Coosa Valley wins JV state title

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Coosa Valley Academy completed their season Saturday with the same confidence they carried throughout, as they capped a perfect season with an Alabama Independent School Association state championship in girls junior varsity basketball.

The 11-0 Rebels, swept through their competition at the AISA Junior High Invitational, defeating Crenshaw Christian 29-10 and Autauga Academy 20-15 for the Class 1A championship.

&8220;When I received the bracket [on Tuesday], I started doing some research on the teams and discussed with the girls that it was pretty much theirs to lose,&8221; said head coach Amy Archer.

After edging out a 22-20 victory over Meadowview to open the season, the Rebels rolled past their opponents on the season by a margin of at least 10 points per game.

&8220;I think that was our first game jitters,&8221; Archer said. &8220;Once we worked those out, we never got behind again.&8221;

The dominance continued into Saturday&8217;s first game with Crenshaw, as the Rebels took a 20-2 lead into halftime. Freshmen Tyger Paris and Emma Bliss collected 12 and 11 points respectively in the game, before taking a seat after the third quarter. Defensively, the pair combined with Kayla Weatherby and Lauren Archer to collect 12 steals in the game.

In the championship, the Rebels jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead to start. Sara Mobley answered with five points to help Autauga cut the lead to 8-7 at the half.

Paris led the scoring out of the half with five points and finished with seven in the game to accompany her nine rebounds and five steals. The performance helped earn her the honor of tournament MVP. Weatherby collected six points in the game, however her largest role came in collecting four steals through man-to-man coverage of Mobley.

&8220;I left Kayla on her [after switching the defense at halftime], and she didn&8217;t score any points after that,&8221; Archer said.

Bliss joined Paris on the All-Tournament team.

Also making the tournament, was the Shelby Academy boys junior varsity team, who finished runner-up to Prattvile Christian, 45-35, after defeating Warrior Academy in the semi-finals.

Colton Wingard and Chad King scored 13 points and 10 points respectively in the championship and received All-Tournament honors.