Lady Saints shock Claiborne
Published 1:53 pm Saturday, February 17, 2007
Led by Brandy Hall’s clutch shooting in the second half and a defense that shut down Chaise Simpson, the Trinity Episcopal Lady Saints pulled off the biggest upset in the MPSA Class A South Regional Tournament.
Hall made three three-pointers in the second half and finished with 16 points and Trinity’s defense held Simpson without a point as the Lady Saints stunned District 8-A champion Claiborne Academy 47-35 Friday afternoon.
With the win, Trinity, the No. 2 seed from District 7-A, improved to 13-15 and will take on a very familiar opponent in District 7-A champion Tensas Academy with the girls’ championship and the No. 1 seed in next week’s Class A State Tournament on the line today at 2:15 p.m.
The Lady Saints trailed the Lady Rebels 9-6 after one quarter of play, but then took over in the second quarter. Trinity outscored Claiborne Academy 14-8 in that quarter and held a 20-17 lead.
After that, the Lady Rebels played catch up throughout the second half while Trinity’s defense made sure that Simpson, who scored 28 points in their win over Huntington, would not take over the game. Carli Newell led the Lady Rebels with 11 points.
With Brandy Hall’s outside shooting and solid performances by Eliza Jones and Sandy Hall leading the way, Trinity kept increasing its lead during the second half and outscored Claiborne Academy 27-18. Jones scored 10 points and Sandy Hall added eight points.
Tensas Academy girls 40, Tallulah Academy 35
FERRIDAY — The first girls’ semifinals game of the day in the Class A South Regional Tournament pitted the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds out of District 7-A and it turned out to be a good one as the Lady Chiefs had to rally in the fourth quarter to defeat the Lady Trojans Friday afternoon.
Kaitlen Emfinger and Jordan Leake proved to be huge in the fourth quarter in leading Tensas’s come-from-behind win. Emfinger was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line and Leake scored five points.
“I guess they (Tallulah) got a little tired,” Lady Chiefs head coach Allen Crigler said. “Kaitlen was able to take it to the hoop and go to the line. She only missed one free throw for the whole game. Jordan had a three and a two in the fourth quarter.”
Tensas outscored Tallulah 17-8 in the fourth after trailing by after trailing by four points at the end of the third quarter. The Lady Chiefes improved to 15-17 overall with the win.
Emfinger finished with a game-high 17 points while Leake had eight points and 14 big rebounds.
Crigler was also happy with the team’s defense, particularly holding Tallulah’s Mary Beth Givens to 12 points. That was after she had 23 points and 18 rebounds against River Oaks Wednesday.
“We were pleased to hold Mary Beth to just 12 points,” Crigler said. “My daughter (Mary Liz Crigler) played some pretty good defense on her. We were double-teaming her. Our girls played with a lot of heart.”
When asked about Trinity, the opponent for Tensas in today’s girls’ championship game, Crigler said, “It will be the fifth time we’ll play them. We don’t need to scout them. They played some good defense against Claiborne.”
Franklin County girls 70, South Pike 65
SUMMIT — This was supposed to a rebuilding season for the Franklin County Lady Bulldogs. Apparently, someone forgot to tell that to the Lady Bulldogs as they won the Region 7-3A girls’ championship.
And they did it in dramatic fashion as they rallied in the fourth quarter to upset the top-seeded and fifth-ranked South Pike Lady Eagles Friday night in the finals of the Region 7-3A Tournament at North Pike.
“It feels great,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Charles Moore said. “It was a great atmosphere. Full house.”
Franklin County, the No. 2 seed, improved to 22-5 overall and will take on the loser of the Crystal Springs-Yazoo County game Monday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the Class 3A South State playoffs.
Paige Webster led Franklin County with 21 points while LaTanya Williams had 16 points, Monea Cameron added 14 points and Shareka Hunt chipped in with 13 points. Williams and Hunt were named to the All-Region Tournament team.
“Monea played every minute (Thursday) night and all but one minute tonight,” Moore said. “She played great defense and his some big buckets for us.
The Lady Bulldogs jumped out on South Pike early and held an 18-6 lead at one point before the Lady Eagles got back in the game and cut the lead to five points, 22-17, at the end of the first quarter.
“The rest of the game was just tooth and nail, back and forth,” Moore said.
Led by Ivielle Stewart’s five three-pointers in the third quarter, the Lady Eagles managed to stay in the game, but could not cut into the Lady Bulldogs’ lead as the third quarter came to a close.
But South Pike did score six straight points in the fourth quarter to take a one-point lead. However, that lead wouldn’t last long thanks to the inside presence of Hunt and Webster as they helped the Lady Bulldogs take a one-point lead.
With about a minute and a half remaining in the game, Cameron made two huge free throws to give Franklin County a three-point lead.
“Then it was a matter of playing defense and keeping a hand in Stewart’s face,” Moore said. “We put LaTanya on her in the fourth quarter. She only made one three-pointer in the fourth quarter.”
Stewart finished with a game-high 27 points and connected on eight three-pointers to lead South Pike.
Wilkinson County boys 74, South Pike 61
SUMMIT — Kenny Harden finished with 20 points and Gary James had 17 points to lead four Wilkinson County players in double figures as the Wildcats rallied from an early deficit to defeat the Eagles to win the Region 7-3A boys’ championship.
Lawrence Cage had 13 points and Corey Anthony added 11 points for Wilkinson County, which improved to 27-5 on the season. The Wildcats’ opponent for their home game in the first round of the Class 3A South State playoffs is at this point unknown.
South Pike, the No. 5 seed, wasn’t supposed to get this far but after upsetting No. 1 seed Columbia, the Eagles went into the game with a lot of confidence.
And South Pike’s momentum from the Columbia game carried over into the first quarter as the Eagles had a 16-10 lead. But Wilkinson County, the No. 2 seed, responded with a 21-13 advantage in the second quarter and the Wildcats had a 31-29 lead at halftime.
The two teams went back and forth in a high-scoring third quarter. The Wildcats were able to outscore the Eagles 25-23 for a 56-52 lead.
But any thoughts of another upset win by South Pike ended with Wilkinson County having an 18-9 edge in the fourth quarter that put the game out of reach.
Philip Brown led the Eagles with a game-high 25 points and Quentin Brown chipped in with 18 points.
Brookhaven Academy girls 51, ACCS 33
GALLMAN — Less than 24 hours after their upset win over Silliman got them in the semifinals, and next week’s Class AA State Tournament, the Lady Rebels couldn’t have found a worse opponent for a slow start — No. 2 Brookhaven Academy.
Perhaps there was concern that ACCS was due for a letdown. Perhaps it was that the Lady Rebels would have to play as close to a mistake-free game to defeat the Lady Cougars. It may very well have been both.
Brookhaven Academy, the District 6-AA champion, had an 11-6 lead after one quarter of play and then the Lady Cougars put the game out of reach with a decisive 18-7 advantage in the second quarter for a 29-13 halftime lead en route to an 18-point win Friday afternoon at the MPSA Class AA South State Tournament at Copiah Academy.
Drew Holland Tigner finished with 14 points and Hannah Watts had 13 points to lead the Lady Cougrs.
“We had a little bit of a lull,” Lady Rebels head coach Chuck Bauerle said. “They gave us all we could handle. They shot the ball well. They played really good defense. We didn’t help ourselves, either.”
ACCS, the No. 2 seed out of District 4-AA, got 15 points from Katie Anne Swinny, but the Lady Cougars’ defense held Ariana DeLaSalle to just four points. The Lady Rebels fell to 30-10 and will take on Columbia Academy, the No. 2 seed from District 6-AA, in the consolation game today at 1 p.m.
Brookhaven Academy improved to 31-3 will take on the most unlikely of opponents in the girls’ championship game today at 2:15 p.m. — Copiah Academy, the No. 4 seed from District 6-AA.
Harrisonburg girls 53, Gibsland-Coleman 43
HARRISONBURG — In a battle of the Lady Bulldogs in the bi-district round of the LHSAA Class C playoffs Friday night, Sloane Jefferson finished with19 points to lead a balanced scoring attack as Harrisonburg defeated Gibsland-Coleman.
Harrisonburg got off to a slow start and trailed Gibsland-Coleman 13-6 at the end of the first quarter. But once the host Lady Bulldogs settled down, they were almost unstoppable the rest of the game.
The momentum swung back to Harrisonburg with a 21-10 advantage, which gave the home team a 27-23 halftime lead. The visiting Lady Bulldogs then were held to a mere three points in the third quarter and trailed by 12 points as the quarter mercifully came to a close.
And even when Gibsland-Coleman found its offensive rhythm again, it couldn’t slow down Harrisonburg’s offense. D. Russell led the visiting Bulldog with 19 points and A. Richardson had 11 points.
Harrisonburg improved to 32-7 overall and will host Family Christian Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the regional round.
Yazoo County boys 28, Jefferson County 23
RICHLAND — Despite having no one score in double figures and being held scoreless in the third quarter, the defending Class 3A state champion Panthers somehow managed to rally to defeat the Tigers in the boys’ championship game of the Region 6-3A Tournament at Richland.
No, Yazoo County didn’t play great defense. The Panthers used the same style of offense that helped when the state title last season.
“They went into a stall,” Tigers head coach Marcus Walton said. “We just had some costly turnovers down the stretch.”
The most offense either team had was in the first quarter, which ended with Yazoo County leading 12-10. Jefferson County then took a 21-19 lead by the end of the third quarter. But the Tigers couldn’t keep the momentum going as they were outscored by the Panthers 9-2 in the fourth quarter.
Kadon Day scored 13 points for Jefferson County, which fell to 24-6. Despite the heartbreaking loss, the Tigers will host a first-round game in the Class 3A playoffs and will take on Columbia Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Columbia boys 100, Franklin County 56
SUMMIT — One day after a shocking one-point loss to No. 5 seed South Pike, the top-seeded Wildcats took out all of their frustration on the Bulldogs in the consolation game of the Region 7-3A Tournament Friday night.
No other information on the game was available. The Bulldogs (8-20) will play at Region 6-3A champion Yazoo County in the first round of the Class 3A South State playoffs Tuesday at 7 p.m.