CLASS 3A GIRLS: Trinity girls rip St. James to take Area lead; STJ boys win over tps

St. James center Ava Card is defended by Emma Kate Smith in the Wildcats’ win on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE
The much-anticipated matchup between the top two teams in 3A Area 6 didn’t materialize as expected.

 Trinity, playing St. James in a Tuesday night game at Captain Jack Court, came out relaxed and on fire, drilling four 3-pointers in the first quarter on the way to a 22-point performance in the first eight minutes.

St. James never got any scoring out of its best shooters and fell behind quickly, trailing by 20 at halftime in a 59-28 setback that left the Wildcats in control of the area race.

“We hit some shots early on, they missed some shots early on and then the score kind of gets like it does,” Trinity coach Blake Smith said. “But that team can beat us and we’re smart enough to know that. We’re going to have to play them possibly three more times and we both know that the regional championship is the one that matters. Tonight’s just one game.”

Trinity (19-2) improved to 3-0 in Area 6 play after its first trip through the area rotation, while St. James (16-6) dropped to 2-1. Alabama Christian is 1-2, followed by Montgomery Academy at 0-3.

Francie Morris, Emma Kate Smith and Maddie Smith combined for 18 points in the first quarter, overshadowing the fact that forward Jayden Mitchell sat on the bench with a knee injury and will be sidelined for the next few weeks.

In Mitchell’s place was seventh grader Lilly Smith, the younger sister of Emma Kate and Maddie, who has played in every game this season but was making only her second start. She scored a basket in the first quarter and another in the fourth to finish with four points.

“She was very poised,” said her father, the Trinity coach. “And she’s going to be poised. Depending on how long we have to ride her, we feel good about that. She’s going to share the ball, she’s going to make good passes, she’s going to finish when she needs to finish and she’s going to defend well.”

Morris finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists, followed by Emma Kate Smith with 17 points, four rebounds and three steals, Mya Moskowitz with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Maddie Smith with eight points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

St. James coach Katie Barton said her team was beaten badly on the boards, but her biggest concern was matching Trinity’s scoring potential. Her team’s leading scorer in the first quarter was a four-point effort by point guard Katie Brightwell, while leading scorer Ava Card had only a 3-pointer in the first quarter. The forward finally got untracked with 10 points in the third quarter and finished with 15 points, but was unable to shake the defense of Emma Kate Smith in the first half.

“We’re going to have to clean up our offense,” Barton said. “We’re going to have to get more efficient offensively so we can score with them.

“We came out with a little different mentality in the second half and scored the first seven points of the half and then turnover, turnover, a breakdown in focus and it’s back up to 20.”

Trinity travels to Montgomery Academy for the annual Coaches vs. Cancer Classic on Friday, while St. James returns home to play Alabama Christian Academy on Friday. 

St. James boys run away from Trinity

For the first eight minutes of the game, Trinity’s offense kept the Wildcats even with St. James, pouring in shots from all corners of the court.

But even as Matt Arrighi watched his team maintain a slight lead in a back-and-forth game, he knew the outcome would be decided in the paint. And in that department, the Trojans had a decided advantage in KJ Jackson.

Trinity’s John Morris and Jackson Taylor stayed in foul trouble much of the evening and fouled out midway through the fourth quarter, tilting the advantage to St. James in a 59-45 victory for the Trojans at Captain Jack Court on Tuesday night.

 “It was massive that our two post guys were in foul trouble all night,” Arrighi said. “When those two guys aren’t in the game, it makes it really difficult on us. I thought our guys did a really good job of fighting and trying to keep it close. We kept it close with our two ‘bigs’ out, we were down five or six, then we get them back in the game and they both immediately pick up their fourth foul, then they both pick up their fifth foul.”

The win gave St. James a 3-0 record in 3A Area 6 play, a game ahead of Montgomery Academy (2-1). Trinity fell to 1-2, a game ahead of Alabama Christian (0-3).

“This is a long way from being over,” St. James coach Nigel Card said. “The games we played with Trinity and MA were hard-fought basketball games. Just like we’re capable of coming in here and getting a win, they’re capable of coming to our place and doing the same.”

The two teams were even until Ethan Beard’s shot put the Trojans in front 21-20, triggering an 11-0 run late in the first half by the Trojans that started by shutting down the Wildcat offense.

“We started to mix it up a little bit,” Card said. “We started to go man with certain groups and zone against certain groups and mix it in and out just to try and gain some type of advantage on the defensive end. I thought they had us spread out in the first half and we made some mistakes, particularly on the baseline, and gave up some easy shots. We couldn’t afford to continue to give up those kinds of shots the rest of the night.”

The Trojans eased out to a 30-21 halftime advantage they would maintain the rest of the game. Trinity but the deficit to three points once and four points a little later, but Morris picked up his third foul trying to contain Jackson 78 seconds into the second half and Taylor picked up his fourth in the same situation just seven seconds later.

“It’s big on both sides,” Arrighi said. “Not only are those two guys two of our best offensive players, we don’t have the size to match up with them inside when they’re out of the game. I think our post players probably played a combined four minutes in the second half. That’s just hard for us to compete with St. James, who has two excellent post players.”

Matt Middleton and Jackson continued to dominate the paint as Morris picked up a fourth personal foul two minutes later, left the court, reentered the game in the fourth quarter and promptly picked up a fifth personal foul with 6:40 remaining.

Less than two minutes later, Taylor picked up his fifth foul and joined Morris on the bench.

“I don’t feel like we got some breaks in the calls, but that’s how it goes sometimes,” Arrighi said. “You hate for that to be on your home floor, but that’s basketball.”

Jackson assisted on the next three baskets and the Trojans extended the lead to 16 points. Jackson finished with 13 points, followed by Beard and Clint Houser with 11 points each, Paxton Wingard with 10 and Middleton with nine.

“KJ is a different player from a year ago,” Card said. “He’s gotten bigger, he’s so much stronger and he’s more intentional when he receives the ball. He’s definitely going to try to score. I like the fact he’s being super aggressive. He was big tonight and Matt was, too.”

Cal Bennett led Trinity with 10 points. Morris had six and Taylor had four as the Wildcats (14-6) dropped to 1-2 in area play heading into Friday’s Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Montgomery Academy.

“Obviously, we’re extremely disappointed to be 1-2 right now,” Arrighi said. “But we can’t control the past. We’ve got to look ahead. You win out the rest of your games, you’ve still got a chance to be tied for first place if there’s a three-way tie. We’re 1-2, but I still feel like we’re as good as anybody in this area. We just have to be playing our best basketball in the coming weeks.” 

St. James (8-5) returns home to play Alabama Christian Academy on Friday.