CLASS 3A SEMIS: Trinity makes quick work of Sumter Central to advance
Trinity’s Francie Morris eyes the rim for a shot in the Lady Wildcats win on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
BIRMINGHAM -- There was a moment midway through the third quarter when Trinity coach Blake Smith had seen enough and called a quick timeout.
It’s not that the outcome of the game was in question. Trinity was leading Sumter Central 47-11 at that point in the Class 3A Girls Central Regional semifinal. But Maddie Smith was charged with a turnover when a slow reaction to a loose ball resulted in Sumter’s Jakyler Smith scooping up the ball and running downcourt for a layup.
“We have some girls that play a lot of minutes and we’ve noticed a trend in our games is to have a little lull, so we’re really pressing on not having that lull,” Blake Smith said. “On that one particular one, we had a player that watched the ball laying on the ground in front of her and another (Sumter Central) girl got to it faster than her. We can handle missing shots and those types of things, but we can’t let down our intensity and awareness to details.”
That player, Emma Kate Smith was quick to point out, was her, the oldest player on the court and the Wildcats’ all-time career points leader with 2,245 points. Trinity went on to win 74-25 and Smith finished as the game leader in points, rebounds and steals with 19, nine and five and was second to Maddie Smith in assists with five, but was quick to make amends with her father for the lapse.
“What I had to remind myself before the game was that from now on, I’ve got to play like every game is my last game,” Emma Kate Smith said. “I just need to remember to play my hardest even when I feel like it’s kind of slow or not a lot is happening. I just have to remember that this is it for me.”
Momentary lapses aside, Trinity led 16-0 before Jakyler Smith finally scored for Sumter Central, triggering another 15-0 run by the Wildcats, who went on to a 40-5 halftime lead. Jakyler Smith had more turnovers (12) than points (10), but drew praise from Blake Smith, who had to game plan for her, and from Emma Kate Smith, who had to guard her whenever Maddie Smith wasn’t in the game.
“She was hard to guard,” Emma Kate Smith said. “I always forget how amazing of a defender Mattie is. No. 23 didn’t get around Mattie a lot, then I got out there and it was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I don’t know how to contain her.’ She’s good.”
And now the preliminaries are over. Trinity (29-2) will put a 16-game winning streak on the line Thursday at 12:30 p.m., in the regional final against St. James, with the winner advancing to the state tournament the following week.
“I know the politically correct answer is to say it doesn’t matter but, look, I’d rather be playing somebody else and I wish there was a setup to do that,” Blake Smith said. “But that’s not what we have. We have them and we have to gear up to play them one more time.
“They’re good. Like I’ve said all along, they’re good enough to beat us and we have to come in ready. It’s going to be a dogfight.”
The two area rivals have already played each other three times this season, but Thursday’s game, obviously, is the biggest of the year.
For Trinity, a fourth consecutive win over the Trojans this season would earn the team its first trip to the state tournament since 2014 and only the third for the Wildcats in the 30-year history of the regionals. Thursday’s game will mark the program’s sixth trip to the regional finals, including last year’s loss to area rival and eventual state champion Prattville Christian Academy.
“I guess when it’s St. James -- and I feel it’s that way for both of us -- it’s more than just a win,” Emma Kate Smith said. “We’re hometown rivals playing each other in the Elite Eight. I don’t know how often that happens. It’s more competitive between us because we play each other all the time. We’re rivals. It’s obviously going to be a bigger game. I think that’s going to make it more intense than it would be if we were playing just another team.”