AISA GIRLS FINALS: Southern Academy tops Lowndes; Abbeville Christian wins AA
Molly Powell drives to the basket for Lowndes Academy in the AISA Girls Class A title game on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Lowndes Academy led Southern Academy for virtually the entire game, but Lowndes coach Matt Marshall knew the Cougars would turn up the pressure with seniors Magan Chapman and Augusta Arnold.
“They’re special players,” Marshall said. “I thought ‘11’ (Chapman) and ‘4’ (Arnold) really tried to take over the game in the last three minutes.”
Chapman scored eight of her 18 points in the fourth quarter and Arnold scored six of her 16 in the final period as the Cougars scored the final 10 points in the game for a 46-41 win over Lowndes in the Alabama Independent School Association Class A state finals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Thursday.
In what was easily the most entertaining girls’ game of the tournament, Lowndes Academy turned Southern’s strategy on its head and outplayed the Cougars in the first and third quarters before faltering late in each half.
“We like to run the floor, we like to push the tempo, we like to press,” Southern Academy coach Mike Allen said. “Lowndes had a really good game plan. He sagged off in a 2-1-2 (zone) -- he normally runs a ‘man’ -- and he was going to try and make us beat him from the outside. And we just couldn’t make the shots to start with.”
Southern (20-1) came into the contest riding a 19-game winning streak, while Lowndes (17-3) had won 17 consecutive games, so both teams were playing their best basketball entering Thursday’s matchup. Mollie Powell hit a pair of early 3s to help Lowndes to a stunning 16-6 lead at the end of the first quarter, with the Rebels’ offense making Southern’s transition game non-existent and its ability to handle the press keeping turnovers to a minimum.
“The biggest key that helped us was rebounding,” Marshall said. “We usually have seven points (to emphasize) before we start every game. The first four tonight were rebounding. Then I put, ‘Have fun.’”
The shooting cooled off in the second quarter and the Cougars started chipping away with baskets from Arnold on the baseline and Chapman underneath, trimming the deficit to a point at the half. But as the third quarter unfolded, Southern continued to struggle from the perimeter -- they only made one 3 pointer in each of the last three quarters -- and Lowndes moved out to a six-point lead.
Powell’s putback with just over two minutes left gave Lowndes a 41-36 lead, but the remainder of the game would include a missed one-and-one, a pair of turnovers and a pair of missed 3-pointers.
“Two minutes is too long for us to hold the ball,” Marshall said. “We’re going to turn it over anyway, so we’ve got to go. But that last timeout with 1:14, it was pretty much ‘be strong with the basketball and make them foul us or get a layup.’ But we had a turnover and they banked in a 3 and that changed the whole demeanor of what we’re trying to do.”
Southern found the right combination of missed shots by Lowndes, forced turnovers and a senior-laden team to catch fire late.
“Shots started falling for us and we were able to turn the tempo the way we wanted to,” Allen said. “We took advantage of some opportunities.”
Those opportunities came from Arnold, who hit from the baseline, from underneath and at the free-throw line on three of the four possessions, with Madeline Chapman’s 3 pointer accounting for the other points.
“That’s just her,” Allen said of Arnold. “She’s that type player.”
The Rebels, making their first championship game appearance since 2015, were on the verge of a special victory, but Marshall was proud of his team for its performance.
“I’m not upset,” Marshall said. “That’s probably the best game we’ve played all year. We executed the game plan. We tried to take away their transition, we tried to take away their turnovers from the fullcourt press. That cuts their scoring in half. If they don’t score out of their press or score out of just running, then they’ve got to play a halfcourt game. They’re good at that, too, but I felt like that was our best chance.
“I just thought our kids played so well. I’m so proud of what we did.”
Powell led Lowndes with 19 points, followed by Haley Briggs with eight.
Making the all-tournament team were Arnold, Magan Chapman and Kailyn McCrory of Southern Academy, Faith Lane and Powell of Lowndes, South Choctaw Academy’s Emma Kate Williams and Sparta Academy’s Mckenzie Deason.
As Southern celebrated its second consecutive title with seniors Magan Chapman, Arnold, Riley Newton and McCrory, Lowndes was on the other end of the floor thinking about 2022 as everyone except point guard Faith Lane returns.
“I said, ‘Look down there,’” Marshall said. “They’re losing four or five (seniors), we’re losing one. We’re not rebuilding, we’re reloading. We know what we’ve got to do now to get over the hump.”
Abbeville Christian girls win AA title
Abbeville Christian Academy has made six consecutive trips to the state tournament under Hall of Fame coach Ricky Ward, including three trips to the finals, but had never won a state championship in the 51-year history of the school before Thursday.
Abbeville Christian weathered a late rally by Pickens Academy to defeat the defending AA state champions 49-48 in the Alabama Independent School Association Class A state finals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Thursday morning.
For Ward, selected to the AISA Hall of Fame after an incredible career at Lakeside School, it was his 10th state championship but his first since arriving in Abbeville in 2015.
“It doesn’t ever get old,” he said. “They all feel the same. You don’t ever forget. It’s a lot of hard work. I came up here a lot of times with the best team and lost; I came up here with teams that wasn’t the best team and won. But it’s hard to win.”
Especially with a team that included no senior starters and lost eight seniors from last year’s team. Abbeville Christian (10-8) only played two A games before the playoffs, splitting with area rival Evangel Christian, but caught fire in the playoffs with a lineup that included junior forward Amiyah Govan, sophomore point guard Caroline Armstong, freshman Anna Grace Blalock and a pair of eighth graders, Lyla Carlisle and Taylor Hudspeth.
Good guard play was a requirement in Thursday’s game as the two teams went through an intense first quarter of fullcourt pressure on both sides.
“We knew how they were going to play,” said Ward, who was making his 34th trip to the state playoffs in 36 years of coaching. “We beat them for the JV state championship. Three of their JV starters were starters on the varsity. Three of our JV starters were three of our starters, so we knew how they were going to play and they knew how we were going to play.”
The difference turned out to one of the oldest players on the court, Goven, who finished with a game-high 19 points, including eight in the fourth quarter.
“We knew they were going to concentrate on Anna Grace and Armstrong,” Ward said. “And we told Amiyah, you will a factor in who wins this game. She rose to the occasion.”
Armstrong added 16 points for Abbeville Christian, who converted 19 of 27 free-throw attempts in Thursday’s game. Pickens Academy, by contrast, went to the line just three times in the first three quarters.
Audrey Fondren and Lizzie Noland led Pickens with 13 points each, followed by Lily Lowery and Kate Wilkins with 10 points each.
Making the all-tournament team were Govan, Armstrong and Blalock of Abbeville Christian, Wilkins and Fondren of Pickens Academy, Evangel Christian Academy’s Destiny Betton and Heritage Christian Academy’s Tristan Stoutermire.