Morgan leads Phil Campbell girls past Belgreen

By Staff
Mike Self, FCT Sports Editor
BELGREEN – Chasity Morgan and Mary Billingham turned Thursday night's showdown between county rivals Phil Campbell and Belgreen into their own personal game of one-upmanship.
In the end, Morgan had the upper hand, scoring 23 of her career-high 28 points in the second half as the Lady Bobcats prevailed 43-41 in the latest installment of a rivalry that has seen more than its share of nail-biting finishes over the past two seasons.
Morgan, a junior guard, scored all 13 of Phil Campbell's points in the fourth quarter, helping the Lady Bobcats (1-1) beat Belgreen for a fifth straight time.
The Lady Bulldogs (1-1) lost all four meetings with Phil Campbell last season, including two in overtime.
Billingham led Belgreen with 19 points, including 17 in the second half as she virtually matched Morgan basket-for-basket.
"It seemed like every time we scored in the second half, they came right back with an answer," Phil Campbell coach Amy Moss said.
The drama kicked into high gear with the score tied 30-30 early in the fourth quarter.
Three times Morgan scored on drives to the basket to put Phil Campbell up by two. Three times Billingham answered with a long jumper from the top of the key to tie the game for Belgreen.
An 18-footer by Kellie Oliver midway through the fourth gave the Lady Bulldogs a 38-36 lead, but Morgan responded by knocking down four straight free throws to put Phil Campbell back on top by two.
Not to be out-done, Billingham nailed a three with 2:30 remaining to put Belgreen back in front 41-40.
Morgan answered with another driving basket to give Phil Campbell the lead for good, and her free throw with 1:15 remaining made it 43-41.
The Lady Bulldogs had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds but came up empty.
Morgan finished the night 9-for-12 at the foul line and had seven of the Lady Bobcats' eight made field goals in the second half, drawing comparisons from her coach to a recent Phil Campbell graduate who just happens to be the all-time leading scorer in Franklin County history.
"Aside from a couple of missed free throws, that was a Tanna Benford type of performance by Chasity tonight," Moss said. "But she had a lot of help. Shelly [Cooper] got some key rebounds for us down the stretch and played great defense. When we held the ball out top to run some clock, all our girls did a good job handling the ball and taking care of it. And Tatum [Benford] made a couple of big free throws for us. It was a team effort."
Phil Campbell spread the floor and took the air out of the ball in the first half, which ended with Belgreen leading 16-13.
"We just haven't been shooting the ball well so far," Moss said. "We didn't shoot it well the other night against Haleyville. I wanted to spread the floor so we could use our speed and try to get a high-percentage shot. I thought if we could do that and play good defense, we would have a better chance to win.
"You have to play to your strengths, and right now shooting is not one of our strengths."
Billingham had eight points in the third quarter, but Morgan countered with 10 for Phil Campbell as the Lady Bobcats out-scored Belgreen 17-14 to tie the game.
Cooper finished with seven points, and Caitlin Stancil added six for Phil Campbell before fouling out early in the fourth quarter.
Deborah Billingham had six points for Belgreen, and Amy Smith, Holly Nichols and Candice Allen each added four.