Lady Senators defeat Edgewood

Published 12:00 am Monday, February 14, 2005

MONTGOMERY – As Morgan Academy football and girls’ basketball coach, Robert Gartman knows of the likenesses between the two sports.

He also knows a great effort when he sees it.

The Morgan Academy Lady Senators put forth such an effort Saturday and knocked off the state’s third-ranked Edgewood Christian Lady Wildcats, 54-37, in the AISA Class 3A state tournament at Faulkner University.

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The Lady Senators advance to the AISA Class 3A Final Four, where they will play top-ranked Faith Academy next Friday at 3 p.m. at Huntingdon College.

Gartman and the Lady Senators took a page out of the coach’s football playbook by taking away Edgewood’s strength, its dangerous outside shooting.

“There are a lot of similarities between football and basketball,” Gartman said, “and one of them is taking away what they want to do and making them do what they don’t want to do.”

Gartman called his team’s effort the best he’s seen them play this season.

What the Lady Wildcats wanted to do was to be able to spread the Morgan defense and hit three-pointers. What ended up happening was completely different. Gartman put his best three defenders on Edgewood’s trio of deadly outside shooters. Kyser Youngblood played especially well, putting constant pressure on the Edgewood ball-handlers, while slapping the ball free on occasion.

“Kyser’s real aggressive,” Gartman said. “She does a good job playing defense. She plays smart and she can play two positions, which helps a lot.”

Meanwhile, center Elizabeth Elliott denied any penetration in the middle. Edgewood guard Mesha Ellis learned firsthand how difficult it would be to get by Elliott. Ellis tried a running lay-up along the left baseline, only to have Elliott slap the ball away while Ellis gazed at the 6-foot center with a look of surprise.

Elliott also lent a hand on offense. Her jumper from the foul line gave the Lady Senators a 12-6 lead late in the first period.

The Lady Wildcats closed the gap to one, 12-11, early in the second quarter, before Morgan went on a 15-0 run. The Lady Senators featured smooth ball handling and even smoother shooting in pushing their lead to 27-11. Candice Ward ignited the run with a three-pointer from the left wing. Elliott and Ward then hit consecutive jumpers from the top of the key to make it 24-11. Katie Taylor capped the drive when she fielded a bounce pass and hit a pull-up jumper from the foul line while drawing a foul. Taylor’s free throw gave the Lady Senators their 16-point pad.

The only change in the second half was the sum of Morgan’s lead. The Lady Wildcats never managed to cut the deficit to single digits, as the Lady Senators continued their in-and-out attack against the Edgewood man-to-man defense.

Taylor plucked the ball away from Edgewood forward Michelle Ingram, then slipped past her for a running lay-up and a 33-19 Morgan lead.

Eliiott’s bounce pass from the right wing found Elliott, who sank a jumper from the left corner to push the lead to 38-22.

Taylor finished with a game-high 20 points, while Elliott followed with 14 points.