Coliseum on Saturday. Andalusia ends the season at 8-8.
“It feels good to make it again,” said Catholic senior Allyse Rudolph. “I haven’t made it since the 10th grade. I’ve been there (at Garrett Coliseum) before in volleyball (super regionals) and basketball (regionals) so it really doesn’t faze me like a lot of people but I’m going to talk to the younger girls and make sure they’re OK before we get on the court.”
Rudolph was a sophomore at Marbury High in 2021, advancing to the state tournament in Birmingham before losing to G.W. Carver in the semifinals, but she’s the only member of Catholic’s team to have participated in postseason play before Tuesday.
Seniors Andy Aiken and Leona Sanford would have been freshmen the last time Catholic earned a sub-regional berth. Since reaching the Final Four in 2002, the Knights have participated in eight sub-regional games, losing five of those games by an average margin of 24.4 points. Obviously, this year’s team is charting a new path for Catholic girls basketball.
“I honestly think we can go pretty far,” Sanford said. “As the season has progressed, we’ve improved and learned how to work as a team better and I think that’ll help us go far.”
Catholic jumped out to a quick lead over the Bulldogs, but Andalusia wouldn’t go away, trailing by eight points (15-7) at the end of the first quarter and by 15 entering the fourth quarter.
“I feel like we could have done better in the beginning, had more fastbreak layups,” Rudolph said. “But we have time to improve. We don’t play until Saturday.”
Hannah Smith led the Knights with 26 points, followed by Rudolph and Heaven Bailey with nine points each as Catholic won its eighth consecutive game.
“I think we’ve been playing good,” Aiken said. “We want to take it one game at a time, obviously.”
Catholic has tuned up for regional play with a schedule that includes Prattville Christian, Trinity and St. James, but is a combined 1-6 against those three because of crucial fourth-quarter mistakes Clark said her team can’t afford to have on Saturday.
“Taking care of the ball has really been our downfall,” Clark said. “The first time we played PCA, we were up with 38 seconds to go and ended up losing by two (points). We didn’t end up taking care of the ball. It was our ball. Twice. And we didn’t care of the ball. We’ve got to learn how to handle the pressure. We’re very young, but I think playing those teams has helped us get to this point. Now, we’ve just got to take care of the ball and make some shots when we’ve got to have them.”