Bob Jones Girls win NW Regional, Championship within reach
Hanceville- This time Bob Jones girls head basketball coach Tim Miller didn’t need any halftime motivational speeches or late game timeouts to get the attention of his team. In the final of the AHSAA Northwest Regional the girls settled the issue early jumping out to a quick 33-21 halftime lead over Bessemer City and were never headed on their way to a 61-37 win.
Playing in her final game at Tom Drake Coliseum, Jasmine Jones was at her best. Bessemer City had no answer for Jones whose jump shot in the lane started the scoring. She scored the first eight points in the game and when DeAsha Campbell hit a shot after a Lindsey Jennings offensive rebound Bob Jones was up 10-0.
Bessemer City took their only lead of the game at 13-12 when their star point guard Chelsea Black stole the ball and scored. Two free throws by Joidan Jennings put the Lady Patriots back ahead to stay as Tierra Jones closed out the first quarter with a drive and score.
Limited by foul trouble against Northridge, Tierra Jones bounced back with a strong performance to complement Jasmine Jones against Bessemer City. The duo combined for 23 first half points as Bob Jones extended its lead to 33-21 at the half. Jones had 9 points at the half and would finish the game with 15 after scoring only 6 points against Northridge.
Jasmine Jones played some of her best basketball in the first half with an efficient 6 of 8 shooting and 2 free throws for 14 points. She started the third quarter with a blocked shot and added 5 points to extend the Patriots lead to 47-26 at the end of the third quarter.
Bob Jones got quality minutes from the bench players to further frustrate Bessemer City. Katie Colson had her best game of the playoffs with 10 points in relief of both Tierra and Jasmine Jones. Colson knocked home three straight jump shots early in the fourth quarter to stake the Patriots to their biggest lead of the game at 57-31.
Playing her final game for Bessemer City before moving on the UAB, Chelsea Black had 5 points in the fourth quarter before going out with 25 seconds left. She finished with 21 points.
Three Bob Jones players were named to the all-tournament team. The full team was Chelsea Black, Bessemer City; Tierra Jones, Bob Jones; Joidon Jennings, Bob Jones; Sarah Stewart, Northridge; Janelle Odionu, Buckhorn; Jasmine Jones, Bob Jones. Jasmine Jones was MVP.
“The great thing about this team is the legacy they will leave,” said Bob Jones coach Tim Miller. Bob Jones girl’s basketball teams have now been to five straight Final Four Championships in Birmingham. The Lady Patriots will now try to make it back-to back championships.
“When we have Tierra and Jasmine on the floor at the same time, teams have a matchup problem with us,” Miller said. “Tierra brings a dimension that helps Jasmine and Jasmine has a dimension that helps Tierra. If teams try to take away Jasmine then we go to Tierra, China, and Joidan,” said Bob Jones head coach Tim Miller. “That’s the beauty of our team, we can score different ways.”
Miller said that floor leader Joidan Jennings was the difference-maker in this tournament.
“She had a great tournament, they all did,” said Miller of the three players who earned all-tournament selection in the regional games.
Bob Jones 35-2 will face Davidson 27-7 on Friday at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center Arena.
“It’s exciting to be going back to Birmingham,” said MVP Jasmine Jones who will be playing her final games for Bob Jones before moving on to The University of Tennessee next year.
“We enjoy practice and working hard and playing together,” said Jones who hopes to have two more games playing together.
