CLASS 7A GIRLS REGIONAL: Prattville makes it back to Birmingham with win over Enterprise

Prattville’s U'Llyriah Lewis unloads a jumper in the Lions’ win over Enterprise in Tuesday’s Class 7A regional final at Garrett Coliseum. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

The Prattville Lions were cruising to a win over area rival Enterprise when the Wildcats suddenly found an offensive surge from center Sara Amos at the end of the third quarter.

Just as Amos opened the fourth quarter with a basket to trim the deficit to four points, the Lions went on a 12-0 run to put the game away, sending Prattville back to the state tournament for the second consecutive year.

“It’s a blessing,” Prattville coach Erica DuBois said. “This is the first time in Prattville history that we’ve gone back-to-back as regional champs. So it’s a big deal for me -- I was involved with the very first one -- and it’s a big deal for the girls. It’s just a blessing.”

Prattville made its first trip to the state tournament in 1998 with DuBois as a guard on the team that lost to Butler in the semifinals. The last two years, as the coach, she has steered the program back into the state tournament after a 25-year absence.

“The main thing is they learned they belong,” DuBois said of her players. “They feel like we’re supposed to be here, so when you feel that internally, you play like that on the court. The main thing I think they took from last year and brought it to this year is just the fact that they know that we’re a program that should be competing in the Final Four.”

Before a trip to the regional semifinals in 2022, the Lions had eight consecutive losses in the area tournament semifinals. Now, after winning the 7A Area 3 tournament with a win over Enterprise for the third time this season, they would be facing the Wildcats again.

The South Regional championship game at Garrett Coliseum on Tuesday opened with Prattville scoring the game’s first 10 points. Although the Wildcats cut into the deficit at times, the Lions had extended their lead out to 14 points before Enterprise made a push late in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 39-33 at the end of the quarter.

“Our main focus -- and I think we strayed away from it last time (in the area tournament finals) -- is we had to get back to our brand of basketball,” DuBois said. “We focused so much on their ‘big’ (Amos) because we’re so small that we kind of strayed away from our brand of basketball, which is intense defense.

“I had my ‘big’ (Eliza Downey) on the bench in foul trouble. Not only does she bring good defense, she just brings so much energy. Once she got back in the game, I knew (momentum) was going to shift. And it did.”

Jayla West-Young earned regional most valuable player honors after leading Prattville (23-5) with 24 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals. U’Llyriah Lewis added 13 points, followed by Jaina Misigah with 12 points and seven rebounds and KeLeigh Mullens with nine points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Amos led Enterprise (27-7) with 12 points and eight rebounds.