Lady Spartans clinch area with win over Spain Park
The Mountain Brook girls basketball team clinched Class 7A, Area 6, with a 36-31 win over visiting Spain Park on Tuesday night at Spartan Arena.
A slow first half yielded an exciting finish, as the two teams went back and forth in the final two periods, with the Lady Spartans taking the lead for good with just over a minute to play. Sara Carr caught a long pass deep in the post, and converted the layup along with the foul.
In the fourth quarter, Spain Park tied the game twice, but was unable to take the lead. Midway through the frame, Claire Holt tied the game at 29-29 with a fast break layup and Jailyn Craig tied it again moments later with a bucket.
Sara Carr gave her team the lead late in the third with a pair of free throws. On the ensuing possession, she grabbed a missed shot and took it end-to-end for the layup to make the score 25-22.
Carr ended the game with 21 points, 14 of them in the second half, and an enormous 17 rebounds. Teammate Carlee Dawkins was just 1-of-5 from the free throw line, but the one she did hit sealed the game with 17 seconds to play. Kate Bumgarner knocked down a pair of threes in the first quarter for her six points.
Walker Poe, who scored 20 for the Lady Spartans in the meeting between the schools ten days prior, only made a single field goal in the game, a jumper early in the fourth quarter for her first points of the game. Her impact was still felt in a major way, as she cemented the bucket with a blocked shot the next trip down the floor and finished the game with five rejections.
The Lady Jags spread the scoring across the board on the night, and were led by Holt’s 13. Maggie Baldwin scored six, and guard Skyla Knight added five.
The second quarter did not offer much in the way of offense, as Spain Park outscored Mountain Brook 5-3. After halftime, the Lady Spartans got back to converting their plays.
“In the first half, we weren’t really executing on offense,” Carr said. “It was just fast breaks and we were taking some bad shots. We settled down on offense and started executing our plays.”
The second half began with three straight shots from beyond the arc – courtesy of Holt, Mountain Brook’s Janie Branch, and Knight.
With the win, Mountain Brook will host the girls portion of the Area 6 basketball tournament.
“Our team has never gotten to host area since I’ve been here,” Carr said. “So for it to be my senior year, it’s a really big deal.”
The Lady Spartans are back in action on Friday night, in their final area game of the regular season at Hewitt-Trussville. Spain Park travels to Vestavia Hills.