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Briarwood’s playoff run ended in the Elite Eight as Marbury pulled away down the stretch to reach the Final Four. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – The Briarwood Christian Lions saw their playoff run come to an end on Tuesday, Feb. 18 as they fell to the Marbury Bulldogs 49-42 in the Central Regional Finals at Alabama State’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome.

The game opened up slow from the field as a Marbury field goal was the lone basket from the field for both teams in the first five minutes. During that stretch, the Bulldogs took a 6-1 lead from the free throw line before Sasha Munikar made a 3-pointer with 1:37 left in the first.

That kicked off a more fast-paced scoring stretch as Marbury responded to a pair of Briarwood baskets and took an 11-6 lead into the second quarter after hitting their first 3-pointer of the game.

Grace Garrett trimmed the deficit to two with a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the second, but the Bulldogs continued to succeed from the field and scored five straight points to take a 16-9 lead and force a Lions timeout with 5:51 left in the half.

Briarwood rallied out of the timeout and scored 11 straight points to electrify their traveling fans. Claire Anderson tied the game up with a big 3-pointer before Garrett scored a transition layup to take the lead and Clara Crawford made a turnaround jumper to put her team up 20-16 with 1:49 left in the second.

The teams then traded free throws during the final minutes to leave Briarwood up 23-18 at halftime.

Crucially though, Emma Kerley and a Marbury player each got called for technical fouls with 47.8 seconds left before the Bulldogs’ Justice Blackmon got her own tech call with 0.1 seconds left.

After making just two 3-pointers in the first half, Marbury erupted from behind the arc to start the third quarter. Blackmon made four 3-pointers by herself in the third, including three straight to open the half and take a 27-23 lead, forcing a Lions timeout with 2:59 left in the third.

A Sarah Travis basket was the lone offense from the field for Briarwood in the third as Marbury took a 32-26 lead into the fourth quarter.

The pressure built in the opening two minutes of the quarter before Kerley hit a big 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 32-29 with 6:10 left. However, after taking the brunt of physical plays throughout the game, she tried to get a Marbury defender out of her face. The referees gave her a second technical foul and ejected her.

That proved to be a momentum-changing call as the Bulldogs took a seven-point lead less than a minute later. Marbury went on a 12-2 run to take a 44-31 lead into the final three minutes of the game.

Baker tried to will the team on to a comeback with seven points in a span of 1:03, including two 3-pointers. However, another Bulldogs 3-pointer and a pair of free throws off Crawford’s fifth foul of the game deepened the hole to 48-39.

Munikar made one last stand with a 3-pointer with 35.8 seconds left, but it was too little, too last as Marbury advanced to the Final Four with a seven-point win.

Baker led the Lions with 17 points, four assists and three rebounds. Kerley and Garrett each had six points while Kerley added six rebounds and Garrett earned three rebounds. Crawford finished with five points and six rebounds in the post.

Briarwood’s run ends with a 21-12 record, but the Lions have multiple positives to take from the season, including a run to the Elite Eight after falling short in the area title game to Shelby County.

With no seniors graduating this year, coach Lorie Kerley’s team will also return its entire roster next season as they search to finish the job and reach their first Final Four since 1998.

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