By REID TUCKER and PATRICK CASEY
A third match-up this year between Ponce de Leon and Paxton’s girls almost had to happen.
Given that both teams were longtime frontrunners in whatever district they found themselves in and the fact that both squads won a state championship within the last four years, the Lady Pirates and the Lady Cats were practically guaranteed to face off in this year’s District 1-A final.
The above scenario played out exactly as expected in that the Lady Pirates (21-6) and the Lady Cats (19-7) got their third game of the season and they did meet in the championship game on the night of Jan. 31. However, a startlingly low final score was unexpected by everyone from the coaches to the fans that packed out the gym to capacity. PDL got the 40-28 win and the right to host Graceville in the first round of regional play, whereas Paxton will have to take the show on the road to Sneads come Feb. 10.
Neither team shot out the lights – Ponce turned in a 30-percent showing, but Paxton was worse at 10-of-42 – but the Lady Pirates utilized their advantage in quickness to make the most of what became a defensive battle. Indeed, PDL’s zone defense limited the options of Paxton’s best shooters, holding Bethany Neale to 12 points on the night, and the Lady Cats only shot 7-of-13 at the foul line too. Additionally, home court advantage is a huge factor, and the Lady Pirates’ fans are about as fervent as it gets, said head coach Tim Alford.
“We hoped our speed could take away the size and length of reach [Paxton] had, and it turned out to work that way,” he said. “Nobody thought the score would be this low. I know I sure didn’t expect it. Paxton is a quality team, and we were really fortunate to get this win in front of the home crowd.”
PDL went up 8-6 in the first quarter, but a truly disastrous second period for the Lady Cats turned the home team’s advantage to 15-7 by the half. Paxton made six attempts at a field goal in the quarter and nothing got close. The Lady Cats did a better job on defense, holding Ponce’s high scorer, Micala Fisanick (13 points), to a pair of free throws, though Delilah Bass and Devyn Butorac pushed their team ahead with a 2 and a 3, respectively.
Paxton did better in the third quarter, outpointing PDL 10-9 even though both teams made an equal 10 shots. Neale made half of her points in the third, those coming via an and-1 around the halfway mark and a tight 3-pointer with 44 seconds remaining. Ponce’s Chambleigh Webster and Taylor West added a 3 apiece to maintain the Pirates’ seven-point lead going into the final frame.
The Lady Cats tried took shots from seemingly every conceivable angle in Q4, but they were successful in just five of their 18 attempts compared to PDL’s 6-of-12 run. Even so, it was a 27-22 game with 5:22 to go in the game, and only Fisanick coming out hard with a trio of mid-range shots and a pair of FTs got Ponce more comfortably in control. The Lady Pirates kicked the ball out to the perimeter in the final minutes before passing inside for a few wide-open lay-ups from West and Brittany Chapman.
However, the final nail in Paxton’s coffin was the surfeit of turnovers – six to PDL’s one. Neale got the ball on a nice pass over the Pirates’ heads and made a breakaway run on the basket in the closing moments, but she dropped the ball and it was scooped by Butorac, who held it to run out the clock.
The two squads got to the title game by posting wins in Thursday night’s semi-finals.
Paxton got off to a bit of a slow start in the first quarter against Central before pulling ahead for a 23-16 lead after the first eight minutes of play. Neale was a force as she scored 26 of her 31 points in the first half while grabbing 13 rebounds. The Bobcats led 44-25 at intermission as Cortni McKee and Katie Sebastian pumped in baskets to break open the contest. Sebastian finished with 15 points and McKee 14 as the Walton County squad defeated the Jaguars for the third time on the year with a 73-39 decision.
Ponce de Leon also got off to a slow start with Poplar Springs as their Holmes County rival trailed only 8-7 after the first quarter as cool shooting plagued both squads.
Butorac canned a couple of shots from behind the three-point line while Bass and Webster provided free throws and shots from the field to build a 28-21 halftime lead.
The contest became even more physical in the second half as the fouls began to mount up for both sides with the Pirates getting scoring from five different players to pull out to a 45-32 lead after three quarters.
The Atomics featured five seniors on their squad but could only connect on 17-of-46 shots from the field and 11-of-18 at the free throw line as 14 turnovers proved costly.
The Pirates made 21-of-43 shots from the field and 17-of-29 from the line to take a 64-49 win that saw PDL post three victories against the northern Holmes County club on the year.
Bass finished with 18 points while Butorac had 14 and Webster 12.
Team Notes: Tim Alford is in his 20th year as head coach of the Pirates and holds a mark of 439-161 at the school. The Pirates have won 20 games or more in 16 of his 20 seasons at the school. The Pirates have had a winning record for 13 consecutive seasons. The Pirates are making their 22nd visit to the playoffs in school history and hold a mark of 37-18 in that time with three state championships. Steve Williams is in his sixth season at Paxton and holds a mark of 131-35 in that time. Paxton is making their 23rd playoff appearance in school history and holds a mark of 37-17 in that time with five state championships. Senior Bethany Neale has 1,309 career points scored on the Paxton varsity. Paxton and Sneads have not met previously in the playoffs and have not played against each other the last 22 seasons. PDL is 1-1 against Graceville in the playoffs, losing to the Tigers at the end of the 2010-11 season while owning a win in the opening round of 2009-10.
