By Robert Wilson
Clutch. Confident. Ice water in their veins. Lives for the big moment.
All those are characteristics of basketball players who deliver big shots to win games.
Parklane Academy senior guard and East Texas Baptist signee Zoe Alford fits that description and showed it again Thursday night in the MAIS Class 4A South semifinals at Copiah Academy.
Alford scored a game-high 18 points, 12 in the last 10 minutes, five in the last two and a half minutes, to lead the defending MAIS Overall Tournament champion Parklane to a 47-36 victory over Jackson Prep.
Parklane – ranked No. 27 in Mississippi and No. 5 in Class 4A – improved to 22-6 and meets Simpson Academy, which rallied from 24 points down to defeat Madison-Ridgeland Academy 48-46 in other semifinal, Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Both Parklane and Simpson will play in the Division I state tournament next week at Prep. Also, Thursday’s wins puts Parklane and Simpson into the Overall Tournament in two weeks. All four Division I teams advance to Overall.
Prep – ranked No. 30 in Mississippi and No. 6 in Class 4A – dropped to and.meets MRA in the third place game Saturday at 12:15 p.m. Prep and MRA will play in the Division II tournament next week. The teams which make the Division II championship game next week will advance to the Overall.
Prep led most of the first half, ahead 10-6 after one quarter and 22-20 at halftime, and led 28-23 late in the third quarter before Alford got hot. She made a 3-pointer to cut the Prep lead to 28-26 with two minutes to play in the third quarter, then banked in a 17-footer from the left side at the buzzer for a 30-30 tie heading into the fourth quarter.
Parklane’s 5-foot-11 sophomore guard forward Carlyle Carruth – the niece of former Parklane, Alabama and NFL running back Paul Ott Carruth – connected on a 3-pointer, senior forward and Southern Miss softball signee Anna Sawyer made a rebound bucket and Alford hit a 15-foot baseline jumper to give Parklane a 37-32 lead with five minutes to play.
The 5-7 Alford made a 5-footer, a layup and a free throw in the final 2:50 to push Parklane ahead even more.
Prep had seen this before. Alford scored 25 points (8 of 14 from the field and 6 of 10 from 3-point range) to lead Parklane to a 58-54 win over Prep in the Overall semifinals last season. Then she scored 11 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter in a comeback victory over MRA in the championship game.
“Zoe had an outstanding game,” said Parklane coach Vicki Rutland, who played basketball at Forest Hill High and played softball and was a cheerleader at Delta State and has coached basketball, softball and has been an athletic director at Lumberton, West Marion, Northeast Jones, and Lawrence County before coming to Parklane five years ago. “We nicknamed her ‘clutch’ in the locker room after the game because she really came through for her team when we needed it tonight. Her composure and leadership kept everyone else calm down the stretch.”
“Our shots weren’t falling that much last night, but we hustled for every ball and we just wanted it more,” Alford said. “Our team always comes together in the moments that matter and we have always had each other’s backs. Prep is a very good team and is coached very well. We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough game and we were going to have to fight. Our coaches had a thought out game plan coming into the game and we knew what we needed to do to win. I am super proud of my teammates and the way they always keep their heads up no matter how the game is going. I am excited to be in this position and I know whatever happens we will play as hard as we can.”
“What a hard fought and exciting game,” Rutland said. “Prep is a well coached opponent who plays tough, fundamental defense, can shoot the three ball and came to play tonight. Both teams understood the importance of the game – win and you punch your ticket to Overall. I’m proud of our girls for the way they fought for that opportunity. I was particularly pleased that we got contributions on offense from all of our starters and that we shared the ball well. I felt (sophomore guard) Lay Jackson led the charge on the defensive end. She was phenomenal at putting pressure on the ball and helped Carlyle out with a tough assignment guarding (Prep’s talented 6-3 senior forward and Southern Miss signee) Meg Barbour. Everyone worked together to communicate anytime we had a change in the game plan, and I credit the girls with having a high enough basketball IQ to make those adjustments without skipping a beat. Prep came out well prepared, as always, and our ability to stay calm and adapt quickly helped us get back into the game. One thing about our girls, we never quit. Now we are excited and proud to be playing for a third straight South State championship.”
In addition to Alford’s 18 points and three steals, Carruth had 11 points and eight rebounds, Sawyer had eight points and 11 rebounds, junior Lexi Lott had 6 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals and Jackson had four points and four steals.
“The team knew it wasn’t going to be easy last night,” Carruth said. “In fact, anytime you play Prep it is going to be a hard fought and physical game. My teammates knew that I had a tough assignment guarding Meg and they backed me up as much as they possibly could. We stuck to the game plan and executed with discipline. The team worked the ball well and hustled for every 50/50 ball. We knew if we wanted to win, we had to play together and play our style of fast paced basketball. I am very proud of the way we hustled and played together.”
Prep had a great game earlier this season against Parklane at Prep. After scoring a combined 53 points in losses to East Rankin Academy and Leake Academy and playing in its fourth game with four new starters, Prep caught fire against Parklane and made 10 3-pointers, including five in the first quarter, for a 58-54 victory.
But Prep couldn’t capture the same magic as in November.
“I thought our kids played hard and competed throughout,” said Prep coach Michael McAnally, who has own McAnally, who has won 683 games (470 girls and 213 boys) in his 25th season, 12th at Prep. “Give Parklane credit. It was tied with eight minutes to play and they made shots and got stops that we weren’t able to. It wasn’t our night, but we are glad there is more basketball for us next week.”
Barbour – a member of the Tatum and Wade/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team – led Prep with 16 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots. Junior guard Maggie Bailey had 8 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists.
