Columbia Academy’s remarkable season on the hardwood came to a close Friday night with the Lady Cougars falling in the Elite 8 of the Overall Tournament in their home gym.
The Lady Cougars (29-10) struggled to find any consistency offensively, losing 34-22 to MRA. Head coach Dale Watts said he thinks the Lady Cougars had a good game plan, but after they scored their first basket, they had 11 straight empty possessions without scoring.
“I think we really got beat the last two minutes of the second quarter. The eight most important minutes of the game are the first two minutes of the first quarter, the last two minutes of the second quarter, the first two minutes of the third quarter and the last two minutes of the game. We lost six of those eight minutes,” he said. “We let them get the lead with our strength. They offensive rebounded during the last two minutes of the second quarter to score four points and ended up taking the lead. It went from 8-7 to 11-8, which doesn’t seem like much, but in a game like that it was.”
When MRA built a small lead, it turned up the defensive pressure, and Columbia Academy’s guards struggled to respond. Going into the tournament, Watts knew guard play could be the X-factor, and it turned out to be CA’s Achilles heel. The Lady Cougars have lacked a true point guard the past two years and has had to try to get by with natural shooting guards moonlighting as lead guards.
Macey Jones was the only CA player who could do anything offensively, scoring 18 of the Lady Cougars’ 22 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Presley Dease, who also had seven boards, and Maggie Wilks each scored two.
“We couldn’t make the backdoor cut and the pass. We couldn’t screen ourselves to get open. We couldn’t get shots. We got some throws at the goal, but we didn’t get any shots,” Watts said. “Macey was the one thing we had we felt like that could not stop, so they basically played her one-on-one a lot. If we could get her the ball, she could score. But a lot of times we underthrew it or they undercut it to pick it off or deflect it. The other girls never could get the clean looks they need to score.”
Watts said there is a potential point guard on the way that could help the Lady Cougars next season in freshman Taylor Dease. He said she has the speed and athleticism to be a good point guard, but she needs some time to mature as a player.
Although the Lady Cougars ultimately didn’t accomplish their No. 1 goal — winning a state championship — Watts said it was still a great season because they went undefeated in district, won the district tournament in the opponent’s home gym and won the South State Tournament.
“We just had a bad night in the semifinals of the state tournament. We beat both teams that played in the state championship. It’s not much comfort, but that’s something,” he said. “I’m proud of these girls. From last year to this year, they came a long way.”
Columbia Academy will remain a favorite for the Class 3A title next season, graduating only two seniors in Megan Rowley and Olivia Adams. Both were key role players, but most of CA’s production came from players who will be back next season, including Jones, Wilks, Dease, Peyton McCain, Lauren McDaniel and Chandlar Havard.
