GDW Analysis:
BIRMINGHAM: St. James Lady Trojans have earned the opportunity to play for the AHSAA 3A state championship.
That was by the fact, St. James outlasted upset minded Sylvania 63 to 44 Tuesday afternoon at the BJCC.
Now comes a matchup of No. 1 Lauderdale County vs. No. 2 St. James Friday.
St. James has been in this venture before. But in 2002, they fell to Deshler in the 4A championship.
A lineup that is young with 2 starters in the 8th grade, a sophomore, a junior and a freshman, St. James has formed togetherness and it has been well shown on the floor with 33 wins out of 35 games.
"Our goal was to get to the state championship game," coach Katie Barton said. "This was not our prettiest today."
Barton said this group knows each very well for playing hoops through travel ball and other organizations in their youth days.
Barton said this group plays a lot of this sport from their home town of Montgomery.
A 9 to 0 run right before halftime gave St. James a 33 to 23 lead at the half.
The Lady Trojans went on outscoring the Lady Rams 30 to 21 to win the contest going away.
Sylvania came to Birmingham the champions of the Northeast Regional, but only a record of 18 wins and 14 losses.
Sylvania held a 1 point lead late in the 3rd until St. James found a way to outscore them and a chance to upset the No. 2 team in 3A hoops was denied.
Point guard Morgan Lilly, one of the 8th graders, shot 7 of 18 and led St. James with 17 points.
The other 8th grader, Jordan McRae, scored 13 and was 6 of 7 from the floor.
Sylvania, known as a 3 point squad, took shots from behind the arc 34 times. They made just 11 of 34. Meredith Jackson converted 5 of 15 and had 15 to lead the Lady Rams.
St. James has won 20 consecutive games. Lauderdale Co has 1 won on the season in 34 decisions.
Photo of the St. James Lady Trojans at the AHSAA Central Sub Regional February 7.
Photo courtesy of the Montgomery Advertiser.
