BY TIM GAYLE
SPORTS – SPECIAL TO EAN
Top Photo: MA Chloe Johnson crunched by Hannah Jones, Avery Rogers
PRATTVILLE — There was no suspense to Tuesday’s 3A Area 6 tournament game between Montgomery Academy and Prattville Christian Academy.
It wasn’t one of those much-anticipated games between the pair last season, it wasn’t one of those games where the favorite plays tight and the underdog puts their best performance of the season on the court.
Prattville Christian Academy, as it has all season, controlled the tempo, the rebounding and the play on both ends of the floor. Montgomery Academy, as it has all season, struggled to find any offensive consistency.
By the end of the first quarter, the Eagles had connected on just one field goal in eight attempts while turning the ball over eight times. That scenario made for a fairly predictable outcome as Prattville Christian (31-0) remained undefeated with a 62-15 rout of the Eagles.
“I think everything in the playoffs revolves around defense,” PCA coach Jason Roberson said. “Your shots go in sometimes; sometimes, they don’t. Depending on how the other team defends, maybe you’re not scoring the ball as easily. But we can always defend. I was just proud of the ladies for the effort they showed defensively, but also for how they executed the game plan.”
The top-seeded Panthers will face second-seeded Trinity in the PCA gym on Thursday at 6 p.m. Montgomery Academy ends the season at 13-13, the first time since 2004 the Eagles have not reached the area tournament championship game and only the second time since 2008 MA has not earned a berth in the regionals.
“I think we got better (over the course of the year) but a lot of times it was hard to tell,” Montgomery Academy coach Reg Mantooth said. “Out of those 13 losses, four were to Prattville Christian, one of them was to Vestavia Hills, which has a chance to win 7A and one was to Spring Garden, which will win 2A. That’s six losses to teams that are the favorite to win state championships.”
And while PCA’s defensive effort was sufficient to determine the outcome, a nightmarish start to the game sealed the fate of the upset-minded Eagles. Pierson Hartley took a pass from Chloe Johnson for an easy basket with 1:23, perhaps the only easy basket of the game for the Eagles. By the time Virginia Meachum scored the next bucket with 2:13 remaining in the first half, Montgomery Academy trailed 26-7.
“I think some of our (errors) were unforced, but they (PCA defenders) did a good job getting the ball out of main ball handlers’ hands and making some other girls make decisions,” Mantooth said. “They didn’t make good decisions with the ball, but their (PCA) pressure had a lot to do with it. I thought defensively we were really pretty good — they’re hard to guard — and we were really good outside of one or two possessions in the first half.”
All of the Eagles’ points came from the only seniors on the team. Hartley had two, Meachum had four and Johnson had the remaining nine points, closing out a career that earned the senior a few words from Roberson after the game.
“I respect Chloe Johnson,” Roberson said. “She’s fun to watch, she’s fun to compete against. I told her she has given me a lot of headaches over the years. But if you love basketball and you love competing, then you respect competitors like her. She’s obviously put a lot of time into her game and she loves the game of basketball. I love the game of basketball, so we share something in common. Just nothing but respect for her.”
Hannah Jones led the Lady Panthers with 14 points, 15 rebounds and four steals. CoCo Thomas added 12 points and nine rebounds. Ella Jane Connell had 10 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Avery Rogers scored 10 points as well.
