STEENS — Columbus Christian Academy girls basketball needed a spark going into the second half of Saturday’s Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Class 2A, District 2 championship game.
Trailing 19-17 to Kemper Academy going into the half, the Rams were all out of sorts and needed a big response to begin the second half.
It wasn’t going to take just one player, but a collective effort to come out as district champs, and that’s exactly what happened as CCA stormed out in the third quarter, rattling off an 11-2 run to take the lead for good, defeating Kemper, 56-47, for a district title.
“At practice today, I told them, ‘Every team that’s supposed to win today will win today if they show up to play,’” head coach Billy Thomas said. “I’m blessed to have some girls respond to me when we have a heart-to-heart. They step up. … We’re a momentum team. All we need is just a little bit of momentum.”
CCA (24-8) got the momentum it needed in the second half, starting with that 11-2 run that saw the Rams lead by eight points going into the fourth quarter.
The lead hit double-figures in the fourth and remained there, a CCA never let Kemper get back into the game.
“That talk was mainly just, ‘Get back in it,’” CCA guard Satavia Watkins said. “We weren’t out of it yet, so we just needed to keep going and not give up.”
Watkins led the Rams with 14 points, 10 of those coming in the second half. She, along with teammates like Carrie Kinard and Presley Andrews, made the difference in that crucial third quarter.
Andres knocked down a pair of three-pointers for the Rams as they hit four crucial threes in the quarter.
Having now secured that elusive district title, the journey to repeat as MAIS Class 2A state champions begins. CCA is comfortable with the increased attention that comes with being a defending champion.
“We played a lot of basketball games because a lot of teams wanted to play us,” Thomas said. “We played some tough teams too, so records out the window, we just wanted to be ready for this district championship. … We checked off the first box. Now, let’s go get the next one.”
Sharkey-Issaquena boys 76, CCA 73
Whatever momentum remained from CCA girls’ earlier win collapsed quickly over the final 12 minutes of the boys district final.
The Rams had taken a commanding 49-33 lead with just over four minutes left in the third quarter against Sharkey-Issaquena, seemingly taking control of a game that got a bit too close at the beginning of the second half.
All CCA needed to do was control the clock and play smart.
That was easier said than done as the Volunteers, on the backs of a 36-point performance from Damarion Stamps, shocked the Rams on their own floor, coming away with a 76-73 district title win.
“This is the first group I’ve ever had that’s not good at protecting a big lead,” Rams head coach Marcus Davidson said. “They do better if they just go wide open.”
A 16-point lead shrank to six with 6:21 left, and by the two-minute mark of the fourth quarter, CCA (19-9) was deadlocked at 69-69 against the Vols.
In the final two minutes of play, the biggest basket came for Sharkey, an and-1 in the lane and subsequent made free throw that turned a then 71-71 game into a 74-71 Vols lead.
Despite a made basket late for the Rams, the deficit proved to be too much as a steal on the final possession secured the victory for SIA.
However, Sharkey even getting close to that point came as a result of an inability for CCA to run out the clock and play a slower tempo of basketball, something that’s proved crucial in several games this season.
“We don’t usually play well that way and tonight, we tried to rush some layups or dribbled between traffic and turned the ball over too much,” Davidson said. “… We’ve already beaten them twice this year and it’s hard to beat a team twice in a second, much less three times.”
Saturday’s result is far from how the Rams wanted to end their district tournament run at home, but attention now turns toward taking home a state title, and confidence remains high.
“I honestly don’t think there’s any team in the north that gives us matchup problems except Sharkey if we see them,” Davidson said. “I know how good and how athletic we can be. If our guys learn from this and bounce back, we’ll be fine.”
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