PREP UPDATE: Games postponed due to pending weather event (updated)
COMBINED REPORTS
As the high school basketball area races enter their final week, the challenge for a team to win its respective area could prove daunting because of another wave of game cancellations on Tuesday.
One game involving a Capital City Conference team, LAMP at Trinity, has been moved up to Monday night. The Wildcats will honor their seniors between the conclusiuon of the girls’ game that starts at 6 p.m. and the boys’ game that follows.
Two other local games, Prattville-Thompson and Stanhope Elmore-Julian, were moved to Monday as well, with the Lions playing Thompson beginning at 11:30 a.m., and the Mustangs playing Julian beginning at 6 p.m.
The remainder of the canceled games, prompted by a forecast of snow and icy roads over central Alabama, will have to be rescheduled on top of other area games that remain to be played later in the week.
Catholic, Tallassee and teams that belong to Elmore, Autauga and Montgomery county systems are canceling school and athletic events on Tuesday and Wednesday, forcing those games to be rescheduled on either Thursday or Saturday. While there are four area contests scheduled for Monday, Jan. 27, that is the deadline for coaches to meet and set the bracket for upcoming area tournaments.
Those brackets must be finalized and sent to the Alabama High School Athletic Association office on Tuesday (Jan. 28) morning.
Tuesday games that are among those postponed or canceled include Montgomery Academy at St. James, Tallassee at Catholic, West Blocton at Prattville Christian Academy and Hooper Academy at Abbeville Christian. The Colts also canceled their Monday game with Crenshaw Christian.
Other Tuesday games in the area that are affected include Holtville-Billingsley, Elmore County-Beauregard, BTW Magnet-Marbury, Brew Tech-Greenville, Russell County-Park Crossing and Booker T. Washington-JAG.
This is the second time in a little over a week that wintry weather has canceled games. Games were also postponed on Jan. 10, with only a St. James-Montgomery Academy game sticking to the original schedule.
Schools have relatively little flexibility this late in the season. After the brackets are submitted to the AHSAA office, area tournaments will begin three days later and wrap up on Wednesday, Feb. 5. The top two teams in each area will advance to sub-regionals, with girls playing on Friday, Feb. 7, and boys playing on Saturday, Feb. 8. The sub-regional winners will advance to regional play the following Tuesday.
The postponement involving Montgomery Academy and St. James underscores the lack of flexibility. The icy conditions are expected to last through Wednesday and the Eagles have games scheduled on Thursday with Trinity (the annual Coaches vs. Cancer game), on Friday with Thorsby and on Monday with Dallas County. St. James also has area games scheduled for Friday and Monday.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
St. James 89, Dallas County 10
The Trojans, playing at home for the first time since Dec. 14, got points from 10 different players in a 79-point rout of the Hornets in 3A Area 5 play.
St. James remains unbeaten in area play at 5-0, followed by ACA at 4-2, Montgomery Academy at 3-2, Thorsby at 1-4 and Dallas County at 0-5.
Natalie Barton led the Trojans with 16 points, followed by Kaitlin Mitchell with 14, Morgan Lilly with 12, KK Corley with 11, Jordyn McRae with 10, Sydney Johnston with eight, Lily Stanford with eight, Kendall Dunson with six, Kaitlyn Hudson with two and Molly Phillips with two. All players played for half of the game and notched points on the scoreboard.
St. James (23-2) will travel to Pike Road on Monday before returning home to play Montgomery Academy on Tuesday and Alabama Christian on Friday.
Trinity 79, Tallassee 31
TALLASSEE -- The Smith sisters combined for 45 points to lead the Wildcats to a 4A Area 5 victory over the Tigers in the Tallassee gym on Friday night.
Maddie Smith had 26 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Lilly Smith had 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
Ellie Causey added 18 points, four rebounds and four assists and her sister Emory scored eight points.
Trinity improved to 5-1 in area play, still trailing Catholic (4-0), while Tallassee and Booker T. Washington are tied at 2-3 and LAMP is 0-6.
Trinity (21-4) is scheduled to play Montgomery Academy on Thursday.
Prattville Christian 65, Bibb County 17
PRATTVILLE -- Jenna McClendon recorded another double double with 31 points and 10 rebounds to help the Panthers remain unbeaten in 4A Area 6 play with a 65-17 win over Bibb County in the PCA gym on Froiday night.
Kayden Carr also recorded a double double with 25 points and 10 rebounds, along with six assists and six steals. Ally Blankinchip, Reagan Houston and Avery Mora each scored three points. Baylee Rogers had six assists and five rebounds.
PCA (16-8) improved to 5-0 in area play and is scheduled to host West Blocton on Tuesday.
Hooper Academy 59, Bessemer Academy 16
HOPE HULL -- Grace Seale had 16 points, four rebounds, five steals and a pair of assists as the Colts bounced back from a Thursday night loss with a convincing 43-point rout of the Rebels in Darrell Self Gym on Friday night.
Jade Taylor added nine points, a steal and an assist, Ashbee Norman had eight points, eight rebounds, four steals and five assists, Jordan Conway had eight points, three steals and an assist, Marilyn Fleming had eight points, five rebounds and an assist and Raylee Midkiff had six points, four rebounds two steals and an assist.
Hooper Academy (13-6) is scheduled to travel to Crenshaw Christian on Monday and Abbeville Christian on Tuesday.
Evangel Christian Academy 58, Edgewood Academy 49
A.K. Davis led the Lions to their fourth consecutive win with 18 points in Evangel Christian’s 58-49 victory over Edgewood in the Evangel gym on Friday night.
Symone McNeil followed with 13 points, Erick Burton had nine, Loreal Lewis had seven and Mariah Curry had six for the Lions.
Lexie Smith led Edgewood with 29 points.
Evangel Christian (13-5) will travel to Greenville on Thursday to play Fort Dale Academy in a huge AA Region 1 Area 2 game.
Catholic 80, LAMP 23
Catholic completed its first part of the area journey unbeaten, improving to 4-0 on Friday with an 80-23 rout of LAMP in the Catholic gym.
The Knights will host Trinity, Booker T. Washington and Tallassee and travel to LAMP in the second part of the journey, which begins on Saturday afternoon with a home game against Booker T. Washington.
“We’ve been away for all the games except for LAMP, so now they’re coming to us,” Catholic coach Jill Clark said. “That part is good, but there’s still a long way to go.”
The game with the Golden Tigers was decided quickly as Catholic jumped out to a 26-2 lead in the first quarter, holding LAMP without a field goal. Hannah Smith scored 21 points, had seven rebounds and eight steals, with 17 of those points coming in the first half. Heaven Bailey had a triple double, finishing with 16 points, 10 assists and 16 steals, while Lela Rogers added 12 points and Kierstyn Green had 10.
After the game Smith and Bailey were honored for reaching milestones in December (the Knights haven’t been home since Dec. 7), with Smith recording her 1,000th rebound and Bailey her 1000th point.
“Not many kids get 1,000 (rebounds by their junior year),” Clark said of Smith. “And then Heaven is a sophomore and has 1,000 points and is about to hit 500 assists and 500 steals.”
Catholic (12-5) goes to LAMP on Friday. The Knights lead the 4A Area 5 race at 4-0, followed by Trinity (5-1), Tallassee (2-3), Booker T. Washington (2-3) and LAMP (0-6).
Caroline Russell led LAMP with 13 points.
ACA 43, Montgomery Academy 38
The Lady Eagles dropped a tough, road game to area rival Alabama Christian to drop to 3-2 in area play and 8-13 overall.
Sophia Cho led all scorers on the night with 14 points, while adding four rebounds, three assists, three steals and a blocked shot..
BOYS BASKETBALL
Trinity 83, Tallassee 63
TALLASSEE -- Trinity unleashed a barrage of 3-pointers in the second quarter to rally from a six-point deficit and grab the lead for good in a 4A Area 5 victory in the Tallassee gym on Friday night.
Tallassee ran out to an impressive 23-17 lead before the Wildcats went to work. Jackson Randall and Wilson Cherry hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter and Cooper Bernier, Tillman Clements and Brady Bennett each hit one as the Wildcats rallied for a 45-38 lead at the half.
John Morris finished with a team-high 18 points, followed by Bennett with 14, Patton Mitchell with nine and Kamari Hutson and Randall with eight points each.
The win kept Trinity in second place in the area at 4-2, trailing Booker T. Washington (5-0) and ahead of Catholic (2-2), LAMP (2-4) and Tallassee (0-5).
Rowen Thornton led the Tigers with 24 points, followed by Sawyer Compton with eight.
Trinity (14-6) travels to Montgomery Academy on Thursday.
Bibb County 66, Prattville Christian 38
PRATTVILLE -- Justin Chapman recorded a double double with 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Panthers in a 66-38 loss to Bibb County in a 4A Area 6 game in the PCA gym on Friday night.
Murray Wright added 11 points, followed by Cody Chapman with six points and seven rebounds, Carter Fiacco with four points and Ethan Girlie with three. Wade Mora grabbed four rebounds.
PCA (7-17) dropped to 4-1 in area play and is scheduled to play host to West Blocton on Tuesday.
CJ Robinson led the Panthers with 18 points and 19 rebounds in PCA’s 51-28 loss to the Fighting Choctaws in the junior varsity game. Murray Wright added seven points, while Ethan Kiefer had six rebounds and five assists and Carter Montgomery grabbed five rebounds for PCA (2-10).
Bessemer Academy 68, Hooper Academy 58
HOPE HULL -- The Colts, playing their third game in four days, struggled to keep up with Bessemer Academy on Friday, falling behind the Rebels 32-26 and never catching up in a 68-58 loss at Darrell Self Gym.
Joshua Thompson led the Rebels with 22 points, hitting six 3-pointers. Jackson Rinehart added 11.
Nolan Cole led the Colts with 20 points, followed by Dallas Henderson and Slade Russell with 11 points each and Luke Moseley with nine.
Hooper Academy (18-2) will travel to Crenshaw Christian on Monday and Abbeville Christian on Tuesday.
Evangel Christian 55, Edgewood Academy 37
Tylon Shine scored 20 points to lead the Lions to a win over Edgewood in the Evangel gym on Friday night.
Shine added four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Mekhi Williams added three rebounds, five assists and seven steals and Desi Stovall chipped in four points, 10 rebounds, one assists and one steal.
The Lions (14-4) are scheduled to play Valiant Cross Academy at home on Tuesday and at Fort Dale Academy on Thursday in a pair of huge AA Region 1 Area 2 games next week.
Montgomery Academy 67, Alabama Christian 22
MA jumped out to a hot start outscoring ACA 22-3 in the first quarter and then 20-10 in the second quarter for a 42-13 halftime lead.
MA's balanced attack was led by Braden Gordon who scored 20 points, grabbed six rebounds, had three steals, and three blocks. Cade Segars added 17 points, on five made 3’s,
Skyler Stovall added 13 points, 10 coming in the first half, grabbed six rebounds
MA improves its record to 21-2 and 5-0 in area play.