GIRLS PREPS: PCA handles Trinity for CCC tourney championship

PCA’s Avery Rogers faces off against Trinity’s Francie Morris in the Lady Panthers’ win Tuesday in the CCC Tourney. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Prattville Christian Academy had a tough slate of games in the 28th annual Jack Schweers Capital City Classic, but there was one that stood out above the rest. The Panthers are 54-2 over their last 56 games dating back to the 2021 postseason. Both of those losses are to Trinity.

So when the two teams squared off on Tuesday afternoon for the tournament championship, PCA players couldn’t help but take the court with reminders of the 45-39 loss on Nov. 9 on their minds.

“I think it plays a big role in our mindset,” PCA senior Hannah Jones said. “We’ve been working hard in practices and watching film, trying to recover from the last time we lost, and I think we really came out and executed our game plan for this game.”

The game plan for both teams was obviously on defense as the pair went almost four minutes before the first basket of the game was scored.

“We had a lot of different defenses and different situations we were going to have to play,” Jones said. “We just had to make sure we knew them and try to execute them as much as possible out there on the court.”

PCA (14-1) passed the test, getting a pair of clutch 3-pointers from Ally Blankinchip in the final four minutes to defeat the Wildcats 60-52 and grab the tournament championship at Trinity’s Captain Jack Court.

“When the brackets came out, we talked to the ladies and said if you’re going to win a big prestigious tournament like the Jack Schweers Capital City Classic, it can’t get any better than this,” PCA coach Jason Roberson said. “Let’s embrace the path. We get to play the No. 3 team in 5A (Pleasant Grove), then play a team we only beat by two a few weeks ago (Catholic) and then we get to play the team that beat us. What better way to prove yourself as a true champion.” 

The Panthers had the toughest path of any team in the eight-team field and won all three games with a tried and true formula that included forwards Hannah Jones, the tournament’s most valuable player, and CoCo Thomas, who led all scorers with 22 points and 16 rebounds.

Joining Jones on the all-tournament team were Avery Rogers and Thomas of Prattville Christian and Maddie Smith and Jayden Mitchell of Trinity.

“That team is good,” Trinity coach Blake Smith said. “There is one team that I would least want to play, 1A-5A, and that’s them. Their guards do a good job of handling the ball, they shoot it well enough that you have to respect it and those two (post) girls, when they want to play hard, are a handful. We actually played better than when we played them up there.” 

But just as the Wildcats (13-2) are a better team six weeks later, so are the Panthers, who handled the Trinity defensive pressure and found a way to get the ball inside to Jones and Thomas after early attempts failed.

“The two post players played better than they played up there,” Smith said, “and that’s the difference. That and they knocked down a few 3s. Now, if there’s one thing I could change, there was some defensive miscommunication in that. You’re going to find one player with them that you’re going to ‘help’ off of more because of the post players, but not quite ‘helping’ off that much.”

That player was Blankinchip. With Kayden Carr handling the ball and shooting guard Avery Rogers a seasoned veteran, it made sense in evaluating the five players on the court to drop off of Blankinchip to keep the ball out of the paint, but the smallest player on the court made the Wildcats pay, nailing a 3-pointer with 3:33 remaining for a five-point lead, then hitting another from the other side of the court with 1:21 remaining for a 56-49 lead.

“Isn’t she awesome?” Roberson said. “She’s our defensive stopper but she can really shoot the ball. She lives in the gym. She can stroke it. It’s all about confidence with her.”

Blankinchip finished with 11 points and four rebounds and the Panthers held off the Wildcats over the final 81 seconds, even though it took three timeouts and a pair of Rogers free throws to finally subdue Trinity.

Jones followed Thomas in scoring with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Blankinchip added 11, Rogers had seven and Jenna McClendon had six points and four rebounds. Carr dished out a season high 11 assists.

For Trinity, Francie Morris had 17 points, followed by Mya Moskowitz and Jayden Mitchell with 12 points each and Emma Kate Smith with nine.

The Panthers will play Spring Garden, Hamilton and Douglas in a two-day span in the Supreme Courts Christmas Tournament in Guntersville on Dec. 27-28, while Trinity will travel to Huntsville on Dec. 29 to play Jasper at Hazel Green.

The two teams will meet for a third time on Jan. 3, again at Captain Jack Court.

Catholic 58, Montgomery Academy 25

The Knights jumped out to a 23-8 lead in the first quarter and led 42-11 at the half on the way to a third-place finish in the Jack Schweers Capital City Classic on Tuesday afternoon.

Hannah Smith led Catholic with 25 points, eight rebounds, a pair of blocked shots and two steals.

Allyse Rudolph scored nine points, going over the 1,000-point milestone in her career.

Heaven Bailey added eight points, six assists and eight steals for Catholic (13-5), which will play host to Trinity on Dec. 30.

Caroline Waller and Kerston Daniel each had six points to lead Montgomery Academy (1-11), which will compete in the Hilton Sandestin Beach Blowout on Dec. 27-30.

St. James 72, LAMP 30

Ava Card led all scorers with 31 points and five steals as the Trojans grabbed fifth place in the Jack Schweers Capital City Classic with a 72-30 rout of the Golden Tigers on Tuesday at LAMP.

Natalie Barton added 15 points for St. James, followed by KK Hall with 14 points on four 3-pointers.  Katie Brightwell had six assists.

St. James (11-4) will play in the Falcon Wildcat Classic in Huntsville on Dec. 28-30. LAMP (9-8) will play in the Randolph Christmas Tournament in Huntsville on Dec. 27-29.

GIRLS

Alabama Christian 48, Tallassee 43

Jaide Newkirk had 16 points, 18 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead the Eagles past Tallassee 48-43 in the ACA gym on Tuesday night.

Campbell Hammett added 11 points, four rebounds and three steals for the Eagles, who trailed by one point at the half and led by one point heading into the fourth quarter before taking command of the game in the final minutes.

Izzy Warrick had 10 points and four rebounds for ACA, followed by Katelyn Sutton with eight points, six steals, four assists and three rebounds.

Kam Tate and Cheyann Easterling each had 10 points to lead Tallassee.

ACA (5-5) plays host to Gardendale on Thursday.

28TH ANNUAL JACK SCHWEERS CAPITAL CITY CLASSIC (Girls)

Saturday’s results

Trinity 57, LAMP 17

Montgomery Academy 52, Montevallo 26

Prattville Christian 62, Pleasant Grove 49

Catholic 54, St. James 49

Monday’s results 

Trinity 59, Montgomery Academy 12

Prattville Christian 70, Catholic 34

LAMP 45. Montevallo 23

St. James 53, Pleasant Grove 46

Tuesday’s results

Seventh place -- Pleasant Grove 77, Montevallo 24

Third place -- Catholic 58, Montgomery Academy 25

Fifth place -- St. James 72, LAMP 30  

Championship -- Prattville Christian 60, Trinity 52