AISA GIRLS SEMIS: Edgewood near perfect in win over Sparta; Lowndes dominates in win; Hooper eliminated
Edgewood’s Jaylyn Strength attempts to step around Kaitlyn Johnson of Sparta in the Lady Wildcats win at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex on Wednesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Edgewood Academy remained perfect with a near-perfect performance in the Alabama Independent School Association Class AA semifinals on Wednesday.
In a rematch of last year’s AA championship game, Edgewood Academy was up to the task of handling Sparta Academy’s pressure defense, converting Warrior turnovers into easy layups on the other end of the floor for a surprisingly easy 66-32 victory in the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
With the win, Edgewood Academy (26-0) advances to the AA championship game against Lakeside School on Friday at 1 p.m. Sparta Academy ends the season at 24-3, with two of those losses to Edgewood.
The Wildcats defeated the Warriors 53-43 in Elmore two weeks ago.
“We knew Sparta was a good team and worked on some things we thought they would change up,” Edgewood Academy coach Darryl Free said. “We came out today with a game plan that we had been putting in for a while, kind of expecting this matchup, and we executed at a very high level. I’m very proud of our girls for that.”
In one of the most anticipated semifinal matchups at any level, Edgewood felt no pressure from Sparta’s pressure defense, converting mistakes into layups for a 24-6 lead in the first quarter.
“We press as well, so we practice against that a lot,” Free said. “We’re comfortable against the press. We knew they would have some wrinkles that we haven’t seen -- and they did -- but we had game planned for it and the girls did a tremendous job of executing it.”
Lindsey Brown led the Wildcats with 24 points, but Jaylyn Strength turned in a strong performance on both ends of the court, finishing with 18 points, while Madison Martin added 10.
“Jaylyn Strength, our senior, took a lot of bumps in the first half and she kept getting up,” Free said. “That’s what champions do. Lindsey (Brown) handled the pressure and dished the basketball, all of our role players did exactly what they were supposed to do. It was a great performance.”
Mary Grace Whatley and Hannah Salter each had seven points to lead Sparta as the Warriors played out the final three quarters without ever mounting a serious threat to hand Edgewood its first loss of the season.
“As long as that ‘zero’ is there, you’re going to get everybody’s best game,” Free said. “You’re not sneaking up on anybody. Everybody is going to want to be the one to knock you off. (Edgewood players) have embraced that and our practices are competitive. That translates into the game.”
Now, only one game remains and Free expects a challenge from traditional power Lakeside and its Hall of Fame coach, Ricky Ward.
“Ricky Ward does a fantastic job,” Free said. “Tom Clements is helping him with the defense. They’re going to be a tremendous defensive team so we’ve got our work cut out for us. Lakeside has a great basketball team. Their record is not indicative of how good they are. They play a lot of teams in Georgia that are fantastic basketball teams to prepare them for this. We expect an all-out war on Friday.”
Lakeside’s Eliza Eriksen is defended by Hooper’s Kaylee Midkiff in the Class AA semifinals at the Multiplex on Wednesday. (Tim Gayle)
Hooper Academy falls
The Hooper Academy girls turned up the defensive pressure in the second quarter and trimmed the halftime deficit with Lakeside to one point.
It all unraveled in the third quarter as the Chiefs took advantage of a shaky group of Colts on both ends of the floor to defeat Hooper 37-25 in the Alabama Independent School Association Class AA semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Wednesday.
Lakeside will play Edgewood for the Class AA championship on Friday at 1 p.m. Hooper ends the season at 17-10, a remarkable feat for a team that changed coaches in the middle of the season.
“I’m extremely proud of them,” said Hooper Academy coach Tommy Norman, who handles the boys’ team and took on the duties of coaching the girls in December. “I think it’s a big deal for these girls, from about the 20th of December, to stop and restart. We kept some of the things they did, but it’s hard to switch things up when you’re playing three games a week. Hats off to these girls. They did really well to adjust right in the middle of things. We could’ve folded up in the middle of the year. This group of girls have big things in front of them.”
Lakeside took a five-point lead into the second quarter, but scored just two points, allowing the Colts to pull back into the game. Hall of Fame coach Ricky Ward, back at Lakeside after spending the last several years at Abbeville, had a few choice words for his players.
“I think coming in here and seeing all these people and knowing what it meant, I think they were shook up,” Ward said. “They came out there (in the second half) like they were scared. I told them if anybody looks up in the stands, you’re out for the game. They’re looking at mama and daddy and mama and daddy are trying to tell them what to do. They played in the second half.”
Hanna Reed finally hit a jumper in the lane with 72 seconds left in the third quarter for Hooper’s first points in the second half. By then, the eight-point deficit was almost too much to overcome.
“The pressure just got to us, for some reason,” Norman said. “I don’t know what it was. We threw the ball away, had open looks and didn’t see them, missed shots. That was the difference in the ballgame. They got ahead, then we had to play from behind and he was smart to slow it down and made us slide out (on defense) and that opened up the middle.
“We usually handle pressure pretty well, but today was not our day.”
The Colts were also without the help of senior guard Sydney Dicks, who suffered a season ending knee injury a couple of weeks ago. Dicks was a leader and a ball handler on a team that was in need of another one on Wednesday.
Lakeside got 12 points from Jayden Green, nine from Eliza Eriksen and six each from Chloe Helms and Addy Helms. Kaylee Midkiff led Hooper with 10 points, followed by Grace Seale with seven.
Wilcox center Emily Lambert goes for the block against Lowndes Academy’s Harley Hooper in the Rebels’ win in the Class A semifinals Wednesday at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex. (Tim Gayle)
Lowndes dominates in win
Lowndes Academy coach Matt Marshall wanted his team to be ready to play on Wednesday with a mindset that was preparing for Friday.
The Rebels poured it on Wilcox early on both ends of the floor, dominating on the boards and spreading the offense among nine contributors in a 51-18 rout of the Wildcats in the Alabama Indepdendent School Association Class A semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Wednesday morning.
Lowndes (15-6) will play Crenshaw Christian for the Class A championship on Friday at 9 a.m.
“We feel like we played a schedule that would get us ready,” Marshall said. “I played Edgewood three times, I played Sparta twice, I played Fort Dale, as many tough teams as I could. I feel like we’ve played a schedule that has prepared us for this.
“I just feel like the course that we’ve taken has been a mission the whole time, to be as good as we can be and to get back to the championship. But we didn’t come to play in a championship, we came to win one.”
Marley Henderson, who led the Wildcats with eight points, broke the scoreless drought late in the first quarter with a 3-pointer, but by then Lowndes was leading 17-3 and was well on its way to a 23-point halftime lead.
The Rebels got 21 points and 14 rebounds out of junior forward Haley Briggs, the tallest player on the court who used her height to dominate the Wildcats in the paint.
“I thought Haley Briggs played a very good game today,” Marshall said. “I thought everybody played a really good game. Haley and Molly Powell usually lead us in scoring and I thought Haley had a mismatch with them. They had no height so part of our plan was to go to her early and she if they could stop her. With Camryn Hess, our other post player, I don’t feel like they can take away both of them.”
Powell had 10 points, four rebounds, seven assists and seven steals.
“I thought the team did a great job of finding Molly,” Marshall said. “We ran some sets to her on purpose and a great job out of our offense that they did a good job finding her around the rim.”
Haylon Self added seven points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal for Lowndes, followed by Catie Wallace Self with five points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals, Harley Hooper with two points, an assist and a pair of steals, Hess with two points, three rebounds and a pair of steals, Abby Lovell with two points, a rebound, an assist and a steal, Alice Murchison with a point, two rebounds and a steal and Kinley Dismukes with a point and a rebound. Addi Bridges had three rebounds, an assist and a pair of blocked shots and Riley Lane had a rebound, an assist and a pair of steals.
Crenshaw Christian 42, South Choctaw Academy 29
The Cougars held the Rebels to three field goals in the first half and found enough offense to keep a comfortable lead in the second half on the way to a 42-29 win in the AISA Class A semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Wednesday.
Crenshaw Christian will face Lowndes on Friday at 9 a.m. for the Class A championship.
Lakin Harrell led Crenshaw with 22 points, followed by Kadee McGough and Tanna Singleton with seven points each.
Claudia Diamond led South Choctaw with nine points, hitting three 3-pointers in the second half.