JACKSON — Shania Givens remembered.
Two years ago, when Givens was a freshman at Columbus High School, she helped the Falcons close out Brookhaven to win their first state championship. Givens split four pairs of free throws in the final minute to help her team beat the Panthers, 55-51.
In Tuesday’s MHSAA Class 5A semifinal, Givens found herself faced with a similar opportunity. She stepped to the foul line with eight seconds to go and Columbus clinging to a one-point lead that minutes earlier had been almost 20. With Brookhaven across the court once again, Givens couldn’t help but think back.
And this time, she knew one out of two wasn’t going to cut it.
“I told myself, ‘I’ve got to knock both of them down,’” the Falcons junior said.
She did exactly that, sending Columbus back to the Class 5A title game with a hard-earned 43-40 victory over Brookhaven. The Falcons will face Neshoba Central for the Class 5A title at 5 p.m. Friday.
“Free throws are what wins championships, and it came down to that,” Columbus coach Yvonne Hairston said.
The veteran Falcons coach said she knew Tuesday’s game would be decided at the line and devoted plenty of practice time over the past week to free throw shooting. With Columbus in the bonus, Brookhaven looking to stop the clock and Givens receiving the late inbounds pass, that work paid off.
“Coach always says, ‘Free throws win games,’” Givens said.
For the defeated Panthers, they almost did. Several trips to the line helped Brookhaven erase a 19-point deficit, tying the game with 90 seconds to go. Guard Angel “Cookie” Wilkinson made the equalizing shot, a runner off the glass, as part of a 29-point night to — easily — lead all scorers.
Hairston said Wilkinson continually beat the Falcons’ defense inside as she scored 11 points in the Panthers’ fourth-quarter comeback.
“No. 12 is a heck of a player,” Hairston said. “She did some stuff out there and got around some folks out there. She had a will, and her will was not to lose the ballgame.”
Wilkinson had a chance to tie the game when she was fouled with 13.6 seconds left, but her first attempt went in and out before the second went through the net — yet more proof Tuesday’s game was decided at the line.
“Free throws are pretty important,” Columbus senior Makayla Rieves put it.
Rieves missed her own free throw attempt on an and-one layup with 1:03 to go, the basket putting Columbus ahead for good. But Givens had her back at the line with her final two attempts.
Hairston said Givens told her coach before the game that she was ready to decide things at the line — thanks no doubt to her own and the Falcons’ experience in big games like Tuesday’s semifinal.
“She’s been here before,” Hairston said. “This feels like home to us.”
It certainly did as Columbus opened up a big lead early on, fired up by big defensive plays and the screams of a friendly crowd. The Falcons’ bench went crazy when junior small forward Kiara Rieves took a charge in the second quarter and again when senior post player Fredija Clark forced a jump ball before halftime.
Columbus led 23-9 at the break and stretched its lead to 19 points on a pair of free throws by junior guard Ma’Khya Weatherspoon late in the third quarter.
Then Brookhaven started to come back.
Threes by Wilkinson and Alexis Kelly made it a 13-point game with a quarter to play, and the Panthers continued to hack into the lead, trying to make up for their loss to the Falcons in Oxford two seasons ago.
“I know they wanted it bad,” Makayla Rieves said. “I know they came in hard, they played hard, and we just kept fighting for it.”
Hairston said “the whistle started going crazy” as Brookhaven fought back to tie the game. She called timeout to settle her team down, reminding her players to stay composed, secure the basketball and refrain from playing a “one-man game.”
Easier said than done, but Columbus did it anyway. After Givens’ free throws, the Falcons forced Wilkinson into a double team. Her hastily hoisted 3-pointer in the final seconds didn’t come close to hitting the rim.
“I am so proud of them,” Hairston said. “No matter what happened out there, through adversity, they just kept on fighting.”
After the Falcons danced into the locker room with a chant of “we’re going to the ’ship,” Hairston offered a reminder that Tuesday’s game could have swung either way. She knew Columbus and Brookhaven were even on paper, making the semifinal contest a true “toss-up.”
But factoring in clutch defense, Rieves’ go-ahead bucket and especially Givens’ key free throws?
“It so happened it fell on heads for us tonight,” Hairston said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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