MA-STJ: Trojans sweep key area tilt

STJ’s Natalie Burton drives on MA’s Jai Raines in the Lady Trojans win on Friday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Both teams relied heavily on defense Friday night, which didn’t create a fashionable win for St. James, but it certainly was effective in an 11-point victory at Montgomery Academy.

The Trojans’ 39-28 win was the result of 11 points from both post players, Ava Card and Danielle Greene, but it might not have happened without a pair of timely 3 pointers from KK Hall and Natalie Barton in the third quarter after the Eagles threatened to climb back into the contest.

“It was just a defensive struggle,” St. James coach Katie Barton said. “I knew they were going to crash in on Ava. Any time she went in to attack, she had two or three sticking to her. I thought she kept her composure. We hit a couple of outside shots that helped us, not many, but we got them when we needed them.”

The Eagles struggled to find any offense, as they have all season, but the struggles were highlighted by a Trojan defense focusing on stopping Chloe Johnson and Virginia Meachum. Meachum scored on a runner in the lane late in the first quarter for her only points in the game, forcing even more of a scoring burden on Johnson. 

“I thought we did a good job on defense,” Barton said. “ I was pleased with the players buying in to what we needed to do to help stop Chloe and Virginia Meachum. I actually didn’t change my defense the whole game and that’s not typical of me.”

The Trojans’ lead went from five to eight point early in the third quarter, but Johnson quickly scored five of her 16 points to pull the Eagles back into the contest. But a fourth personal foul with a little more than three minutes remaining in the third quarter not only sent Johnson to the bench for the remainder of the quarter, it sealed the Eagles’ fate.

“We played fine defensively,” Montgomery Academy coach Reg Mantooth said. “We got in foul trouble and that really hurt us. But offensively, you’re not going to beat many people scoring 28 points. They did a good job defensively against us. We didn’t execute very well in the half court.”

Card got five of her 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Trojans were able to extend their lead late, but Barton was pleased at how the team operated with its leading scorer under wraps for much of the game.

“Everyone who has played us a second time, that’s what they’ve done,” Barton said. “They just haven’t done it as well as MA.”

Friday’s win was the eighth consecutive one for St. James (12-4), which plays at Bullock County on Monday before returning home to face LAMP on Tuesday. Montgomery Academy (8-10) travels to Highland Home on Monday before returning home to play Chilton County on Tuesday.

STJ boys beat MA

One team entered Friday’s game with no offensive spark with its leading scorer out of town, while the other just had no offensive spark.

In the end, St. James found enough plays from Ethan Beard and Bradley Thomas to hold off Montgomery Academy 43-26, which played the game without Jamal and Jashawn Cooper, who were taking a college recruiting trip.

“It was good for us to be able to put Judson (Lindsey) back on the ball (at point guard in place of Jamal Cooper) a little bit and let him play a game doing that,” Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant said. “It was good that we had some young post players who got to play a lot of minutes against a physical team. They got better, for sure, playing those minutes. And some guys who haven’t played as much for us got some good experience and did some good things that can help us down the stretch.

“We knew coming in it was going to be tough. They’re a really good team and good at what they do, especially defensively.”

The Eagles struggled to find any offensive identity without the Cooper brothers. The Trojans broke a 9-9 tie early in the second quarter with three consecutive 3 pointers and the Eagles had no scoring threat to make a legitimate run to get back in the game. 

St. James, meanwhile, was still battling the effects of a 62-48 setback at home on Tuesday to Booker T. Washington in a matchup for the 4A Area 3 regular season title and power forward KJ Jackson picked up a pair of personal fouls early in Friday’s contest, further robbing the Trojans of any offense.

“I kind of expected a little of that,” St. James coach Nigel Card said. “We didn’t practice well the last couple of days since we lost to BTW. I think that was kind of deflating. It was hard to get them back mentally. They were not mentally ready to play.”

A pair of 3 pointers from Jake Yohn and another from Beard turned a 9-9 tie into an 18-9 advantage that the Trojans would ride the remainder of the game. Misfiring on offense but still holding a 10-point lead, the Trojans elected to run the clock as much as possible in the fourth quarter.  

“It was about winning,” Card said. “Based on how we had played, we didn’t want to just continue to play and give them opportunities to catch up and win. At that point, I just made a decision to try and get them to play man-to-man where we can run our offense. We know we have the advantage in that situation.”

Beard finished with 15 points, followed by Thomas with 11. Cole Caddell and Walton Norrell each scored six points to lead the Eagles. Norrell also had five rebounds, while DJ Vinson had five points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Nigel Walker had four points, eight rebounds, a pair of blocked shots and three assists.

Montgomery Academy (7-9) travels to Highland Home on Monday before playing host to Chilton County on Tuesday. St. James (12-4) plays host to LAMP on Tuesday and Prattville Christian on Friday to wrap up the regular season.