If there was any doubt that South Decatur Head Coach Kristen Hicks had the Lady Cougars playing their best basketball at the right time, those doubts were squashed last week. In three sectionals games, the Lady Cougars posted three double-digit wins, including Saturday’s 49-39 victory over rival North Decatur in the sectional championship game.
South improves to 15-11 on the season. North ends the season at 17-9.
North got on the board first with a reverse layup by Carmen Thackery. South’s answer came from Makayla Somers with a traditional three-point play. After another Thackery bucket for North, Makayla Puckett answered. Taylor Somers followed with a bucket and Paige McQueen added a free throw as South led 8-4. A Thackery free throw ended the first quarter with South leading 8-5.
South made some separation in the second quarter. The Lady Cougars went on a 9-2 run to start the quarter. Two Makaya Somers free throws started the run. After a bucket by North’s Madi Allen, Puckett hit a 3-pointer followed by a Dalilah Martin bucket and two Taylor Somers free throws.
A rebound bucket by North’s Jo Whitaker stopped South run momentarily, but five straight points, capped by a McQueen 3-pointer had South in front 22-9 with less than one minute to play in the half. A Thackery bucket for North and free throw by Makayla Somers for South ended the half with South leading 23-11.
In the third quarter, North held South to just four points. The Lady Chargers were not able to get the deficit under double digits until a steal and layup by Allen with 1:22 to play in the third. Two more Thackery free throws ended the third quarter with South holding on to a 27-21 advantage.
The two teams wore out the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. A combined 30 free throws were shot in the final eight minutes. North cut the deficit to five on a Kelsey Haley free throw (29-24) and on an Allen free throw (30-25. Back-to-back buckets by Makayla Somers gave South some breathing room, up 34-25.
North’s Allen hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to six, but South responded with three points to push the lead back to nine. Thackery and Allen combined to go 5-of-6 from the free throw line to get the deficit down to 37-33 with 2:37 to play. South’s Somers sisters came up big with back-to-back buckets to extend the lead to eight.
After a 3-pointer by North’s Jo Whitaker, South’s Martin toed the free throw line on two straight possessions and hit 4-of-4 to give South a 9-point lead with 1:07 to play and put the game out of reach for North.
For South, Taylor Somes led the way with 16 points. Makayla Somers added 12 points. McQueen finished with nine points. Martin added six points. Puckett had five points and Riley Benge had one point.
The Lady Chargers were led by Thackery with 16 points. Allen added 15 points. Jo Whitaker had five points. Clare Kinker had two points and Kelsey Haley had one point.
The Lady Cougars will face Oldenburg Academy (21-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Southwestern (Shelby) in the one-game regional. The Lady Twisters won the Hauser Sectional title 51-40 over Shawe Memorial. These two teams faced off in early December with the Lady Twisters winning 45-27.
How they got there
North reached the finals by knocking off sectional favorite Morristown. The Yellow Jackets led by 10 points with 1:01 left in the fourth quarter, but North rallied and Allen hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
In the extra session, a left-wing 3-pointer by Thackery put the Lady Chargers up for good at 59-57 en route to the 63-60 victory.
South reached the final by cruising past Waldron 52-28.
The Lady Cougars jumped out to a 10-3 lead behind eight points from Taylor Somers and never looked back.
