‘Most special night’
- Updated: February 11, 2021
Phillips’ career game, milestone night propel Alexandria girls to area title
By East Alabama Sports Today
Ashley Phillips is capable of having a career night every time she takes the floor. To get her career high, pass a career milestone and win an area championship all in the same night is a memory the Alexandria junior will hold the rest of her life.
Phillips went for 39 points Thursday night and went over 1,000 career points at Alexandria in the process while leading the Lady Cubs to a 63-31 victory over Lincoln for the Class 5A Area 11 tournament title.
“It’s probably the most special night I’ve ever had in sports,” she said. “When I first came out of the game in the fourth quarter I didn’t know how many points I had. I was excited about the win, but when I found out I had 1,000 I was really excited.”
She needed 26 to reach the milestone in her fourth season at Alexandria and passed it in the third quarter. She scored 25 points in the second half after the Lady Cubs opened a 28-17 halftime lead. She missed her next to last free throw (9-for-10) or she would’ve had 40.
“It was very cool that it happened the way it happened,” coach Craig Kiker said. “The first priority, of course, was winning the game, but for her to score 39 … and the way she did it, too.
“They started out face-guarding her, trying to not let her have the ball and her teammates kind of helped her out. Jill (Cockrell) and Jordyn (Walker) shot the ball well early on, so that made them go man-to-man and we had some success driving the ball.”
The “at Alexandria” part of the 1,000 points is an important disclaimer. Phillips played varsity basketball at Ohatchee as a seventh grader and scored 68 points there, so she had an all-time career total of 1,081.
“Last year me and Coach Kiker went over how many points I would need and that was definitely a big goal this year,” Phillips said.
She’s the second 1,000-point scorer during Kiker’s coaching tenure, joining Bre Bradford in the elite club.
The area title is the Lady Cubs’ first since 2017. They now host the loser of Friday’s Area 10 title game between Ramsay and Carver.
They got out to a fast start, opening a 16-6 first-quarter lead. They had a little lull in the second quarter, but still held the halftime lead. They outscored the Lady Golden Bears 35-14 in the second half, 14-4 in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we played pretty well,” Kiker said. “Ashley having 39 is huge, but I thought we played a lot better defensively than we have played up to this point. We played man-to-man a lot tonight and I thought it was a lot better. I thought we needed to put some pressure on them and I thought we did that well.”
Class 5A Area 11
Girls Championship Game
Alexandria 63, Lincoln 31
LINCOLN – Bailey Gowers 4 7-14 15, Amarii White 0 0-0 0, Trinity McClellan 2 3-12 7, Jaycee Woods 4 0-0 9, Genesis McClellan 0 0-0 0, Clarke Cunningham 0 0-0 0, Jaelyn Hurley 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 10-26 31.
ALEXANDRIA – Ashley Phillips 14 9-10 39, Jordyn Walker 2 0-4 5, Jill Cockrell 3 0-0 9, Kirsten Heathcock 0 1-2 1, Sarah Pelham 2 0-0 5, Kailey Dickerson 1 0-0 2, Kylie Davis 0 0-0 0, TyShica Woodgett 0 2-4 2, Aubrey Christian 0 0-0 0, Christian Hess 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 12-20 63.
Lincoln 6 11 10 4 – 31
Alexandria 16 12 21 14 – 63
3-point goals: Lincoln 1 (J. Woods); Alexandria 7 (Phillips 2, Walker, Cockrell 3, Pelham). Technical fouls: Cunningham. Fouled out: J. Woods. Total fouls: Lincoln 17, Alexandria 17. Officials: Smith, Graves, Smith.
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