Lady Patriots heading to AHSAA state semi-finals next week
HANCEVILLE – Bob Jones continued its quest for a state championship with decisive wins at the regional tournament. The Lady Patriots earned a spot in the state semi-finals next week with a 63-49 win over Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa on Tuesday in a Class 7A Northwest Region final at Wallace State Community College. It was preceeded by another rout on Friday against Prattville, 64-47.
Led by four starters, which includes three seniors, the Patriots (25-6) have their collective sights on a fourth state title, the last of which came in 2011. They won an Area Championship and cracked the Elite 8 for a fifth straight season.
“I think we executed our game plan great,” said second- year coach Sherrell Robertson, who played at Auburn.
In the game against Prattville, Ella Watts ran in for an easy layup off the opening tip-off and the rout was on. The Patriots took a commanding 43-26 lead over the Lions and cruised to an easy victory.
Watts finished with gamehighs of 20 points and nine rebounds. Ja’Kyah Smith scored 12 points for Bob Jones with teammates Elise McClain and Jael Robinson adding nine and eight, respectively.
Next Thursday, the Lady Patriots will face the winner of today’s Auburn vs Central-Phenix City region final matchup.
Another local team bowed out of the playoff with a Class 4A Region Semifinal loss.
To say St. John Paul Catholic (16-18) overachieved this season would be an understatement. The team played in an Area final and a sub-regional before a 56-14 loss to Cherokee County.
Aside from persevering through a few injuries, like most teams, the Falcons had no seniors on the roster and no starters taller than 5-foot-6.
“I’m proud of them for all they were able to achieve,” said third-year coach Aaron Christian, who previously coached the junior varsity team for two seasons.
Seeded fourth in Area tournament, St. John Paul Catholic pulled off a stunning 60-59 upset of top-seeded Madison Academy, a perennial state contender with 18 straight Area wins before that.
“It was just the belief that we could do it,” Christian said of that Area semifinal victory. “Beating (Madison Academy) was just an affirmation of all the work the girls put in.”
The Falcons, Area champions in 2023 and 2024, lost to West Limestone 47-41 in the Area final. A 32-28 sub-regional win over Hokes Bluff preceded the game against Cherokee County.
Due to injuries, the Falcons had eight different starters during the course of the season. In the most recent games the starters featured Annie Tiernan, Evie Creehan, Bella Grant, Lauren Altman and Sarah Rohling.
Rounding out the roster were Emme Grant, Hollie Harrell, Brinley Wilbourn and Demi Songy. Assistant coaches were Jordan Stratton and Cynthia Kennedy.
Sparkman also played in the 7A region semifinals with Hoover in Jacksonville. They ended their season with a 79-30 loss.
