Saints follow Trail
Published 7:00 pm Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Straight to title game appearance
ALEXANDRIA — In the closing minutes of the Division II semifinals at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Marsh Madness state basketball tournament Tuesday, No. 2 St. Louis was running out of players.
Four starters had fouled out, but freshman Mycaa Trail stepped up to score 26 points, including a buzzer beater in overtime to beat No. 3 University Lab 87-86.
Trail, who has come off the bench all season, scored nine points in overtime.
With less than 10 seconds left, sophomore Torey Washington, the lone starter left for St. Louis, brought the ball up the court. She dribbled down the right side of the lane and turned left under the basket. Her pass was initially tipped, but Trail managed to grab it and put it in just before the buzzer.
“Basically eight seconds on the clock and Torey is taking it down,” Trail said. “She is dribbling and I am like, ‘Torey! Torey! Torey!’
“She actually tried to pass but it bounced (off) the girl, so I grabbed the ball. I didn’t even know how much time we had left. I just threw it up in the air and it went in and I am trying to go back on defense (thinking) we still have time. I was like oh snap we did it.”
St. Louis (30-6) will play No. 1 Lee Magnet (32-2) at 2 p.m. Friday in the championship game. Lee beat Ursuline Academy (22-9) 79-61 in the other semifinal Tuesday.
“We have been down by 15, 13 points, things like that,” St. Louis head coach Tony Johnson said. “We were able to fight through it.
“I have a special group of kids that love playing together. Our goal once we got into the playoffs this year was we have four games and we are going to play these four games one game at a time. We did that and now we are getting ready to go play for a state championship.”
Trail finished with a double-double (26 points, 12 rebounds) playing 23 of 36 minutes. After scoring eight points in the first three quarters, she scored 18 in the final 12 minutes. Senior Alexandria Goodly and junior Anaiya Turner scored 21 and 22 points, respectively, before fouling out and senior Aaliyah Williams added 12 points and seven rebounds.
“Trail has been doing that all year,” Johnson said. “After about November when she started knowing the system and was confident in what she was doing, she was able to do that. I have all the confidence in the world that Trail can do what we ask her to do coming off the bench or whatever. She is an outstanding freshman ball player and she has a lot of years left in her.”
Trail hit two free throws with 15.8 seconds left and blocked a shot on the other end to send the game into overtime.
But before the magical end, the Saints’ season was on the ropes. With 1:01 left in the third quarter, St. Louis trailed 59-42 after two free throws by Alyssa Fisher. Over the next 6:50, St. Louis outscored University 25-10. Turner scored 13 of those points, including a 3-pointer that gave St. Louis its first lead, 70-69 since the first quarter.
“In the first half I wasn’t even making anything,” Turner said. “But coach always preached to me that if I am not making it, it is going to fall.
“I made good shots at the right time.”
St. Louis started out with a 5-0 lead and Turner’s first three of the game was good for an 8-7 lead, but the Saints struggled after that.
The problem was the Saints had no answer for 6-foot center Kennedy Paul in the first half. Paul wasn’t limited to scoring in the lane either. Kennedy scored 10 of the Cubs’ first 12 points, hitting her second 3 with 5:14 left in the first quarter for a 12-8 lead. Paul scored 19 points in the first half and finished with 36 points and 17 rebounds.
St. Louis freshman Mycaa Trail has her eyes on the basket as she is guarded by University Lab’s Katy White during a Division II semifinal Tuesday in Alexandria. Trail scored nine of her team-high 26 points in overtime.
