East hangs on to beat determined West squad for girls title

Published 6:30 pm Monday, January 27, 2020

When the buzzer sounded on East Limestone’s 49-42 victory over West Limestone in the Limestone County Tournament girls championship game Saturday, Indians coach Josh Davis didn’t celebrate as much as he let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s exactly what it was,” Davis said. “When you come to tournament time, if you win by one point, that’s all that matters.”

West Limestone’s game plan was to double-team post player Jirah Rogers and force other players to make shots to beat them. The strategy was effective, as Rogers only made one field goal in the game, although she did hit 10 free throws and finish with 12 points. Bryanna Johnson once again led the Indians in scoring with 17 points.

“They did a good job taking Jirah out of the game,” Davis said. “I thought Bryanna had another good game for us, making shots for us when we needed.”

East had a big size advantage with Rogers and Johnson down low against West Limestone’s four-guard lineup, but what the Wildcats lacked in size, they made up for in tenacity and a never-give-up attitude. Their quick hands forced numerous turnovers, which they were able to convert into points on the offensive end.

Whenever East pulled out to a bit of a lead, the Wildcats would come right back with a flurry of points.

East led 34-28 after three quarters and expanded the lead to 36-28 when Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the putback early in the fourth.

However, West scored the next eight straight points and tied the game on a basket by Kamey Kennemer with 5:33 remaining.

The tie game was short-lived, as Brielle Young made a basket 12 seconds later to put the Indians back on top. East Limestone’s size advantage made the difference in the final minutes. Reagan Embry grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in to give the Indians a 41-36 lead, but the biggest part of the game came a few minutes later.

After Cassidy Winter hit two free throws to pull West Limestone to within 43-40 with 2:03 remaining, Taylor Thatch went to the line for two crucial free throws for East. She made the first and missed the second, but East was able to get the offensive rebound. Rogers was fouled a few seconds later and made both free throws to put East up 46-40.

Carlie Belle Winter answered with a basket to cut the lead to four, but East sealed the win on its next possession. Embry grabbed yet another offensive rebound and put it back in to give the Indians an insurmountable six-point lead with 43 seconds remaining. Rogers added one final free throw with 7.8 seconds left for the final margin.

“We’ve been preaching this whole week about stealing extra possessions,” Davis said. “And that’s how we’ve been stealing them, with rebounding. I’m proud of the girls for working hard and getting that done. That’s what won us the game.”

Rogers said while it was frustrating not being able to score much offensively, she worked hard to affect the game in other ways.

“Just rebounding was what I focused on,” she said. “They can’t stop me everywhere. I had to put myself in the game and look for my teammates to help me, and they did. They backed me up really well in the game.”

The Winter sisters combined for 28 points for West, with Cassidy finishing with 17 and Carlie Belle tallying 11.

“Those two Winter girls are two really good ballplayers,” Davis said. “They’ve got really quick hands and anticipate the ball really well. Congrats to West, too. They played a really good game today.”