CLASS 2A GIRLS’ SEMIFINALS
BIRMINGHAM – Fyffe High School held on late to beat R.C. Hatch 41-39 in the final Class 2A girls’ state basketball tournament semifinal game at the BJCC Legacy Arena Monday night. The victory at the 97th AHSAA State Basketball Championships sends the Red Devils (30-5) of Coach Steve King into the girls’ Class 2A state finals versus Cold Springs (27-6) Friday morning at 9 a.m. The Red Devils will be vying to claim the school’s ninth state girls’ championship overall and the first since 2000. Fyffe led by nine, 28-19 with 4:44 left in the third period before the Lady Bobcats (22-7) of Coach Willie Morgan turned up the intensity on defense and began whittling away at the Red Devils lead. Hatch tied the game at 33-33 with 6:21 to play before Fyffe pulled ahead by five at 41-35 with 2:51 left. The Bobcats scored the last four points of the game and had two shots at tying the game in the final seven seconds but missed on both. Alexia Barber had 13 points and 13 rebounds to lead Fyffe. She also had two steals and one blocked shot. Maggie Woodall added 10 points, three assists and three steals, and Madison Myers had six points and four steals. The Red Devils were 4-of-14 from the 3-point arc but shot only 5-of-14 at the foul line. Alaysia Norfleet led R.C. Hatch with 11 points and seven rebounds before fouling out late. Zakiyah Tubbs added 10 points, Kiaundra Dudley had eight and Brianna Patterson had six points and eight rebounds. She also had four steals. The AHSAA State Basketball Championships continued Monday with the remaining the Class 2A boys’ semifinal game between Sacred Heart Catholic and Calhoun. The Class 3A and 4A girls’ and boys’ semifinals get underway Tuesday. Classes 5A and 6A play Wednesday and Class 7A semis will be Thursday morning. The remaining schedule will be the state finals. All semifinal games are being live-streamed over the NFHS Network’s subscriber-based program and broadcast over the AHSAA Radio Network. The finals will also be produced by the NFHS Network and AHSAA Radio Network with the live video also being shown over the Alabama Cable Network. AHSA State Basketball Championships Legacy Arena, BJCC, Birmingham, Feb. 25-March 2 MONDAY’S RESULTS CLASS 1A GIRLS SEMIFINALS Phillips ((25-10) 66, Westminster-Oak Mountain (21-9) 48 Skyline (29-5) 58, St. Luke’s Episcopal (24-10) 36 1A Girls Finals Phillips (25-10) vs. Skyline (29-5), Thursday, Feb. 28, 4 p.m. BOYS SEMIFINALS Decatur Heritage (31-4) 60, Georgiana (27-6) 58 (OT) St. Luke’s Episcopal (18-9) 51, Spring Garden (25-7) 45 1A Boys Finals Decatur Heritage (31-4) vs. St. Luke’s Episcopal (18-9), Thursday, Feb. 28, 5:45 p.m. CLASS 2A GIRLS SEMIFINALS Cold Springs (27-6) 52, G.W. Long (26-6) 36 Fyffe (30-5) 41, R.C. Hatch (22-7) 39 2A Girls Finals Cold Springs (27-6) vs, Fyffe (30-5), Friday, Mar. 1, 9 a.m. BOYS SEMIFINALS Central Coosa (22-4) 68, Tanner (27-7) 58 Sacred Heart Catholic (22-10) vs. Calhoun (27-7), 7:30 p.m. 2A Boys Finals Central Coosa (22-4) vs. Sacred Heart-Calhoun winner, Thursday, Feb. 28, 10:45 a.m. TUESDAY, FEB. 26 CLASS 3A GIRLS SEMIFINALS Winfield (31-1) vs. Montgomery Academy (30-2), 9 a.m. Pisgah (32-1) vs. Prattville Christian (24-8), noon 3A Girls Finals Friday, Mar. 1, 12:30 p.m. BOYS SEMIFINALS Westminster Christian (26-4) vs. Bullock County (17-11), 10: 30 a.m. Plainview (31-4) vs. Prattville Christian (30-3), 1:30 p.m. 3A Boys Finals Friday, Mar. 1, 2:15 p.m.
TUESDAY, FEB. 26 CLASS 4A GIRLS SEMIFINALS Rogers (30-3) vs. Childersburg (33-1), 3 p.m. Anniston (28-4) vs. Greensboro (24-2), 6 p.m. 4A Girls Finals Friday, Mar. 1, 4 p.m. BOYS SEMIFINALS West Limestone (20-13) vs. B.T. Washington (20-9), 4: 30 p.m. Talladega (24-8) vs. Hillcrest-Evergreen (26-2), 7:30 p.m. 4A Boys Finals Friday, Mar. 1, 5:45 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27 CLASS 6A GIRLS SEMIFINALS Carver-Birmingham (26-8) vs. Opelika (25-6), 9 a.m. Hazel Green (32-3) vs. Blount (26-4), noon 6A Girls Finals Saturday, Mar. 2, 12:30 p.m. BOYS SEMIFINALS Muscle Shoals (25-7) vs. Carver-Montgomery (22-10), 10: 30 a.m. Pinson Valley (22-9) vs. Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa (28-7), 1:30 p.m. 6A Boys Finals Saturday, Mar. 2, 2:15 p.m. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27 CLASS 5A GIRLS SEMIFINALS Madison Academy (27-7) vs. Ramsay (27-7), 3 p.m. Brewer (24-9) vs. Central-Tuscaloosa (26-3), 6 p.m. 5A Girls Finals Saturday, Mar. 2, 9 a.m. BOYS SEMIFINALS Wenonah (29-5) vs. Ramsay (20-13) 4: 30 p.m. Center Point (17-14) vs. Bibb County (14-15), 7:30 p.m. 5A Boys Finals Saturday, Mar. 2, 10:45 a.m.
CLASS 2A BOYS’ SEMIFINALS
BIRMINGHAM – Central Coosa High School’s defense forced 26 turnovers Monday afternoon to build a comfortable lead over Tanner in the AHSAA Class 2A State Championships semifinals at the BJCC Legacy Arena, then relied on some clutch free-throw shooting to post a 68-58 win to advance to Friday’s Class 2A boys’ state finals. Coach Jeremy Freeman’s Cougars (22-4) will be vying for the school’s fifth state title since 1996 – but the first with Freeman as the head coach. Central Coosa won state crowns in 1996, 2000, 2001 and 2004. Noel Jones had 20 points, seven rebounds and three steals to lead the Cougars. He was 6-of-7 at the foul line as Central finished 24-of-28 – including 10-of-10 in the fourth quarter and 13-of-13 in the second half. Jo’von Richardson added 18 points, four steals and was 8-of-9 at the foul line, Joshua McGhee had 17 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots, and Omar Gaddis had 10 points, five assists and seven steals. He was a perfect 8-of-8 at the charity stripe. Nathan Montgomery led Tanner (27-7), coached by Chris Whitt, with 19 points. He nailed 5-of-8 3-point shots attempted. James Atkins had 11 points and 11 rebounds. The Rattlers, who out-rebounded Central 52-34, were just 9-of-21 at the foul line. Central will play the winner of the Sacred Heart Catholic vs. Calhoun semifinal game in Friday’s 10:45 a.m. finals at Legacy Arena. The AHSAA State Basketball Championships continues Monday with the remaining the Class 2A boys’ and girls’ semis. Classes 3A and 4A play Tuesday. Classes 5A and 6A play Wednesday and Class 7A semis will be Thursday morning. The remaining schedule will be the state finals. All semifinal games are being live-streamed over the NFHS Network’s subscriber-based program and broadcast over the AHSAA Radio Network. The finals will also be produced by the NFHS Network and AHSAA Radio Network with the live video also being shown over the Alabama Cable Network.
BIRMINGHAM – Cold Springs’ 3-point shooting expertise has preceded the team for years – like 1999, 2008 and 2009 when the Eagles won its three Class 2A state girls’ basketball titles. Coach Tammy West’s 2019 team, which had 327 this season coming into the semifinals versus G.W. Long, found the treys difficult to come by Monday afternoon at the AHSAA Class 2A Girls State Basketball Championships being held at the spacious BJCC Legacy Arena. The Eagles (27-6) turned to a defense that forced 18 turnovers and some dead-eye free-throw shooting to beat the Rebels 52-36 to advance to Friday’s Class 2A girls’ state championship game of the 97th AHSAA State Tourney. Cold Springs’s 2008 state championship team set the AHSAA state single-season record (336). The Eagles managed 5-of-19 Monday with Kinley Campbell and Neely Ellison sinking two each. Senior 3-point shooting leader Camryn Crider, who had 153 coming into Monday’s semifinal contest, was 1-of-7. She finished the game with a team high five steals and was 6-of-8 at the foul line to finish with 11 points. Elizabeth Hill finished with 16 points, including 8-of-8 free throws. Cold Springs was 15-of-18 for the game (83.3%) including 13-of-15 in the final quarter. Campbell totaled 11 points and Toni West had nine rebounds, three steals and three assists. G.W. Long (26-6), coached by Jody Hughes, was 7-of-18 from the 3-point arc with Emmaline Hughes nailing 4-of-8 to finish with a team-high 14 points. Mary Beth Long added 11 points and 14 rebounds and Makenna Long had six points, seven assists and two steals. The AHSAA State Basketball Championships continues Monday with the remaining the Class 2A boys’ and girls’ semis. Classes 3A and 4A play Tuesday. Classes 5A and 6A play Wednesday and Class 7A semis will be Thursday morning. The remaining schedule will be the state finals. All semifinal games are being live-streamed over the NFHS Network’s subscriber-based program and broadcast over the AHSAA Radio Network. The finals will also be produced by the NFHS Network and AHSAA Radio Network with the live video also being shown over the Alabama Cable Network.
MONTGOMERY – Lindsay Lane Academy junior guard Tommy Murr and Pleasant Home High School senior River Baldwin each reached major milestones in their AHSAA basketball careers last week to share the AHSAA Basketball Spotlight as the regular season came to an end. Murr scored 41 points and eight assists to lead the Lions to an 81-61 victory over Phillips to push him over the 4,000-point mark for his career. Brandon Green, who is averaging 26 ppg this season, had 24 points for the Bears. Murr, a 6-foot-1 guard, has scored 1,236 points this season in 28 games and is leading the nation with 44.3 points per game. He has scored 40 or more points 20 of those games, including eight over 50 and one over 60. Murr is shooting 86.7 percent from the foul line (319-of-368) and has sank 101 3-pointers on the year heading into this week’s Class 1A, Area 15 tournament. The son of head coach Steve Murr has 4,004 points for his career in 143 varsity games to become the fourth boys’ player in AHSAA history to go over the 4,000-point career mark. The AHSAA’s all-time scoring leader is Jeremy Monceaux, who amassed 4,555 points in 124 games over his final four seasons at Parkway Christian in Birmingham from 1998-2002. Currently the head boys’ basketball coach at Clay-Chalkville, Monceaux finished his prep career with 6,354 points in 198 games – including 1,799 points in 74 games playing on the high school varsity while still in middle school in Louisiana. His dad Dave Monceaux was also his head coach. Frankie Sullivan of R.C. Hatch High School in Uniontown totaled 4,224 points in a career that spanned 2005-2008 (139 games) for the Bobcats. And John Drew of J.F. Shields High School in Beatrice, totaled 4,018 points from 1969-1972 for the Panthers. He went on to score 15,291 points in 739 games in an NBA pro career that spanned 11 seasons from 1974-1985. Murr needs 98 points this season to break the single-season scoring record (1,333) set by Monceaux in the 1999-2000 season and 1,253 in the 1998-99 season. Drew had 1,320 to average 44.0 ppg in 1970-71 for J.F. Shields and Daryl Wilson of South Lamar totaled 1,243 points for the Stallions in 1991-92. Robert Whisenant of Ryan High School in Morgan County set the AHSAA single-season scoring record averaging 46.3 ppg in 1969-70. He had 1,112 points in 24 games. Pleasant Home’s 6-foot-5 senior center Baldwin went had 32 points and 14 rebounds in a 49-21 win over Kinston and followed with 30 points and 14 boards in a 58-34 victory over Straughn to close out the regular season. The Lady Eagles are hosting the Class 1A, Area 2 tournament this week. Baldwin, who earned MVP honors as Pleasant Home captured its first Class 1A state volleyball championship last October, was recently chosen to participate in the 2018 McDonald’s All-America Game. She has scored 534 points and cleared 288 rebounds this season in 21 games and is averaging 25.9 points ppg and 13.2 rpg. For her career, she has 3,034 points scored in 131 games and 1,469 rebounds – an average of 11.2 for her career that has spanned five seasons (2014-2019). Candace Byrd of Tanner is the all-time career rebounding leader in the AHSAA with 2,065 boards in a career that ended in 2000. Byrd is currently the head girls’ coach at R.A. Hubbard. The Florida State signee, who was 23-of-30 shooting (76.7%) in the last two games also had 671 blocked shots, 5.1 per game. Her blocked shots currently rank second all-time in the AHSAA behind Danisha Malone of Clements, who finished her career in 2013 with 721 for the Colts. Baldwin is the 20th girls’ player, according to the AHSAA Record Book, to score 3,000 points and the first since Geneva County guard Lacy Stafford, who closed out her career with 3,045 in 2016. Courtney Strain of Woodland set the AHSAA record with 5,283 points in six seasons for the Bobcats from 2004-05 to 2009-10. She is now the head girls’ coach at Handley High School. Other top performances reported from the last week of the regular season include: BOYS BRAXTON WILLIAMS, THOMASVILLE: Had 41 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to lead Thomasville to a 68-66 win over Monroe County. HAROLD KING, OPP: Sank a 3 –point goal with three seconds remaining to lift the Bobcats past Andalusia 53-50. It was his only points on the night and the first Opp win over Andalusia in the last three seasons. TREY LEWIS, MILLRY: Nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime as Millry beat Sweet Water 71-69. Lewis finished with 21 points and eight rebounds. KRISTON DAVIS, BAKER: Led the Hornets past Blount 77-72 in overtime with 30 points. DEANTONI GORDON, LEFLORE: Scored 30 points, including 22 in the second half, as LeFlore defeated Faith Academy 61-38. TAE WHETSTONE, SHELBY COUNTY: Keyed the Wildcats’ 49-42 win over Jackson-Olin with 25 points, seven rebounds and three steals. B.J, COMER, PRATTVILLE CHRISTIAN: Had 27 points in a 67-49 win over Class 7A Prattville and a career-high 34 points in PCA’s 76-58 victory over Calera. He also had nine rebounds for the Panthers (26-3) in that game. DEMOND ROBINSON, LEE-MONTGOMERY: Grabbed 11 rebounds and eight points in a 56-55 win over Carver-Montgomery to reach the 1,000-rebound milestone in his career for the Generals. JOHN COLE NORRIS, HUNTSVILLE: Scored 24 points in a 61-55 win over Decatur. REGINALD BROWN, MARBURY: Scored 27 points as the Bulldogs downed Autaugaville 73-69. KENDRICK CALHOUN, B.T. WASHINGTON: Led the Tuskegee school to a 55-47 win over Elmore County with 12 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.
The AHSAA is saddened to learn of the passing of Wenonah High School girls’ basketball coach Emanuel “Tubb” Bell IV. He died Thursday afternoon, Jan. 31, after a long battle with cancer. “Our AHSAA family of member schools has lost a special person in Coach Emanuel Bell,” said AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese. “His love for teaching and coaching was only surpassed for his love of his players. He had an impact on all who knew him. We are all very fortunate that he chose to teach and coach at Wenonah High School.” Coach Bell’s team beat Parker 70-15 Wednesday night to improve to 19-8 with one regular-season game remaining. He compiled a 529-194 overall record in 25 years as the Lady Dragons’ head coach. One of the nation’s biggest ambassadors of girls’ high school educational-based basketball, his teams won five state championships: including his first in 2004 and four in a row from 2014-2017. His team lost in the semifinals last year. Bell received numerous coach-of-the-year honors and was also the recipient of the Frank House Award presented to him by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
“His legacy will live on in the hearts and soul of those he helped mold into outstanding adults. Our hearts and prayers go out to Coach Bell’s family, his team, his school and all who loved him,” Savarese added. “He fought a valiant fight and now I can only imagine that he is organizing a team and coaching in heaven tonight. Yes, I am sure with his contagious smile that he is working the crowd and hugging everyone in sight. Heaven has a new angel and we have lasting memories of Coach Bell. “His life of service is one we should all emulate. He will be missed by us all.” Funeral arrangements were not available at this time.
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