Fast start, late run propel Eagles past SIA|[12/17/2005]
Published 12:00 am Monday, December 19, 2005
It was ugly, sloppy and downright disheartening at times. But at the end, it was still a win for Porters Chapel, and the Eagles would like to leave it at that.
PCA failed to capitalize on a hot start and nearly squandered a double-digit lead before holding off Sharkey-Issaquena 44-35 Friday afternoon.
PCA (7-0, 6-0 District 4-A) got 17 points from Dan Ivey and 16 from Hayden Hales in the victory, which sets up a showdown Monday in Jackson against state power and district rival CM&I.
Seth Brown led SIA (8-4, 4-3) with 12 points.
“It’s a win,” PCA’s Cole Smith said of the win over SIA. “I hope we do better Monday against CM&I. We know that’s going to be a tough game.”
The one against SIA wasn’t expected to be a cakewalk, either. For one quarter, however, it looked like it might be.
PCA was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field in the first period and held the Confederates to just four shots while building a 12-2 lead. The Eagles extended the lead to 14-2 early in the second quarter before SIA went to a press and turned the game around.
The Confederates forced PCA into 10 turnovers in the period and used an early 9-0 run to get within two points, 16-14, just before halftime.
“We just kind of broke down,” Smith said. “We couldn’t run our offense. Then they put the pressure on us and that slowed us down even more.”
Hales hit a shot in the closing seconds of the first half to make it 18-14, then PCA opened the second half with a 7-1 run to push the lead to nine. SIA answered with a 10-3 run early in the fourth quarter, however, getting as close as one point at 30-29.
And that was it.
The Confederates’ shots stopped falling, PCA put together an 8-2 run to create some space, and SIA never got within one possession again. A three-point play by Ivey and a 3-pointer by Michael Johnson keyed PCA’s decisive run.
“For the entire game, we just blew chip shots inside,” SIA coach Cori Britt said. “I think we played good defense. We matched up well. We just didn’t shoot well.”
(G) SIA 36, PCA 31
Jennifer Heigle scored a game-high 18 points, and Sharkey-Issaquena used a game-ending 5-0 run in the final minute to beat a feisty Porters Chapel squad.
Lauren Johnson had 12 points and Bailey Williams scored eight for the Lady Eagles, who were tied with the Lady Feds with a minute to play. SIA’s Lucy Goodman hit the front end of a one-and-one with 51 seconds left to put her team ahead 32-31, though, and Nicole Cox cleaned up the miss on the second shot to make it a three-point game.
PCA missed a shot and turned it over on its final two possessions and Heigle hit a short jumper with 20 seconds to play to seal it.