BA girls win 4th straight AA crown
Published 6:00 am Monday, February 21, 2005
As the final seconds ticked off the scoreboard clock in John R.Gray Gymnasium, the Brookhaven Academy crowd chanted praises andprovided applause. They were watching their BA Lady Cougars securea fourth consecutive MPSA Class AA State Tournament title bydefeating Simpson County Academy 64-38 Saturday.
A standing-room-only crowd, estimated at 1,300, saw the LadyCougars produce a dominating performance in their last home-floorappearance for five seniors. They were directed by guard KelliByrd’s 20 points. Mallory Logan chipped in 17 points and KristianDavidson netted 16.
“It feels great to win four in a row,” said BA senior pointguard Lauren Smith, dabbing tears from the corners of her blueeyes. “I thought about it when the seconds were winding down. It’sa blessing from the Lord. We stayed healthy and made it to thisgame.”
Logan dished out 6 assists and made 3 steals in the victory. Sheand the Lady Cougars (36-1) seek a second straight MPSA OverallTournament title this week at Mississippi College in Clinton. Theirfirst test will probably come Wednesday night.
Brookhaven led 35-20 at halftime and started the third quarterwith a bang. Logan sacked 2 treys and the hosts hit their first 8field goal attempts, building a 24-point, 47-23 advantage.
“It’s really awesome to win four straight,” said Logan. “TheLord has blessed us with good health.”
Davidson worked inside for most of her points. She finished with10 rebounds.
“It was tough out there,” said Davidson. a 5-foot-11 senior. “Weknew we had stop No. 15 (Katie Hubbard) from shooting all thetime.”
Hubbard, a 5-10 junior post player, finished with a team-high 16points, plus 5 rebounds. Simpson fell to 26-11 with the loss.
“Kristian got tough and physical down the stretch and reboundedwell,” said BA coach Barry Gray. “Lauren did a great job of gettingour players in the right stuff.”
Gray said he was pleased with his team’s offensive performance.”We shot it really well. We were eight-for-eight to start thesecond half.
“Simpson had us confused on what they were doing,” Gray pointedout. “They kept mixing it up on defense.”
Byrd, a 5-5 senior, scored 11 of her game-high total in thefirst half. She also had 4 assists. Byrd and junior forward EmilyLangley both had 5 points in the first quarter.
“This was my last game to play at home,” said Byrd. “It had alot of meaning for me and the other seniors.”
Gray agreed. “I was glad our girls could win here in their homegym. Now we focus on next week and completion of our goal.”
Simpson, also nicknamed the Cougars, lost junior forward JessieAnderson to foul trouble early in the game. She had 3 personalfouls in the first quarter and sat out the rest of the firsthalf.
“Brookhaven Academy is one of the best teams to ever play in theMPSA,” said Simpson coach Amy McWilliams. “Give them a lot ofcredit. You can’t make any mistakes against them.
“We didn’t play as well as we did yesterday,” McWilliams added,referring to the semifinals upset of Leake Academy. “But we stilldid a good job today.”
McWilliams saw her team fall behind 13-0 before Jaime Hilton hita trey with 3:30 left in the first quarter. Simpson cut its deficitto 7 points, 22-15 on a layup and free throw by Hillary Brittbefore Brookhaven caught fire again.
“It’s hard to describe all the emotions I’m having right now,said Gray. “God has blessed me with good athletes to win four in arow. We’ve stayed healthy.”
Consolation Game
In Saturday’s opener, the Leake girls edged Indianola 58-56, ledby Allison Phillips with 18 points. The Rebelettes (40-3) got 11points apiece from Greggina Tadlock and Regina Dees.
Indianola (38-11) 8-11 17 points, including 4 three-pointers,from Maegan Worley. Margaret Long had 15 points.