GIRLS 7A SEMIS: Prattville advances to regional finals
Prattville’s KeLeigh Mullens pressures Daysha Broughton in the Lady Lions’ win over Mary Montgomery on Saturday in the Class 7A South semifinals at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Erica DuBois taught the Prattville girls basketball team how to win. Now, she thinks the Lady Lions are ready to take their show to the rest of the state.
Prattville forced 30 turnovers from Mary Montgomery, keeping the Vikings’ offense out of sync the entire game in a 41-31 win in the 7A South Regional at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Saturday afternoon.
Prattville, 23-4 and winner in 14 of its last 15 games, will face area rival Enterprise, who is 1-2 against the Lions in that current streak. The two rivals will face each other on Tuesday at Garrett Coliseum at 9 a.m., with the winner advancing to the state tournament in Birmingham.
The Lions just defeated Enterprise 52-30 for the 7A Area 3 championship a week ago, but DuBois isn’t contemplating whether it’s good or bad to face your area rival for the fourth time this season with so much at stake.
“It’s a good thing to be playing anybody (for the right to go to Birmingham),” DuBois said. “As far as having to play somebody in your area, it’s the same thing I tell them every game -- it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we play our brand of basketball.”
Prattville’s brand of basketball is pressure basketball and the Vikings never got a chance to catch their breath against the Lions’ defense. Their first seven possessions resulted in five turnovers and while a couple of 3-pointers kept Mary Montgomery in the game at 10-10 late in the first quarter, it soon became evident that they would need more possessions to keep pace with the Lions.
“One thing they’ve not experienced is a lot of pressure and most definitely not the whole game,” DuBois said. “The only thing I told my girls (at halftime) -- the same thing I told them prior to (tipoff) -- is I’m a film watcher so I told them the whole team shoots the 3-ball. No. 2 (Madison Jenkins, who was held without a point) is the second-best 3-point shooter they have, but can you shoot it when you’re tired? Can you shoot it when you have to think and work against the press?
“So all I told them is don’t give them space. We don’t need you ‘helping’ on anything, stay on them and keep pressure.”
A strong shooting second quarter helped Prattville open up an 11-point lead at the half and the Lions extended it to 16 points entering the final quarter.
U’Llyriah Lewis led Prattville with 10 points, followed by Grace Downey and Keziah Seay with nine points each.
Ivy Klezmer had 17 points to lead Mary Montgomery, followed by Daysha Broughton with 12.
With the win, Prattville advanced to the regional finals for the first time since 2000. That squad won the last of six consecutive area championships under coach Sam Peak with a talented guard named Erica Edwards in the late 1990s. Now, 24 years later, Erica Edwards DuBois has her team in the regional finals for only the fourth time in school history, one win away from a trip to the state tournament.
“They’ve put in too much work to not want the whole thing,” she said. “And they’ve developed into a team that can actually get there and do that.”