BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
FOR THE OBSERVER
PHENIX CITY — On a night of down to the wire comebacks, the Auburn High School girls’ and Central High School boys’ basketball teams clinched first-place finishes in 7A Area 4.
AHS and CHS will now host the girls’ and boys’ area tournaments, respectively, after the Lady Tigers (16-3, 4-0) used a last-second free throw to take down the Lady Red Devils (13-8, 2-2) 42-41 and the Red Devils (10-9, 4-0) overcame a fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Tigers (17-9, 2-2) 64-61 in Phenix City on Jan. 23.
Lady Tigers 42, Lady Red Devils 41
Early in the season, one of the biggest challenges for AHS girls’ head basketball coach Courtney Pritchett was developing depth in the post. While the young core group still has room for improvement, their defensive presence and rebounding ability helped turn the tide in an imposing gym for the Lady Tigers.
“We knew that playing here, their home is their crowd, their energy is going to be through the roof,” Pritchett said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game. And so throughout the week, we prepared, we held [our players] accountable for every little thing, and I think that paid off at the end, where they just went, ‘It’s never over, it’s never over, it’s never over.’ And I tell them every time, just stand on the line and wait on whatever comes next.”
After tearing her ACL during her sophomore year, the two-year road to recovery has been long for Enyviah Nelms. But when she was fouled with less than two seconds left and the game tied at 42, the senior guard made her chance count on the very first shot.
“It was a lot [of pressure], but we work on free throws a lot in practice, and it paid off,” Nelms said. “It feels good. The whole time we were kind of down on ourselves and stuff like that, but we’re glad we came and got the win.”
That adversity quickly presented itself after tip-off as AHS and CHS struggled to find uncontested looks inside of the three point line. As a result, both teams had to rely on free throws to generate most of their points while very few shots fell.
With the game tied 7-7 entering the second quarter, the Lady Tigers focused on getting the ball into the paint, which drew numerous fouls from the Lady Red Devils. Despite those fouls and Braylee Winfrey’s ability to drive into the lane and make baskets for AHS, CHS kept pace with fast-break opportunities as the Lady Tigers took a 16-13 lead as the halftime buzzer sounded.
Fallowing halftime, the Lady Red Devils came out fighting, scoring seven point in the opening two minutes. Sharp three-point shooting by CHS then allowed them to take a 29-22 lead even as continued fouls gave the Lady Tigers plenty of looks from the free throw line.
That set the state for an exciting fourth quarter as AHS forced numerous turnovers and rode red-hot shooting from Winfrey. With the game tied in the final seconds, Nelms made a game-changing play by rebounding a missed shot and quickly attempted one of her own, which drew a foul.
As she stepped to the free throw line, the gym roared with CHS fans desperate to make a difference. It ultimately didn’t matter as Nelms sunk a perfect game-winning shot on her first attempt.
Winfrey led all scorers with 21 points for the Lady Tigers, and Jailyn White chipped in an additional eight points.
Lindsey led the Lady Red Devils with 14 points, while Taylor Given-Williams contributed nine points.
Red Devils 64, Tigers 61
Two months ago, few people gave the Red Devils a chance according to CHS boys’ head basketball coach Steve Rogers. Even though the season hasn’t been perfect, his relatively inexperienced squad has come together at the perfect time with the playoffs on the horizon.
“We’re really a young team, but these guys stuck together,” Rogers said. “Some of them guys [that] haven’t been with me, I hadn’t been with them, but they trust the process. They played well, played hard, played tough, stayed with what we’re doing, and it worked out for us. A lot of people wrote us off, that we weren’t going to do anything. And these guys are really proving people wrong, [they proved] that we’re a team, that we’re to be respected and we’re team that’s on the up-and-up.”
A prime example of that youth movement was sophomore guard Ladarrius Copeland. Despite his impact not being immediately evident on the stat sheet, his willingness to do the dirty work, especially on defense, was crucial to the Red Devils’ success.
“Coming into the game, we already knew what we had to do,” Copeland said. “We had to get out and focus on playing defense to stop them from winning. It feels amazing. We’re a really young team, and we found new pieces to put together, and we just came up with the win.”
While defense defined the game, both teams roared out of the gate with high energy and strong shooting performances. The most notable shooting came from AHS’ star guard Antwane Daniels, who made two timely three-pointers down the stretch to help secure a 15-12 lead for the Tigers.
With AHS slightly ahead, runs by both teams in the second quarter’s first four minutes kept the game tight. However, a series of turnovers from the Tigers helped the Red Devils erase AHS’ lead to 28-25 going into halftime and set the stage for a second half comeback.
Coming out of the break, Jatori Williams proved to be a force for CHS as he quickly scored several baskets and drew numerous fouls. However, excellent three-point shooting down the stretch from the Tigers helped them keep a 47-43 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Finding themselves in a do or die situation, the Red Devils slowly chipped away at the deficit and took the lead halfway through the fourth quarter as the Tigers mostly abandoned the paint. Ye, just when it appeared the Red Devils would pull away, a heroic offensive effort by Daniels drew the game even in the final minute.
In the end, the Red Devils made just enough of their free throws to hold onto their advantage and escape with the victory.
Deshawn Harris led CHS with 19 points, while Williams and Detavius Staton contributed 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Daniels led all scorers with 25 points for AHS, and Trindon Manior chipped in 12 points.
