CLASS 4A GIRLS SEMIS: Bailey leads Catholic to regional finals

Heaven Bailey finished with 16 points and 10 assists to lead Catholic to a win over Anniston and a berth in the Class 4A Central Regional final. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Heaven Bailey went out and lit up the nets, then her Catholic teammates helped her torch the Anniston Bulldogs 61-37 in the Class 4A Central Regional at Alabama State’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome on Wednesday. 

The Knights, as they have done so many times this year, jumped out to a hugh lead in the first quarter and settled the game in quick fashion. Bailey hit four 3-pointers as the Bulldogs sat back in the paint, helping Catholic to a 23-7 lead.

“Heaven was on fire, great passes, too,” Catholic coach Jill Clark said. “She just started out with a bang, everybody did. We found the people open underneath and got some turnovers on the press. Everything just seemed to be falling for us early in the game.”

Catholic (20-7) will play area rival Trinity in the Central Regional finals on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Since starting the season 6-4, the Knights have won 14 of their last 17 games, including a 57-48 win over Trinity. All three losses are to Trinity.

“It’s like today, ‘Hey, we’re playing somebody different who doesn’t know our personnel,’” Clark said. “You get so tired of playing the same people over and over. It seems like every week we’re playing St. James, Trinity, PCA. You want to play somebody different that doesn’t know everything we do before we do it.”

Anniston was one of those teams, uncertain of the speed of the Knights, who quickly took command of the game with pressure and transition baskets. When the Bulldogs were able to get back on defense, Bailey would hit them with a 3-pointer and the cycle would start again.

Anniston (19-6) would settle down in the second quarter, but by then the damage was done as Catholic rolled out to a 34-15 halftime lead.

“I think both teams, when you start on a floor like this, are nervous,” Clark said. “It’s like I told (Catholic players), whoever can get their emotions under control the fastest and just play basketball is going to be ready to go. I think that was part of it. Any time when you start off well, it’s always helpful mentally. And something else you have to overcome when you don’t start off well.”

Anniston played evenly with the Knights the remainder of the game, in part because Catholic had a huge lead and got sloppy in the second half, in part because the Bulldogs aggressively pounded the glass and offset a 28 percent shooting performance in the second half with offensive rebounds and second-chance points.

 “They crash the boards hard,” Clark said. “They’re very aggressive on the boards. I didn’t feel like we did a very good job of boxing out the entire night. That’s definitely something we’ve got to work on. They got more shots that I wanted them to ger.”

Bailey finished with a double double, scoring 16 points and dishing out 10 assists, along with five rebounds and five steals. Hannah Smith also had a double double with 26 points and 11 rebounds, along with four assists and three steals. Grace Levanda added six points, nine rebounds and two assists. 

Liberty Lewis led Anniston with 15 points.