They got this
- Updated: February 28, 2020
After some heartbreaking years trying, Anniston gets its first girls state title; Barclay close to triple-double, Dudley MVP
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
BIRMINGHAM —Eddie Bullock carved out a place in the Anniston High trophy case last year that’s been reserved for the state championship trophy and it laid empty for 24 months.
The space will not be empty any more.
In their seventh try at the Final Four under Bullock, the Anniston girls claimed their first state title Friday, beating championship proven Deshler 61-51 for the Class 4A state title.
Bullock had that space in the trophy case reserved since last season. It was held with a framed picture of the blue championship map with the words “Reserved 2020.” The girls would pass it every day in school and in case they forgot what it looked like Bullock made them take a picture of it and use it as the screen saver on their phones.
The reason they didn’t win it last year, he told the girls, was because he put the wrong year on it.
The right year is on it now and soon the real trophy will be in its place. The Lady Dawgs plan to have their own separate ceremony and everything to commemorate it.
“I’m just so proud for these girls, I’m proud for the school and I’m proud for all those teams that I coached over the years that were capable of doing it but weren’t able to do it for some reason,” Bullock said. “These girls came up behind a lot of good teams and we had some girls who were very capable of doing the same thing and we just ran into some tough teams. This year was just our year.
“I’m proud for them because they’re the first ones to do it in the history of the school. We kind of matched the boys. I gave them a little history about the boys when coach (Schuessler) Ware won the first state championship. How they went on a 19-game win streak and we went on a 19-game win streak and were able to accomplish the same thing they did … I’m just proud we were able to finish the task.”
The Lady Dawgs have been to the Final Four six times before under Bullock without finding a way to win. They lost in the finals last year to Rogers, but they never felt as much heartache as they did between 2014 and 2016 when they lost three nailbiters, including one in the title game.
For all the program has endured, the players were genuinely happy for Bullock, with Kiana Montgomery saying “he really, really, honestly deserved it.”
Interestingly, there was a time no that a long ago when Bullock wasn’t sure he wanted to do this anymore.
“I do in a sense feel a little relief because no matter what I did I was going to be judged on a win or loss,” Bullock said. “That’s why I really don’t care about credit for winning it because had I lost it’d have been as usual – he can get there, but he can’t finish. I know what’s inside of me. I know the pedigree that’s inside of me. And I know what I’m capable of doing, but unfortunately I don’t get to play the game. All I can do is coach it.
“I began to question myself whether or not this was for me. I didn’t even know last year whether or not I was going to even coach the girls because I just didn’t have that passion any more. I love coaching, I just didn’t have it. It wasn’t in me. Even coming into this year I didn’t know if I was going to do it because it just wasn’t there. But I’ve got such a close attachment with the girls I decided I would see it through. We had a good run. It worked because of them. Those girls love Coach Bullock. Coach Bullock loves them. There’s nothing fake about that.”
But an answer like that brings more questions. Now that he’s finally won it is he re-energized to keep going or can he retire with peace of mind knowing he’s reached the game’s Holy Grail?
“I don’t know; I’ve got to let it sink in,” he said. “I don’t want to be one-and-done, but it’s almost like having a new car. The newness is going to wear off after about a week or so and then I’ll go back to being Coach Bullock again, that plain Coach Bullock. As of right now I plan on coaching.”
Asia Barclay led the Lady Dawgs with a near triple-double. She had 21 points, 14 rebounds against a Deshler’s big posts and blocked eight shots.“That was amazing,” she said. “That’s big time,” said Bullock.
It was an MVP-worthy performance, but that award went to teammate Allasha Dudley, who had 20 points and eight rebounds against a tight man defense. Together, Barclay and Dudley shot 12-for-30 from the floor and 17-of-25 from the line.Montgomery joined them on the all-tournament team.
“We worked hard all year to get to this point,” Dudley said. “Our motto was ‘We got this.’ That’s what we’d tell each other the whole game. We wanted it so bad and we got it and it feels unbelievable, like unreal.”
The Lady Dawgs didn’t shoot it well — they were 5-of-23 into the second quarter and 7-of-33 in the first half — but they attacked the basket at every turn and shot 37 free throws, which offset any shortcoming from 3-point range. They made more free throws (23) than Deshler took (15).
“If you attack the basket you don’t have to make 3-pointers,” Bullock said. “And that was the difference in the game right there. I don’t care about the 3-pointers. We matched them basically 2-for-2. If you take away the 3-point shot for them, not being arrogant, we win this game by a bigger margin. That’s the only thing we failed on, we didn’t take the 3 away like we should have, but we outrebounded them, we had less turnovers and more steals and assists. We beat them everywhere I wanted to except not taking the 3-point away.”
The teams finished the first half tied at 22, but Deshler was winning because of the way it was outworking Anniston. The Lady Dawgs used a big third quarter to take a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter thanks to Barclay’s defense and some big baskets by Anna Garrett.
The deficit wasn’t a problem given Deshler’s championship pedigree. The Lady Tigers (24-11) came back and got within 51-49 with 2:58 left, then Barclay made a three-point play on the play that fouled out Akilah Crook, one of Deshler’s bigs.
It was 54-51, then Anniston scored the last seven points of the game. Dudley hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to seal it, similarly to the 6-for-6 she did down the stretch in the semifinals against Childersburg.
“When I got to the free throw line my eyes were on the scoreboard because I knew those free throws were very important,” Dudley said.
With about six seconds left, Barclay and Dudley embraced at mid-court before Barclay went to the line. They had big smiles. They knew what was coming.
The players said they reminded each other that there was still time left and anything could happen; it seemed implausible given the time, but the Lady Dawgs have known heartache here before.
But they also knew “we got this.”
And now they have the real trophy to put in the case to prove it. Make room.
CLASS 4A GIRLS
Championship game
Anniston 61, Deshler 51
DESHLER (24-11) – Shamri Thirlkill 7-18 3-6 18, Achia Ramson 2-4 2-3 7, Hannah Collinsworth 0-1 0-0 0, Emily Collinsworth 0-0 0-0 0, Akilah Crook 0-2 0-0 0, Avery Linville 0-0 0-0 0, Cymbree Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, Reagan Rickard 0-0 0-0 0, Jamicia Bates 0-0 0-0 0, Chloe Siegel 7-17 3-6 22, Katie Clemmons 0-1 0-0 0, Mary Alice Murner 0-0 0-0 0, Kinsley Mobley 0-0 0-0 0, Destiny Sanford 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 18-46 8-15 51.
ANNISTON (29-3) – Allasha Dudley 6-16 8-12 20, Ladajah Williams 0-2 0-0 0, Anna Garett 2-5 0-4 5, Charliese Simmons 0-0 0-0 0, Shiwanna Jackson 1-4 0-0 2, Aaliyah Henson 0-0 0-0 0, Tiauna Thomas 0-0 2-2 2, Airriana Colley 3-4 0-0 7, Kiana Montgomery 0-12 4-6 4, Keyahra Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Asia Barclay 6-14 9-13 21. Totals 18-57 23-37 61.
Deshler 11 11 9 20 – 51
Anniston 9 13 19 20 – 61
3-point goals: Deshler 7-16 (Thirlkill 1-1, Ramson 1-1, Siegel 5-12, Clemmons 0-1, Sanford 0-1); Anniston 2-9 (Dudley 0-1, Garrett 1-3, Jackson 0-2, Colley 1-2, Barclay 0-1). Rebounds: Deshler 32 (Siegel 7); Anniston 43 (Barclay 16, Dudley 8). Fouled out: Thirlkill, Crook. Total fouls: Deshler 23, Anniston 16. Officials: McCollum, Newhouse, Scyphers.
All-Tournament: Allasha Dudley, Anniston (MVP); Asia Barclay, Anniston; Kiana Montgomery, Anniston; Shamri Thirlkill, Deshler; Chloe Siegel, Deshler; Chardai Watkins, Sumter Central.
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