GIRLS HOOPS: Trinity gets revenge in win over St. James
St. James’ Natalie Barton drives past Francie Morris in Friday’s matchup at Captian Jack Court. (Ryan Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
The season series is now tied, with a rubber match awaiting in two weeks and a fourth matchup in the Central Regional final looming.
St. James defeated Trinity a little over a week ago in the Trojans’ gym and on Friday the defending 3A state champions returned the favor, evening the series at a game each after turning back the Trojans 59-46 at Captain Jack Court.
Trinity’s win left both teams with a 5-1 record in Class 3A Area 6 play, waiting for a flip of the coin to determine which team will get to host the upcoming area tournament. As big as the coin flip will be -- since each team won on its home court -- it’s probable the teams will meet a fourth time in Bill Harris Arena to determine which team gets to advance to the state tournament.
“She’s a good coach and I respect them so much,” Trinity coach Blake Smith said. “She’s going to see some of the things that we did, even offensively. What I do I feel like we did offensively is the places we put ourselves in afforded us to be more crisp. When they jumped into this defense, we were ready, to know what we were going to do and feel like we can execute it.
“Look, we’re playing them two more times, Lord willing, and I can see us both winning one. I just hope I win the right one.”
In the first meeting, on Jan. 16, St. James scored 60 points, which was good enough to win (60-57) and would have been good enough to win on Friday. The Trojans hit Trinity fast on Jan. 16, but on Friday the points were harder to find.
“I don’t think we produced offensively the way we did last time,” St. James coach Katie Barton said. “We’ll have to take a look at that and look at how we can counter some of the things that are happening on defense there, then go at it again.”
The Wildcats appeared a little more comfortable on Friday, but both teams went more than five minutes with just two baskets in a game that was physically intense from the opening tip.
“You could tell we were bothering them and I was like, ‘We should have 10 or 12 points now’ and we didn’t,” Smith said. “At that point, I was just reserved that it was going to be close the whole way.”
The Trojans fell behind by eight points early in the second quarter and cut it to three points midway through the second quarter on a Morgan Lilly 3-pointer but never got closer. Trinity led by seven points at the half and by as many as 14 points late in the third quarter and early in the fourth.
The Wildcats got an unexpected boost from Ellie Causey, who hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter and another in the third to finish with 11 points.
“When Ellie can hit some 3’s, efficiently, we’re really good,” Smith said. “I think we’re really hard to beat. I don’t want that to put pressure on her, that’s just the truth.”
Francie Morris scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds to go with five assists for the Wildcats. Maddie Smith added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Mya Moskowitz scored 11 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
Lilly led St. James with 17 points, followed by Ava Card with 13.
The two teams were led in prayer by Trinity boys’ basketball coach Matt Arrighi prior to tipoff in memory of St. James senior Carter Carroll, who was killed in a tragic hunting accident last Saturday. Carroll’s funeral was on Friday afternoon in Troy, pushing tipoff for Friday’s game back 30 minutes. Proceeds from Friday’s game will be presented to the Carter Carroll Memorial initiated by the Trojans.
Trinity (19-5) remains home next week, playing host to Prattville Christian on Tuesday and BTW Magnet on Thursday. St. James (21-5) will be home next week as well, playing Pike Road on Monday and Prattville Christian on Thursday.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Catholic 69, Bullock County 38
Hannah Smith had 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals to lead the Catholic Knights to their seventh consecutive victory with a 69-38 win over Bullock County on Friday at PICE Arena.
The win gave Catholic a 6-0 record in 4A Area 4, assuring the Knights of hosting the area tournament in two weeks.
Heaven Bailey added 14 points, 13 steals and three assists, while Joanna Marlow shot a perfect 5 for 5 from the field to add 10 points for the Knights.
Catholic (12-10) will travel to Brew Tech on Saturday.
Prattville Christian 54, Wilcox Central 42
CAMDEN -- Freshman point guard Kayden Carr had 21 points and 20 rebounds to help Prattville Christian wrap up the 4A Area 5 regular season area championship with a 54-42 win over Wilcox Central on Friday night.
Avery Rogers added 15 points and six rebounds, while Ally Blankinchip had 14 points, seven assists, six rebounds and five steals. Leah Cate Wilson had three points and nine rebounds and LB NeSmith grabbed four rebounds.
PCA (20-5) will close out the regular season with a rescheduled game against area rival BTW Magnet at 1:30 p.m. before facing the same team in the first round of the area tournament in two weeks in the PCA gym. The Panthers will continue their road swing through Montgomery next week, playing at Montgomery Academy on Monday, at Trinity on Tuesday and at St. James on Thursday.
Pike Road 53, JAG 28
PIKE ROAD -- Pike Road won its third straight game, beating JAG 53-28 on Thursday night in the Pike Road gym.
Jazz Johnson led the scoring with 15 points followed by KJ Fencher with 13 points. Audrey Blaine chipped in with nine points.
The Patriots (20-4) will play host to Marbury on Saturday at 3 p.m. for Senior Night. The game was originally scheduled for early November but was rescheduled because of the football playoffs.
Pike Road 54, Greenville 14
GREENVILLE -- Audrey Blaine had 20 points and six rebounds to lead the Patriots to an easy win in the Greenville gym on Tuesday.
Jazz Johnson followed with 12 points and five rebounds, while KJ Fencher and Madison Triche each added six points.
Catholic 44, Booker T. Washington 27
TUSKEGEE -- The Lady Knights managed to break away from a tough BTW team in the third quarter to come away with a 44-27 win in the Booker T. Washington gym on Tuesday night.
BTW was up 11-10 at the end of the first quarter and the game was tied up 18-18 at the half before Catholic went on an 18-8 run in the third quarter and held the Golden Eagles to one point in the final quarter.
Hannah Smith and Heaven Bailey led the Knights with 13 points each. Smith had eight rebounds, five assists and six steals and Bailey had six rebounds, five assists and eight steals. Joanna Marlow and Grace Levanda had eight rebounds each.
Trinity 79, Alabama Christian 34
Francie Morris had 20 points, five assists and four steals as the Trinity girls rolled past Alabama Christian 79-34 on Tuesday night at Captain Jack Court.
Ellie Causey added 16 points and grabbed four rebounds for the Wildcats, followed by Mya Moskowitz with 15 points and four steals. Maddie Smith scored 10 points to go with six assists and five steals, while Lizzie Causey grabbed eight rebounds.
St. James 68, Montgomery Academy 28
Ava Card scored 20 points to help the Trojans remain unbeaten in 3A Area 6 play with a 68-28 win at Montgomery Academy’s Joe Mooty Court on Tuesday.
Natalie Barton added 13 points and Kaitlin Mitchell scored 12 as St. James won its sixth consecutive game to improve to 5-0 in area play, ahead of Trinity (4-1), Montgomery Academy (1-4) and Alabama Christian (0-5).