Lady Tigers take aim at title next
Allie Kennedy shoots over a Holy Spirit defender in a semi-final matchup on Feb. 23.
by Bart Moss for the FCT
photos by Bart Moss
For the second straight year the Red Bay Lady Tigers have advanced to the class 2A state championship game.
Red Bay defeated Holy Spirit 49-33 Feb. 23 in the semi-finals at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center. Red Bay will play Geneva County in the championship game Friday, Feb. 27 at 9 a.m.
Making the most of a size advantage, Red Bay was able to jump out to a quick lead. Holy Spirit didn’t seem to have an answer for Red Bay’s Darby Madden in the first half. Madden scored 12 of her game-high 18 points in the first half.
“Getting the ball into Darby was one of our early strategies,” said Red Bay coach Donnie Roberts. “We had a size advantage and were able to exploit it.”
Red Bay led by as many as 9 points in the first quarter and led 20-15 at the end of the quarter.
Holy Spirit cut Red Bay’s lead to one point, 22-21, with 4:15 to go in the opening half, but that was as close as they would come as the Lady Tigers pulled away. A three-pointer by Madden and a layup by Allie Kennedy gave Red Bay a 27-21 lead. Holy Spirit’s Caroline Sisson nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut Red Bay’s lead to 27-24 at the half.
“We were sluggish defensively in the first half,” said Roberts. “Our rebounding was not good. We quit playing together defensively.
“The girls came together during halftime and decided to step up their game. We were able to get a big enough lead to do what we do.”
What Red Bay does so well when they get the lead is spread the floor, make good passes, take high percentage shots underneath the goal and go to the free throw line.
Darby Madden fends off a defender in a semi-final win over Holy Spirit. Red Bay takes on Geneva Co. Feb. 27 for the 2A state title.
By the end of the third quarter the Tigers had extended their lead to 40-31 and they began executing their game plan.
Roberts and the Tigers had the cushion they needed to execute their four-corners offense. Coupled with a better defensive effort, the Tigers held Holy Spirit to just two points in the final period of play.
“We had to step it up defensively,” said Madden. “We were not getting rebounds early because we were just focused on guarding our man.
“We had to make a change because we knew it was win or go home,” she said.
Red Bay was out rebounded 18-8 in the first half.
Madden and Kennedy led the Tigers with 18 points and 15 points respectively. Others scoring for Red Bay were Hope Cook (6), Morgan Pierce (4), Kaitlyn Burks (3), and Hannah McKinney (3).
Pierce led the Tigers on the boards with 11 rebounds.
The semi-final win marked the 834th win for Donnie Roberts, the state’s all-time leader in wins for varsity girls basketball.
