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The Shelby County Wildcats defeated the Elmore County Panthers on Friday, Feb. 7, clinching a spot in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2020. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – With an area championship and an opportunity to make history, the Shelby County Wildcats put together a complete performance on both sides of the ball to do exactly that and earn a win in the sub-regionals.

Shelby County, led by head coach Ashley Phillips, defeated the Elmore County Panthers 48-30 on Friday, Feb. 7 at Shelby County High School, punching its ticket into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2020.

Phillips noted how historical the win is, voicing his pleasure in regards to this accomplishment. 

“It’s awesome,” Phillips said. “It’s been five years since we’ve been to the playoffs, and for this team to go to the Sweet 16 is huge. We’re awfully young.”

Kenna’d Buie and Morgan Arnold completely took control of this game, and that started from the tip. Just under a minute into the game, Arnold recorded a steal and took the ball on a fastbreak to the basket, fighting through contact to get to the line for a three-point play opportunity. While she missed the free throw, Buie grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back in to make it 4-0 early.

Soon after that sequence, Buie recorded a steal of her own in the backcourt, taking it back for a layup, before giving way to Sanyia Floyd on the next Wildcats possession, who hit a floater in the paint. Just like that, Shelby County was up 8-0 within the first minute of play.

Elmore County hit two free throws to break its scoring drought, but Buie responded to that quickly with another inside bucket, before Floyd recorded another two points off of a Panthers turnover. The Wildcats ended the first quarter with a 12-4 advantage, and it only got better.

Arnold began the second period by getting to the free throw line and converting on one of two shots. On the miss, Buie recorded another offensive rebound and got fouled, sending her to the line to also convert on one of her two shots.

Buie later continued her stout performance by taking the ball in transition all the way down the court by herself, laying it in for two points. About a minute later, Buie did the exact same thing, but added some magic to it on this run with a crossover before laying it in to make it 18-6.

Floyd later ended the half with a fastbreak two-pointer of her own to send Shelby County to the break on a positive note. To add to it, the Wildcats defense still had yet to surrender a field goal, with all six of Elmore County’s points coming off of free throws. Shelby County had a comfortable 21-6 lead.

The Wildcats kept their hot streak going coming out of halftime. Buie continued to crash towards the glass, recording an offensive rebound and putting in a shot through contact and converting the and-one.

Arnold then got back into the action with a floater along the baseline on the next Shelby County possession, before then recording a steal and layup on the ensuing possession. 

On the other side, the Panthers finally recorded their first field goal in the game with a shot from Robbie Grace Bolton inside the paint. This provided a spark for Elmore County for much of the third quarter as it went on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 15. 

Arnold wanted to silence the run, and her determination led her to hitting a mid-range shot while getting fouled in the process. She hit her and-one shot at the charity stripe to extend the lead back out to 18. Floyd later ended the third period with the game’s first 3-pointer, helping the Wildcats take a 35-16 lead into the fourth quarter.

The goal was just to get to the end safely, and while there was still plenty of offense to go around, Shelby County did exactly that. Arnold began the quarter with two free throws out of her four points in the quarter, while Buie put up nine more points of her own.

The Panthers showed some more sparks of offensive production with Addi Stephenson showing off her skills, recording a five-point run on her own. However, it was not nearly enough to become a threat in this game, as the Wildcats secured a 48-30 victory.

Phillips was proud of the way Buie played tonight despite the adversity that came when she got into foul trouble.

“She’s our go-to player for sure,” Phillips said. “When she got in foul trouble, we were stagnant a little. We got her back in and we ended up getting some buckets then to stretch the lead a little bit.”

Buie led all scorers on the night, as the Class 5A, Area 8 tournament most valuable player recorded 22 points. Arnold also knocked down 17 points in her performance, becoming a strong force in the second half of this contest. Floyd contributed as well, putting up eight.

With the win. Shelby County heads to Montgomery to play at Alabama State University against the Marbury Bulldogs, who are the champions of Area 6. That game will be played on Thursday, Feb. 13, with a tipoff time still to be announced.

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