CLASS 3A AREA 5 GIRLS: MA stops STJ; Pike Road cruises
Action from Wednesday’s Class 3A Area 5 Girls tourney featuring MA defeating St. James and Pike Road topping Bullock Co. (Photos by Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
PIKE ROAD - Montgomery Academy went more than eight minutes without a basket in the first half as St. James turned up the pressure in an effort to keep its season alive.
The Eagles scored the first seven points of the second half, widened the gap a little and escaped with a 46-29 win over the Trojans in the opening round of the 3A Area 5 tournament in the Pike Road gym on Wednesday night.
Montgomery Academy (22-6) advanced to Friday’s championship game against Pike Road, which defeated Bullock County 74-22 earlier on Wednesday. St. James ends its season at 14-13.
And while the game followed the season-long script – St. James has lost a combined 10 games to MA, Pike Road, Prattville Christian and Trinity – the game was a lot closer than the score indicated as the Trojans outplayed the Eagles for most of the first half.
“We knew they were going to try and outhustle us,” Montgomery Academy coach Barry Fencher said. “That’s what they do. Any time you play St. James, you can guarantee yourself they’re going to play hard, they’re going to try to outhustle you.
“But it seemed early in the game, we just had a lid on the goal. We missed a bunch of easy shots. Then, for whatever reason, I felt like we started pressing for a little while.”
The Eagles jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead. More than eight minutes later, it was 7-5 and St. James was threatening to take the lead. While Fencher was correct in his analysis that many contested layups rolled off the MA goal, just as many perimeter shots clanged off the St. James’ goal, allowing the Eagles to maintain a 14-10 lead at the half.
“I was really pleased with our intensity, our effort, our grit,” St. James coach Katie Barton said. “I wish our execution in the first half could’ve been a little bit better. But it was 14-10 at halftime, I can’t complain about what we were doing defensively. Six of their points were from free throws so they weren’t getting much from the field.”
Leighton Robertson scored eight of her game-high 17 points in the third quarter as the Eagles once again scored the first seven points of the half, creating an obstacle too big for the Trojans to overcome.
“They made a little adjustment in their press and we didn’t adjust early enough,” Barton said, “and they jumped out on us and it just felt like an uphill battle. We couldn’t put enough good minutes together for an entire game. I felt like we did a great job competing.”
Millie Stevenson had six of her 11 points in the third quarter and Madi Caddell, who finished with 14, added a crucial 3-pointer as the Eagles opened up a 31-18 lead.
“We started attacking the basket a lot more,” Fencher said. “I told them we weren’t going to settle for outside shots. We started attacking and layups started falling.”
Seanna Brooks finished with a team-high eight points for St. James, which saw its season end much the way it started as a team that earned style points with its defense and teamwork couldn’t overcome its lack of an offensive punch.
“This season, we were struggling to find an identity,” Barton said. “We’ve always had a player to latch on to and this year we just had a lot of players that had to step up in that big role. It would be a different one each game. We had a freshman guard come in, KK Hall, who did a fabulous job knocking down shots. HG (Hannah Grace Griggs) and Seanna shared the point and there were some games Seanna would score 20 and then there were others where HG would come out and score 15 or 16.
“My leading scorer was a freshman averaging 10 points per game and then my next two scorers were two guards averaging eight points per game. Normally, we have someone we latch onto with an identity and we build around it and we were just struggling to figure that out. But I never faulted my girls for lack of effort, never faulted my girls for grit. They bring it all the time.”
Brooks was the lone senior starter for the Trojans and one of only three on the team, along with Lucy Edwards and India Bond.
“We’re going to miss our seniors,” Barton said. “They’re amazing people. They contribute to St. James in tons of areas and I think that’s what high school is also about. I wouldn’t trade them for anything.”
Pike Road 74, Bullock County 22
The Patriots used a 33-point second quarter to take a 47-6 lead at the half and cruise into the finals of the Area 5 tournament with a 52-point win over the Hornets on Wednesday.
Pike Road will face Montgomery Academy in the championship game on Friday at 6 p.m., with the winner playing host to Beulah in a sub-regional game on Monday and the loser traveling to Dadeville on Monday for a sub-regional game.
Pike Road led 14-4 at the end of the first quarter and Sheria Clement nearly matched that with 13 points in the second quarter to help the Patriots turn the game into a rout.
Clement finished with 21 points, followed by Jakhiah Lewis with 15 and Skye Harris and Aaliyah Manora with 11 points each.
Desiree Turner had seven points to lead Bullock County, which ended its season at 2-17. Cadashia Harris and Tashieka Baskin each added five.