CLINTON — The rally was coming.
Oak Hill Academy girls basketball coach Brian Middleton called timeout after Anna Kathryn Childress hit two free throws to cut his team’s deficit to 18 points early in the third quarter. He was looking for anything he could use as a spark to help the Lady Raiders build momentum.
East Rankin Academy coach Rod Delaney sensed an opportunity for the tide to change, too.
“Here they come,” Delaney said to his players as they came to the bench.
ERA assistant coach Grant Thompson echoed the point when he said, “They’re coming to save their season.”
Delaney and ERA can relate to that sense of desperation that hits teams when they know they’re running out of time. In the Class AAAA State tournament, ERA rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat University Academy of Cenla to earn a spot in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Overall State tournament.
With that result in mind, Delaney wanted to plant a seed that his team had plenty of work left to do with 6 minutes, 26 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“We knew they had a great team,” Delaney said. “That is the AA state champion. I have coached against coach Middleton during my Tri-County years, and I know he does a great job. We knew 14 and 20. That is two really good players. … When your season is on the line, you’re going to get everybody’s best shot.”
Delaney and his players faced just what they expected, as Oak Hill Academy cut the deficit to 12 points a little more than midway through the fourth quarter, but ERA had enough to pull away for a 68-54 victory Wednesday at Mississippi College’s A.E. Wood Coliseum.
Junior Mackenzie Thompson had a game-high 31 points, four assists, and six steals to send ERA (27-10) on to the face Jackson Academy at 1 p.m. Friday.
Sarah Dill, who wore No. 14, had 20 points, while Tanner Grubbs (No. 20) added 16 points and nine rebounds for Oak Hill Academy, which finished 29-11.
Despite seeing his team’s season come to an end, Middleton was pleased to have been a part of a season that saw the Lady Raiders win the girls basketball program’s first state championship. He was especially proud of Dill and Alice Amelia Wooten, the team’s seniors, who he called “program-changers.”
ERA used a 12-0 run in the first quarter to build the cushion it needed. ERA forced 22 turnovers and limited Oak Hill Academy to five field goals in the first half to build a 36-14 halftime lead.
But Delaney’s vision came true, as the Lady Raiders found their footing in the second half and were able to execute for longer stretches on offense. Unfortunately, a 3-for-16 effort from the free-throw line in the first half left Oak Hill Academy in too big of a hole to escape. Oak Hill Academy finished 15 of 32 (46.9 percent) from the foul line for the game. ERA was 21 of 24, including a 9-of-9 showing by Thompson.
“Thompson is fantastic,” Delaney said. “She passes it. She shoots it. Mackenzie is a very, very, very gritty performer. She is one who is going to get up extra shots in practice. She is going to do the little things. She is going to pass it. She is going to take it to the rim. She can shoot the three. She is just an all-around great player.”
One thing Delaney didn’t like is his team committed 27 fouls. He didn’t agree with all of the calls, but he said that probably was the most fouls his team committed in a game this season. ERA’s aggressiveness on its full-court pressure accounted for some of the fouls. It also was called for its share of fouls in the half-court set, but it had enough depth to overcome one player fouling out and three others having four fouls.
“I was really pleased (with our level of aggressiveness),” said Delaney, whose team rallied for a 56-50 victory against University Academy of Cenla in the third-place game in the Class AAAA State tournament. “I really have to credit our league (with Jackson Prep, Presbyterian Christian, and Lamar School in 3AAAA Southeast). When you’re playing the teams we have to play in our league, you better be tough defensively. You better be tough offensively. You’re going to get bumped some and you have to play through it. That is kind of the style that we’re used to playing. That is what is to be expected out of our girls.”
Delaney said he always hopes his team’s pressure defense has as much of an effect on opponents as it did at times Wednesday. He said he was pleased with his team’s movement, especially early in the game, when it gained the separation it built on the rest of the day.
Dill said ERA’s quickness was challenging for Oak Hill Academy to adjust to. Still, she said she was pleased to see how the team fought back and had chances to cut the deficit to 11 on a 3-pointer by Grubbs or into single digits with 3:31 left.
“I was calling timeout (after a made trey by Grubbs) because I knew we could get them fired up at that point if we could get it to single digits,” Middleton said. “It was just a moment where you thought, ‘Here you go. They are in foul trouble. We are in the bonus. We are finally getting some offense rolling, and I know our girls are going to compete and battle for us, but it just didn’t go.”
Unfortunately, Middleton’s body language on the sidelines was enough to send Grubbs’ trey through the net. ERA responded with a 9-0 run down the stretch to put the game away.
“I am still really excited about (winning the Class AA State title),” Dill said. “I know we did stuff that our school has never done, and I am proud of our team. I just didn’t want it to end.”
Middleton told Dill and Wooten how much they meant to the program to help it make history. He said earlier this week that he would do his best to convince Dill to play basketball at the next level.
Dill said she would take time to think about her options and the next step in her life. She feels confident Middleton and the Lady Raiders will be just fine with players like Grubbs, Childress, Maggie Gwathney, Julia Bristow, Emily Allen, Annabelle Miller, and Ashley Allen returning next season.
“I am excited for them. They’re going to do good,” Dill said. “They’re going to have some good leaders and they’re all experienced. Even the sophomores have been playing with us since their ninth-grade year. I feel like they’re going to have a really good year next year.”
Middleton agreed and said the chance to play a school like ERA, which is about six times the size of Oak Hill Academy, was “icing on the cake.” He praised his players for not quitting, but he said the number of missed throws helped dig a hole that wound up being too big to escape.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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