1 of 8
Photo by Erin Nelson Starnes Media
AHSAA State Semifinal girls 7A
Spain Park’s Katie Flannery (22) shoots a 3-pointer in the second half of an AHSAA Class 7A state semifinal game between Spain Park and McGill-Toolen on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center. The Jags defeated McGill-Toolen 48-35 to advance to the Class 7A state championship Sat. Feb. 29, against Hoover. Photo by Erin Nelson
2 of 8
Sarah Finnegan
Avery Masdon (14) drives the ball down court during a Class 7A Northwest Regional final game between Spain Park and Vestavia Hills on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020, at Tom Drake Coliseum in Hanceville.
3 of 8
Photo by Ingrid Schnader
Oak Mtn Girls
Oak Mountain's Riley Sullivan (24) dribbles the ball during a Class 7A Northeast Regional semifinal game between Oak Mountain and Gadsden City on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, at Pete Mathews Coliseum in Jacksonville.
4 of 8
Photo by Erin Nelson Starnes Media
Oak Mountain’s Julia Tucker (22) dribbles the ball as she’s guarded by Homewood’s Kate Gann (30) in a game against Homewood on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019, at Oak Mountain High School. The Eagles fell to the Patriots 67-66. Photo by Erin Nelson
5 of 8
Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia at Chelsea Girls Bkt
Chelsea’s Ellen Fleming (32) drives the ball toward the goal, guarded by Vestavia Hills’ Ally Smith (10), in a game between Chelsea and Vestavia held at Chelsea High School on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. Photo by Erin Nelson.
6 of 8
Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia at Chelsea Girls Bkt
Chelsea’s Mackenzie Titus (44) shoots a free throw in a game between Chelsea and Vestavia held at Chelsea High School on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. Photo by Erin Nelson.
7 of 8
Photo by Erin Nelson Starnes Media
Briarwood girls at John Carroll Catholic bkt
Briarwood’s Anna Martin (20) moves to steal the ball from John Carroll’s Emma Bauer (10) in a game between Briarwood and John Carroll Catholic on Friday, Jan. 10, 2020, at John Carroll Catholic High School. Briarwood defeated John Carroll 40-37 in overtime. Photo by Erin Nelson
8 of 8
Photo by Erin Nelson Starnes Media
Briarwood girls at John Carroll Catholic bkt
Briarwood’s Caroline Mays (5) shoots a layup guarded by John Carroll’s Claire Boone (14) in a game between Briarwood and John Carroll Catholic on Friday, Jan. 10, 2020, at John Carroll Catholic High School. Briarwood defeated John Carroll 40-37 in overtime. Photo by Erin Nelson
The Spain Park High School girls basketball team is by no means starting over.
The Lady Jaguars won the Class 7A state championship last winter for the second time in three years behind the consistent dominance of Sarah Ashlee Barker. With Barker now at the University of Georgia, most programs would expect a down year.
But Spain Park returns all of its other starters, and the Lady Jags have their sights set on another successful season.
“Obviously, it will be less dominant on one player,” Spain Park head coach Mike Chase said. “All the load of everything is spread between more players. We’re going to be deeper this year. We can be a little more diverse in some of the things that we do.”
If there is one thing Barker passed down to her successors at Spain Park, Chase said it’s the leadership that she learned from the ones before her.
“She learned that from her teammates and she’s passed that on to those guys,” he said. “We’re not going to have a dominant leader, but we’re going to be leader by committee and we’ve got a bunch of [players] that are going to step up and take that challenge.”
Things certainly won’t be made easier without one of the top players in the state, but this year’s team will resemble more closely the ones Chase has spent much of his career coaching at Clay-Chalkville and Spain Park.
“If I had to coach outside my box, it was last year, having a player that was dominant in virtually every aspect,” he said. “In the past, we didn’t have a leading scorer, we just had kids who could all score.”
There will still be several familiar faces on the floor this winter for the Lady Jags. Senior Avery Masdon will be one of the team’s go-to forces, along with junior returning guards Mackenzie Culpepper and Camille Chase. All three will be able to share the ball-handling duties, something Chase is not worried about.
“They’re natural point guards, they just played a different position,” Chase said of their roles in previous seasons.
Alanah Pooler, Katie Flannery and Haley Russell return as well, giving the Lady Jags plenty of experience from the forward position as well.
The Lady Jags also added to the mix Jordy Griggs, a 6-foot-2 sophomore from California who has already garnered national attention. She can do it all, according to Chase. She is a “phenomenal athlete, long, can jump and can run.” Chase expects there to be a learning curve for Griggs but believes she will continuously improve throughout the season.
Jaycee Haynes, Kerri Barnes, Alex Baskin, Stephanie Tooson and Paxton Gillispie round out the Spain Park roster.
While the Lady Jags have high hopes for the 2020-21 season, Class 7A, Area 6 will do them no favors. Spain Park is the defending state champion, Vestavia Hills and Hewitt-Trussville are programs on the rise and now Gadsden City enters the fold, bringing in a program that won its area last year as well.
“Three good teams are already coming back in our area and you bring in an area champ,” Chase said. “Nobody’s going to go 6-0….When we get to January, we’ve got to be clicking.”
Lady Eagles hoping to repeat last year’s success
Much will look different about the Oak Mountain High School girls basketball team this season. The Lady Eagles’ personnel will be dramatically different, forcing a different playing style to be employed.
Instead of being older and experienced as it has been over the last couple years, this team will skew toward the younger and inexperienced side.
But there is one trait head coach Beth Parmer remains exactly the same from one year to the next.
“They were determined,” she said of last year’s squad. “When it came area [tournament] time, they knew what they had to do. The determination of that group, they were not going to be defeated and do everything they could to get there.”
Last season’s Lady Eagles squad broke through and advanced to the Class 7A Northeast Regional for the first time in many years, putting together just a 10-18 record overall but winning the games that mattered most.
“We all came together and we had one goal in mind and didn’t stop until we reached it,” senior guard Riley Sullivan said.
Julia Tucker and Anna Fleming are the other two seniors for this year’s Oak Mountain squad. Together, the three of them will be tasked with leading the Lady Eagles through this season, as a new-look team hopes to achieve the same final result.
“We’re going to have to take more responsibility to get things done,” Tucker said.
On the court, the Lady Eagles will no longer have the advantages that post presences Hannah Edwards and Taniyah Smith provided over the previous few years.
“We are going to look dramatically different than we have in years past,” Parmer said. “When you have that kind of a change, you have to kind of go back to the drawing board and see what you can do with the personnel that you have.”
But Parmer is choosing to look at this as an opportunity to employ some new strategies that would not have worked as well with previous teams.
“We’re going to be able to do some things that we haven’t been able to do in the past and do them much better,” she said. “I’m looking forward to that.”
Parmer has also really liked what she has seen from some of the younger players and believes they will be able to step into bigger roles this year. Junior Abby Gordon was a starter last year, while junior Charity Shaw and freshman Raegan Whitaker have impressed.
Janya Piedra, Lauren Schuessler, Tamia Threatt, Gabriella Plaia and Vica Hood are also on the squad this season.
Oak Mountain competes in Class 7A, Area 5 with Hoover, Thompson and Tuscaloosa County. It will be no easy task for the Lady Eagles to advance out of the area for a second straight year, but Parmer is hopeful.
“If we can make it back [to regionals] this year, which we have a legitimate shot to do, being there last year will help us.”
Confidence remains high for Lady Hornets
It is a double-edged sword to have enjoyed the contributions of last year’s senior class for as long as the Chelsea High School girls basketball program did. While all five of them were key pieces to Chelsea’s success the last couple years, now the Lady Hornets must find a way to live without them.
But head coach Jason Harlow sees the other side of it as well. Now entering his third year leading the program, he believes that senior class laid a strong enough foundation for the future teams to withstand the losses of that core group.
“Even though we graduated five really good seniors that did a tremendous amount for our program, we do have some really good players coming in,” he said.
Part of that foundation is how the Lady Hornets conduct themselves on the practice court. Harlow said he never has to coach effort with his team and that encourages him greatly.
“We practice how we want to play, give all the effort we can,” said senior Ellen Fleming. “We don’t take drills off, everyone works hard and we’ve got a lot of good girls with great mentalities.”
Fleming is one of four seniors for Chelsea this season, along with Mackenzie Titus, Halle Eidson and Mary Henley Carney. Titus is a post player for the Lady Hornets and recently signed to play soccer at Mississippi State. She is looking forward to being one of the leaders of this year’s team.
“It didn’t hit until official practices,” she said. “We were all waiting to see if we were going to even have a season [due to COVID-19]. When things got serious, me and Ellen decided to step up in practice.”
The Lady Hornets are looking to push the pace a little more than in years past, much of that beginning with junior point guard Sydney Schwallie, who has continued to elevate her game after two strong seasons with the varsity team. Nia Cummings, Ashley Washington and Mary Cartee are also juniors, with Cartee transferring in from Hewitt-Trussville.
Sophia Brown and Lexi Redd are sophomores expected to contribute right away, with Brown already having a full year of varsity ball under her belt last season.
“I couldn’t take her off the floor because of what she does on the defensive end and from a rebounding standpoint,” Harlow said.
Nora Breedlove, Hardy Erwin and Madison Moore will also provide the Lady Hornets minutes.
Chelsea will play in Class 6A, Area 9 with Briarwood, Homewood and Mountain Brook. If the Lady Hornets are to build off of last year’s school-record 26 wins and second straight area title, they will have to be at their best.
“We understand we’re in a different area with teams with a ton of basketball tradition,” Harlow said. “We have our hands full but we are going to play hard, have maximum effort and we feel good about where the chips are going to fall.”
Loaded with experience, Lady Lions eager for season
This is the season the Briarwood Christian School girls basketball team has been anticipating. The Lady Lions are coming off two consecutive playoff appearances, have a roster loaded with experience and have some younger players expected to contribute right away as well.
Caroline Mays, Bennett Shaw, Anna Martin, Emily Scott, Mary Stewart Bowen, Abby Johnson, Maggie Flemming, Maddie Vaughn and Vaeda Burkhead will all suit up for their final season as Lady Lions and make major contributions.
But they are not the only players on the roster. Kate Saunders and Claire Lehane are juniors who have a big part in Briarwood’s success, along with freshman sensation Mary Beth Dicen.
“I have 100% confidence in every girl on our team,” head coach Lorie Kerley said. “I don’t feel like we have any weak links, so we have depth. I’m really excited about that.”
Out of the seniors, May has been a key contributor in years past and will be once again. Martin’s defense is her calling card and is the player the Lady Lions count on to cover the opposition’s best perimeter player. One of the most exciting developments for Kerley is how Briarwood will now get to use Vaughn, who has served as the team’s primary point guard the last couple years.
With Dicen stepping in to play the point, Vaughn has shifted off the ball and has found much more freedom to operate in a scoring role.
“Being able to full-time move Maddie off the point has been a game changer for us,” Kerley said. “She’s getting so many more looks at the basket because she’s not worried about getting the ball up the floor.”
Saunders will be a starting post player for Briarwood for the third year and has worked hard to improve her finishing ability around the rim, according to her coach. Lehane will also get plenty of minutes as the backup point guard.
Dicen’s ability, despite being a ninth-grader, will allow the Lady Lions to push the envelope on the offensive end.
“Mary Beth loves to push the ball up the floor,” Kerley said. “She’s super quick and she gets it up the floor so fast. I’m hoping this year we’ll really be able to play at a faster space. Our personnel has just fallen into place this year for us to play fast.”
Briarwood will be in Class 6A, Area 9 with Chelsea, Homewood and Mountain Brook. Chelsea and Homewood advanced to the regional tournament last year and Mountain Brook has a new coach and transitioned down from 7A. But Kerley likes her team and believes the area will be a fun one to watch.
“It’s a challenge,” she said. “I really think the girls believe that we can compete in this area. I know as coaches we feel like we can.”
