LARRY CHAPMAN TOURNEY: St. James girls advance to finals with win over PCA; Catholic, Pike Road win
St. James’ Natalie Barton drives through the lane in the win over Prattville Christian on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
The shots weren’t falling early for St. James and the presence of Prattville Christian’s center, Jenna McClendon, can be a little daunting for guard-oriented teams, but the Trojans made the adjustments just fine, rallying from an early deficit for a 52-42 win over the Panthers in the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip-Off Tournament at Montgomery Academy on Tuesday.
The Trojans (6-1) advanced to the championship game and will face Catholic on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. PCA (6-2) will play Montgomery Academy in the consolation game at noon.
The Panthers took an early lead, but once the Trojans’ leading scorer, Natalie Barton, finally started hitting her perimeter shots in the second half, St. James was able to close the gap, tying the game 30-30 on a 3-pointer by Lily Stanford and taking the lead on a Barton 3-pointer, going on a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach.
“Good teams do that to you,” PCA coach Jason Roberson said. “St. James, I feel like, are the front runners, in 3A for sure. We just don’t have enough (experienced) guard play right now to match that. Plus we’re missing a post starter and all of our plays, (Leah Cate Wilson) knows the post spot and our guards don’t know those spots. They’re not able to run those plays.”
McClendon, the Panthers’ 6-foot-4 standout post player, connected early and gave PCA an early advantage, but struggled to get her hands on the ball in the second half, finishing with 16 points and 20 rebounds.
“We’ve got to work on posting up and feeding the post more,” Roberson said. “We’ve been practicing that. That’s the one advantage we have, maybe, against teams like St. James and Trinity, so we’re going to have to utilize that at a high level.”
St. James coach Katie Barton noted that many of McClendon’s early points were on putbacks, something that halftime adjustments took care of.
“I don’t think we had a problem keeping the ball out of the post,” Barton said. “I feel like we gave up some putbacks that we shouldn’t have, we didn’t seal on the block out but overall we did a good job. We definitely sent more help in the second half and did a better job of buying into what we were trying to do.
“I’m really proud of Jordyn (McRae, who was assigned to guard McClendon). She’s an eighth grader and she had a big assignment. It was a big team effort but I felt Jordyn played a lot older than what her age is.”
The Panthers’ most experienced guards, point guard Kayden Carr and shooting guard Ally Blankinchip, also struggled to find clean looks against the Trojan defense.
“Kayden and Ally are both great players,” Katie Barton said. “Kayden is the heartbeat of that team. She’s a tough player and she gets things going for them. We made some adjustments to quit fouling on the attack and that helped us because she gets downhill really well.”
Carr finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Blankinchip had three points.
Natalie Barton led St. James with 19 points, seven steals and five rebounds, followed by Kaitlin Mitchell with 10 points, Morgan Lilly with nine points, five rebounds, five steals and six assists and McRae with nine points.
In the boys’ division, Montgomery Academy and Lee-Scott Academy advanced to the championship game and will face each other on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
In the JV boys’ bracket, Montgomery Academy defeated Lee-Scott 64-45 to win the championship, while Pike Road defeated St. James 71-21 in the consolation game. Montgomery Academy’s JayJay Jackson was the most valuable player and was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Blake Parnell and Robert McGaughey, Lee-Scott’s Clayton Burns and Jack Faqua, Walker White of St. James and Braylon Davis of Pike Road.
Catholic 70, Montgomery Academy 27
Hannah Smith had a triple double for the Knights, scoring 29 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and coming up with 11 steals to lead Catholic to a 70-27 win over Montgomery Academy on Tuesday in the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip-Off Tournament at Montgomery Academy.
Catholic (3-0) will play St. James on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. for the tournament championship.
Heaven Bailey also had a triple double for the Knights, scoring 16 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and getting 10 steals. Kriestyn Green added 11 points for the Knights.
Kaci Armistead had eight points, going 3 of 5 from the floor, and added four rebounds to lead Montgomery Academy (1-2). Sophomore Bennett Britt added six points and five rebounds and senior Caroline Waller followed with five points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. The Eagles will face Prattville Christian in the consolation game on Wednesday at noon.
Pike Road 57, Brew Tech 33
KJ Fencher scored 20 points to lead the Patriots to a 57-33 win over Brewbaker Tech in the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip-Off Tournament on Tuesday at Montgomery Academy.
Audrey Blaine added 14 points, followed by freshman Jordan Robinson with 10.
Pike Road (4-1) will play Marbury in the fifth-place game on Wednesday at 9 a.m. Brew Tech will play Lee-Scott Academy in the seventh-place game at 9 a.m.
COACH LARRY CHAPMAN FOUNDATION TIP-OFF TOURNAMENT
BOYS
MONDAY’S RESULTS
Alabama Christian 71, Pike Road 70
Lee-Scott Academy 81, Prattville Christian 26
Brew Tech 44, St. James 39
Montgomery Academy 95, Marbury 46
Lee-Scott JV 51, Pike Road JV 43
Montgomery Academy JV 46, St. James JV 10
TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE
Montgomery Academy 83, Brew Tech 20
Marbury 81, St. James 54
Lee-Scott Academy 72, Alabama Christian 57
Pike Road 61, Prattville Christian 45
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE
Championship Game, Lee-Scott Academy vs. Montgomery Academy, 3 p.m.
Consolation Game, Brew Tech vs. Alabama Christian, noon
Fifth-Place Game, Pike Road vs. Marbury, 10:30 a.m.
Seventh-Place Game, St. James vs. Prattville Christian, 10:30 a.m.
GIRLS
MONDAY’S RESULTS
St. James 76, Brew Tech 36
Prattville Christian 64, Pike Road 38
Catholic 72, Marbury 53
Montgomery Academy 44, Lee-Scott Academy 24
TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE
St. James 52, Prattville Christian 42
Pike Road 57, Brew Tech 33
Catholic 70, Montgomery Academy 27
Marbury 67, Lee-Scott Academy 32
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE
Championship Game, St. James vs. Catholic, 1:30 p.m.
Consolation Game, Prattville Christian vs. Montgomery Academy, noon
Fifth-Place Game, Pike Road vs. Marbury, 9 a.m.
Seventh-Place Game, Brew Tech vs. Lee-Scott Academy, 9 a.m.