Coming up big
- Updated: November 23, 2017
Spring Garden’s McGinnis scores the game’s final nine points, lifting the Lady Panthers over Hokes Bluff for Champions championship
Spring Garden’s Tyonna Rogers (33) was the Champions Thanksgiving Classic tournament MVP. She had back-to-back double-doubles early in the tournament and averaged 14 points a game. On the cover, if there were an MVP for the championship game it would have gone to Payton McGinnis (31). (Photos by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
Wednesday’s scores
Alexandria 44, Collinsville 42
Ashville 40, Cleburne County 37
Jacksonville 45, Munford 38
Spring Garden 48, Hokes Bluff 43
Wellborn 47, Etowah 39
White Plains 30, Pleasant Valley 28
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
ALEXANDRIA – There comes a time in almost every Spring Garden girls basketball game when someone is called upon to take – and make – a big shot. A lot of times it goes through Payton McGinnis.
It did Wednesday night in the finals of the Champions Girls Thanksgiving Classic and as she always seems to do, McGinnis delivered.
To see a photo gallery from Wednesday’s games, visit www.bjfranklin.smugmug.com
McGinnis scored the last nine points of the game, taking the Lady Panthers from a four-point deficit in the final two minutes to a five-point 48-43 victory over Hokes Bluff at Champions Sports Academy. No shot was bigger than the 3-pointer she drilled with 1:11 to play that put Spring Garden (4-0) ahead for good.
“The whole time I was in that locker room right then it was mostly talking about her toughness and her resilience and just how much of a competitor she is,” Spring Garden coach Ricky Austin said. “Coach McDonald had just said somebody’s got to hit a 3-pointer for us, it’s got to be Payton McGinnis.
“It ended up in her hands at the right time and she didn’t hesitate. Last year she would have hesitated to have shot that shot in that situation of the game. It just says a lot about her motor and her understanding. I’m just proud for her. In my mind she was the MVP; she was the MVP of this game, without a doubt.”
The actual MVP of the tournament was post Tyonna Rogers, who opened the tournament with back-to-back double-doubles, but without McGinnis’ take-charge approach in the final minutes this one might have gotten away from them.
She started the crucial run with a bucket with 1:58 to play that cut the Lady Panthers’ deficit to 43-41. The Lady Panthers immediately called time, they forced a turnover and McGinnis converted it into her big 3-pointer. It was the only 3-pointer they had in the game.
She made two free throws with 31 seconds left to extend the lead and then hit two with 3.3 left to seal it. She finished with a game-high 22 points, doubling her previous season-high of the young season.
It should be noted McGinnis played those last two minutes with a sore lip as a piece of her braces broke through the skin. Austin speculated that’s the reason she scored so many points; “she was mad,” he said.
“The last two minutes were crazy,” McGinnis said. “We were looking for a win. We knew if we played good, played good defense, we could come out with a win. Our whole team all has the energy we need and that was a lot of the help the last two minutes. We had energy coming from everybody and … we really just figured out how to finish plays.
“At the time out they said we need people to step up and I felt like everybody stepped up at that time. It just happened to me who was open. Everybody was ready for that shot. It could have been anybody out there and if it was open somebody would have took it. It just happened to have been mine.”
In the other games of the final day, White Plains and Alexandria both staged fourth-quarter rallies similar to Spring Garden’s to beat their opponents and Ashville edged Cleburne County 40-37.
Alexandria rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit and six down with less than three minutes to play to beat Collinsville 44-42. Kameron Simpson hit a 3-pointer with 1:17 left to draw the Lady Cubs within one. Sarah Kilgore banked in a 3 with 20.4 seconds left to give them the lead.
Bre Bradford blocked Brittany Rivera’s potential game-tying shot with six seconds left and Rivera had a running 3-pointer at the buzzer that fell short.
White Plains trailed by three with 2:15 to play. Jordan Sabree’s putback with 1:34 left put the Lady Wildcats ahead and Landry Bussey’s free throw with 17.2 seconds left to made it a two-point game.
The Lady Raiders had the ball in the closing seconds after a missed free throw but Mac Parris, who hit five 3-pointers in the game, couldn’t get a reasonable shot off in time.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Brittany Rivera, Collinsville; Bre Bradford, Alexandria; Macy Reedy, Spring Garden; Logan Black, Hokes Bluff; Kerstin Bryant, Spring Garden; Amanda Noah, Hokes Bluff; Payton McGinnis, Spring Garden. MVP: Tyonna Rogers, Spring Garden.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT BOX SCORES
CHAMPIONS THANKSGIVING CLASSIC
Championship game
Spring Garden 48, Hokes Bluff 43
SPRING GARDEN (4-0) – Katie Williams 0 0-0 0, Macy Reedy 0 4-4 4, Kerstin Bryant 1 4-6 6, Payton McGinnis 5 11-14 22, Tyonna Rogers 3 4-6 6, Chloe Jarrett 1 0-2 2, Madison Jennings 2 0-0 4. Totals 12 23-32 48.
HOKES BLUFF – Rebecca Payton 1 0-0 2, K. Otwell 1 1-2 3, Haley Simpson 1 0-0 3, Amanda Noah 8 3-4 20, Kristen Shields 0 0-0 0, Logan Black 5 1-4 13, Jayden Presley 1 0-0 2, Kaylee Ingram 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 5-10 43.
Spring Garden 7 15 11 15 — 48
Hokes Bluff 12 11 13 7 — 43
3-point goals: Spring Garden 1 (McGinnis); Hokes Bluff 4 (Simpson, Noah, Black 2). Technical fouls: Hokes Bluff coach Shields 2. Total fouls: Spring Garden 13, Hokes Bluff 23.
Third-place game
Alexandria 44, Collinsville 42
COLLINSVILLE – Kayla Beene 1 0-0 3, Maggie McKinney 0 0-0 0, Carolina Brannon 1 0-1 2, Hadley Hamilton 0 0-0 0, Brittany Rivera 7 2-4 16, Trinity Garner 4 1-1 11, Kallie Kilgro 4 0-0 10, Cadence Amison 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 3-6 42.
ALEXANDRIA – Ashley Phillips 2 0-0 5, Destiny Heathcock 2 1-6 5, KayLeigh Steen 1 0-0 2, Kaitlin Harvey 1 0-0 2, Kameron Simpson 2 1-2 6, Sarah Kilgore 4 0-0 9, Bre Bradford 7 1-1 15. Totals 19 3-9 44.
Collinsville 13 15 6 8 — 42
Alexandria 4 13 11 16 — 44
3-point goals: Collinsville 5 (Beane, Garner 2, Kilgro 2); Alexandria 3 (Phillips, Kilgore, Simpson). Total fouls: Collinsville 11, Alexandria 10.
Fifth-place game
White Plains 30, Pleasant Valley 28
WHITE PLAINS – Rian Chandler 1 0-1 3, Hanna Dyar 0 0-0 0, Callyn Martin 3 0-3 6, Jordan Sabree 1 1-6 3, Landry Bussey 1 6-8 8, Chasity Nelson 1 0-0 3, Lily Ponder 1 0-0 3, Jocelyn Harris 1 2-5 4. Totals 9 9-23 30.
PLEASANT VALLEY – Mac Parris 6 1-3 18, Rylee Haynes 1 0-2 2, Alyssa Cash 0 1-3 1, Bailey Dollar 0 0-0 0, Chandler 0 1-2 1, Emma Hood 2 1-2 5, Karmyn Sparks 0 0-0 0, Brooke Perry 0 1-3 1. Totals 9 5-15 28.
White Plains 8 6 2 14 — 30
Pleasant Valley 8 8 6 6 — 28
3-point goals: White Plains 3 (Chandler, Nelson, Ponder); Pleasant Valley 5 (Parris 5). Fouled out: Haynes. Total fouls: White Plains 17, Pleasant Valley 22. Officials: Caldwell, Walker, Robinson.
JACKSONVILLE THANKSGIVING CLASSIC
Jacksonville 45, Munford 38
MUNFORD – Alexis McKenzie 6-10 3-4 15, Tatanna Johnson 6-16 1-3 14, Kennedy Reeves 1-8 0-0 3, Justine Calhoun 1-1 0-0 2, Kamara Sudduth 1-6 0-2 2, Jaymela Caldwell 1-5 0-1 2, Cheyenne Batey 0-0 0-0 0, Maliayha Carlisle 0-0 0-0 0, Tiara Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Mallory Moore 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-47 4-18 38.
JACKSONVILLE – Kyra Williams 11-24 3-6 27, Essence Hutchinson 2-7 0-0 4, Maddie Hall 2-4 0-2 4, Sarah Quinn 1-1 0-0 3, Elizabeth Poe 1-3 0-1 2, Aniya Jefferson 0-3 2-2 2, Patience Carr 1-4 0-2 2, Brenna Stone 0-1 1-2 1, Amia Montgomery 0-0 0-0 0, TiAsia Williams 0-4 0-0 0, Lydia Crow 0-0 0-0 0, Malijah Goggins 0-1 0-0 0, Destoni Edwards 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-53 6-15 45.
Munford 10 8 4 15 — 38
Jacksonville 10 20 7 8 — 45
3-point goals: Munford 2-12 (Ta. Johnson 1-4, Reeves 1-5, Caldwell 0-3); Jacksonville 3-16 (K. Williams 2-9, Hutchinson 0-2, Quinn 1-1, Carr 0-1, T. Williams 0-3). Rebounds: Munford 51 (McKenzie 13, Reeves 9); Jacksonville 31 (Poe 6, Jefferson 5). Total fouls: Munford 10, Jacksonville 12.
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