But season ends in semifinals of district tournament

 
By Steve Bowman
Editor, The Brentwood Spirit
email: bowmansj@sbcglobal.net

Imagine the story this would have been if Brentwood had held on to beat Whitfield in the semifinals of the Class 3 District 4 girls basketball tournament last Wednesday at Principia.

A week earlier, when the eight coaches in the district had met to decide how the teams would be seeded, they’d voted Whitfield No. 1 and Brentwood No. 4. So most of them didn’t think the Eagles could even hang with the Warriors.

And yet Brentwood not only hung with but at times dominated Whitfield for the first three quarters. They led by nine in the first quarter, by 12 in the second and by 11 in the third. Ahead by nine at halftime, BHS coach Chris Jones was looking at some excited faces in the locker room.

“Congratulations, we just played 16 hard minutes,” he told his players. “But it’s all about playing 32. You’ve got to go out like you’re down by nine, not like you’re up nine.”

Brentwood finally surrendered the lead in the final second of the third period and never regained it. They trailed by only four with a minute left, but Whitfield hit enough free throws to push the final score to 53-45.

Whitfield went on to destroy Burroughs by 18 points in the district championship game. That must make some Brentwood fans wonder just how close the Eagles veered to their first district title in years. They finished the season with a record of 21-4, including 8-0 in the conference, and they did it mostly with underclassmen.

In the locker room after the game, senior Air’shay Lampkin consoled freshman Nija Price, who had led BHS in scoring and steals.

Said Lampkin, “I just told her, ‘You’re not losing too many people. Me and Tiffany [Anthony] are the only ones who’ll be gone. You’re still going to be a big part of the team, so work hard in the off season and do what you’ve got to do. Keep your head up, this is not the end.”

But it was the end of high school basketball for Lampkin and Anthony.

“It’s really sad because I’ve been in this program for four years,” said Lampkin. “I was a freshman in Coach Jones’s first year. It’s sad that it’s coming to the end.”

Said Anthony, “I’ve been in the program for three years. I thought we had it but I guess our defense wasn’t good enough. We got tired.”

But Jones thinks both teams were tired.

“I think about the missed shots we had,” he said. “Several missed layups, several missed put-backs. So there’s 10 points right there. Good teams don’t miss stuff like that; we do. It’s just about the mental toughness and experience.”

Epic first half

Price and Marshelle Franklin hit back-to-back three-pointers late in the first quarter for a nine-point lead. Brentwood pushed the advantage to 12 with 6:15 left in the second quarter and was up by nine at halftime.

Price and Sophia Rivera led the way in the first half. Price made three three-pointers and had 15 points, four rebounds and three steals. Rivera blocked three shots and had three rebounds. Neither was in foul trouble.

“At halftime I was excited,” said Lampkin. “I said, ‘We can take this game.’”

Said Anthony, “I thought we had it.”

“It was great,” said Jones. “We executed our game plan, which was to shut down Taylor Lawson-Hicks and Kate Sescliefer. I wasn’t as concerned about Taylor because I knew Abby [Harper] could do a good job on her.”

He added, “In the first half we switched from a box-and-one to a triangle-and-two and I think we did a pretty good job at it.”

Third-quarter comeback

The Eagles led by 11 early in the second half before the Warriors pieced together a 14-2 run to take the lead as time ran out in the third period.

“We got up by 11 or 12 in the second half but then they started chipping away,” Jones said. “It wasn’t all at once, where you can stop the slide. You could just feel the momentum slowly shift.”

Caroline Snare got the rebound from her own missed free throw and scored to draw to within three points with 1:45 left in the game. After Whitfield scored, Rivera grabbed an offensive rebound and sank a short shot to cut the margin to four with a minute left. But with time running out, the Warriors sank free throws from intentional fouls to keep BHS at bay.

Price ended up with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals. Rivera had 14 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks. Franklin contributed seven points and five steals. As a team, BHS made 19 steals and 12 blocks, but didn’t help itself in committing 19 turnovers and shooting 40 percent from the field.

BHS’s final record: 21-4, 8-0 in conference
Dec. 8: won vs. McKinley 60-25
Dec. 10: won vs. Lift for Life 53-43
Dec. 12: won vs. Carnahan 83-29
Jan. 5: won vs. Soldan 54-22 at Burroughs Invitational
Jan. 7: won vs. Roosevelt 63-31 at Burroughs Invitational
Jan. 9: lost to John Burroughs 45-30 at Burroughs Invitational
Jan. 12: lost at Clayton 55-30
Jan. 13: won vs. Crossroads 52-25
Jan. 14: won at Trinity 64-33
Jan. 16: lost at Villa Duchesne 61-55
Jan. 20: won vs. MRH 77-53
Jan. 21: won vs. Normandy 52-16
Jan. 23: won vs. Hancock 70-37
Jan. 26: won vs. University City 62-55
Jan. 27: won at Bayless 60-30
Jan. 30: won vs. Valley Park 50-25
Feb. 2: won at JFK 48-34
Feb. 3: won at Crossroads 46-22
Feb. 10: won at Hancock 87-38
Feb. 11: won forfeit over Northwest Academy
Feb. 13: won vs. Bayless 60-35
Feb. 17: won at Valley Park 61-21
Feb. 18: won vs. Orchard Farm 62-35
Class 3, District 4 tournament at Principia
Feb. 23: won vs. John F. Kennedy 44-36
Feb. 25: lost vs. Whitfield 53-45

District tournament seeding
1. Whitfield
2. John Burroughs
3. Principia
4. Brentwood
5. John F. Kennedy
6. MRH
7. Valley Park
8. Cleveland NJROTC