CLASS 3A GIRLS REGIONAL FINAL: Midfield no match for St. James
Jordyn McRae goes up for a shot in St. James’ win over Midfield on Tuesday at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Kaitlin Mitchell did not have a very good first half for the St. James girls in their Central Regional final against Midfield on Tuesday at Alabama State’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
The freshman hit two layups, missed her other nine shots and committed three turnovers in the first 16 minutes.
“Maybe she was shaky a little bit,” St. James coach Katie Barton said. “We talked to her at halftime and told her that we needed her to play her game, trust her teammates. She came out in the second half and finished with 23, but I’ll bet 18 of them were in the second half. Great shooting by her.”
Mitchell hit every shot she took in the second half, going 6 for 6 in the third quarter to turn a close game into a rout as the Trojans defeated Midfield 61-38.
“I just had to trust my teammates,” she said, “because it’s a team effort and we play together. So I just got out of my head. And that helped.”
St. James (33-2) will advance to the 3A state tournament and will face Sylvania (18-14) in the semifinals next Tuesday at Legacy Arena at noon. The Trojans appeared almost casual in their walk to the center of the court to pick up their regional championship plaque, despite being turned back at this point in each of the previous two seasons by Trinity.
“I’m thinking one of these days they’ll get pretty excited about it, but we talk all the time about keeping the main thing the main thing, playing together, playing for each other, playing to a standard,” Barton said. “The first half, we didn’t really meet that standard and we came out in the second half and the girls knew what they needed to do. Their expectation is to be in Birmingham. I think maybe some of that excitement will come in Birmingham.”
Natalie Barton was named the regional’s most valuable player. She had 14 points, five rebounds, five assists and a steal against the Patriots. Barton, senior KK Corley and junior Sydney Johnston are the only remaining players on the 2022 team that reached the finals of the state tournament before losing to Deshler, but the newcomers didn’t seem impressed at winning a regional.
“We really excited,” Natalie Barton said. “It might not show, but we’re really excited.”
St. James, making its fifth consecutive trip to the regional finals, started off slow with a focus on Midfield’s best two players, guard Otiscia Towns and center Kamiya Webb, then guarded Webb on defense with Jordyn McRae and drove right at Webb on offense to get her in foul trouble.
“We started off with a triangle and two on them and we got out of that kind of quick,” Katie Barton said. “I didn’t like what I was seeing, so we went zone against them. Jordyn McRae, an eighth grader who has been big for us all year, had 14 rebounds. Just a huge, massive game in the paint. Got tips on passes going in (to Webb). I felt like that helped neutralize (Webb) a lot. (McRae) was so dominant on the boards.”
Webb finished with 11 points, five blocked shots and 15 rebounds but McRae held her own, with a little help from her teammates.
“We went back to our 1-3-1 (zone) and we started playing the way we play again,” Natalie Barton said. “We were playing at their pace, so we had to get back to how we play. We had to put a body on (Webb) when we put our shots up so she wouldn’t get all the rebounds and we had to keep our hands up. We kept going at her because we knew she was in foul trouble.”
In the third quarter, Mitchell heated up with three 3-pointers (adding another in the fourth quarter) to take care of the Patriots. The freshman finished with 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Morgan Lilly added 14 points, four rebounds and four assists, followed by McRae with seven points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three steals, Corley with seven points, two rebounds and an assist and Kaden Fair with two points and four rebounds.