By Staff
Lady Patriots’ run ends at Hanceville
Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
HANCEVILLE - Through a season of adversity, the Brewer Lady Patriots always came up with the right answers.
There was no solution for Wenonah’s Karneisha Garrett, though.
Garrett scored 21 points and pulled down 20 rebounds in the Lady Dragons’ 57-39 victory over Brewer Saturday morning in the Class 5A Northwest Regional championship game at Wallace State’s Tom Drake Coliseum.
The loss ended Brewer’s 16-game win streak.
Brewer finished the season with a 28-3 record, while Wenonah heads to next week’s Final Four in Birmingham with a 19-9 mark.
The Lady Patriots have faced the death of a classmate and a season-ending injury to leading scorer Emily Dabbs in the team’s final regular season game.
Overcoming the physical Lady Dragons proved to be a challenge that Brewer couldn’t get past to keep its season alive.
Garrett, who dismantled Hartselle in the regional semifinals, was 4 of 10 from the field in the win. But she added 13 points from the free throw line on 21 attempts.
Brewer struggled to get the ball inside against the Lady Dragons’ taller inside players. The Lady Patriots shot just 27 percent from the floor in the loss.
Morgan Crawley led Brewer with 10 points, while Krista Hughes, Meagan Hormel and Elizabeth Bromirski all finished with six points each.
The Lady Patriots, normally a solid outside threat, missed all 12 of their 3-point attempts in the loss.
Keiara Middleton stepped up for the Lady Dragons, filling the point guard spot after an injury sidelined Jasmine Duncan.
Middleton added 19 points for Wenonah, who will face Eufaula in the Class 5A semifinals this week at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.
The win capped a couple of emotional days for the Birmingham school. On Friday, the Wenonah boys’ team was removed from the regionals by the Alabama High School Athletic Association after it was ruled the Dragons had used an ineligible player all season.
Bell will be making his third trip to the state tournament in 14 years.
Wenonah opened up a 10-0 lead before Brewer ever put its first points on the board in the opening quarter.
Brewer missed it’s first six shots of the game and failed to come away with any points on its first 11 trips up the floor.
The Lady Patriots didn’t score their first points until Chelsey Smith hit two free throws following a technical against Wenonah that trimmed the lead to 10-2 with 3:30 left in the opening quarter.
Brewer closed to within three in the second quarter when Hormel hit two free throws to make it 15-12 just two minutes into the period.
But Wenonah scored five straight to stretch the margin to eight points.
The Lady Dragons led 24-20 at the half with 11 points coming off Garrett’s hot hand.
Brewer never got any closer in the second half as Wenonah pushed the lead to 13 points midway through the fourth quarter.
Brewer 73, Mortimer Jordan 38
A showdown between Class 5A, Area 13 rivals Brewer and Hartselle won’t take place in the Northwest Regionals this year.
Brewer reached the regional final with a 73-38 victory over Mortimer Jordan in the semifinals, but Hartselle’s season came to an end with a 54-38 loss to Wenonah.
Brewer trailed 12-5 early in the game before running off on an 18-0 tear against the young Lady Devils.
Morgan Crawley led all scorers with 18 points in the Lady Patriots’ win. Kendra Jones added 13 points.
Mortimer Jordan’s Shea Bowman led the Lady Devils with 12 points.
Peyton Davis, a 6-foot-4 sophomore post player, finshed with 12 rebounds and nine points.