CHAPMAN TOURNEY FINAL: St. James opens big lead, holds on to beat Catholic for title

Catholic’s Hannah Smith draws a crowd during the Larry Chapman Tourney championship game at Montgomery Academy on Wednesday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

It was almost too easy.

At least, it seemed that way at first as the St. James girls roared out to a 10-0 lead over Catholic in the championship game of the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip-Off Tournament on Wednesday at Montgomery Academy.

The Trojans scored 23 points in the first quarter and shot their way to a 34-18 halftime lead, relatively unchallenged by the Knights.

“They were lighting it up in the first half,” Catholic coach Jill Clark observed. “We just didn’t bring it. They started off on fire and just kept hitting them and we got in a funk and couldn’t get out of it.”

The second half was a different story, however, as the Knights started rebounding, hit a few shots and went on a 16-3 run to pull within three points.

The Knights never caught up, trailing by two points on two occasions, the last on a Hannah Smith steal and layup with 2:03 remaining. The Trojans responded by hitting six consecutive free throws to secure a 55-47 win for the tournament championship.

Hannah Smith sank 8 of 10 free throws as the Catholic star shook off an illness and moved into the paint for 13 of her 22 points in the second half. Meanwhile, Heaven Bailey connected on three 3-pointers and scored 11 of her 16 points in the second half to make the game interesting.

“Our outside shot was not falling,” Barton said. “Normally, I love it if somebody gives me that many outside looks. But it wasn’t our day. They did a good job of kind of slowing it down and playing at their pace. Hannah caught fire, Heaven caught fire a little bit, they’re both great players. We stepped up some in the fourth quarter. We at least stepped up enough to keep it at bay. I thought Sydney Johnston had a big fourth quarter for us.”

After a third quarter where the Trojans’ only points came on a Morgan Lilly 3-pointer, Johnston hit a pair of 3s and a pair of free throws for nine of her 11 points to hold off the Knights’ rally.

“In the second half, we started doing better,” Clark said. “We were getting killed on the boards. They were more physical than we were, they were shooting better than we were and wanted it obviously more than we did. At halftime, we were trying to correct those things and in the second half I thought our defense was better, our shot selection was better. But they hit the shots they needed to hit.”

Natalie Barton scored 17 points and grabbed four rebounds to lead the Trojans, while Lilly had 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Johnston also grabbed nine rebounds.  

The two teams meet again on Monday as Catholic (3-1) visits St. James (7-1).

Natalie Barton was selected as the tournament’s most valuable player and was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Kaitlin Mitchell, Lilly and Jordyn McRae, Bailey and Smith of Catholic, Kayden Carr of Prattville Christian and Kaci Armistead of Montgomery Academy.

Catholic’s Grace Levanda was honored with the Coach Larry Chapman Character Award.

COACH LARRY CHAPMAN FOUNDATION TIP-OFF TOURNAMENT

GIRLS

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

Championship Game, St. James 55, Catholic 47

Consolation Game, Prattville Christian 81, Montgomery Academy 34

Fifth-Place Game, Marbury 60, Pike Road 53

Seventh-Place Game, Brew Tech 48, Lee-Scott Academy 18

TUESDAY’S RESULTS

St. James 52, Prattville Christian 42

Pike Road 57, Brew Tech 33

Catholic 70, Montgomery Academy 27

Marbury 67, Lee-Scott Academy 32

Championship, St. James JV 47, Montgomery Academy JV 27

Consolation, Pike Road JV 58, Alabama Christian JV 26

MONDAY’S RESULTS

St. James 76, Brew Tech 36

Prattville Christian 64, Pike Road 38

Catholic 72, Marbury 53

Montgomery Academy 44, Lee-Scott Academy 24