Trojans win second consecutive title
NASHVILLE - As the final seconds ticked away at Saturday’s Division 2-A girls state championship game at Allen Arena, a frustrated University School of Jackson yelled “go back to Mississippi!”
The Northpoint Trojans will — and they’ll be taking another gold ball with them.
Led by a Most Valuable Player performance from Ashtyn Baker, the Trojans became the first Memphis-area girls team to win back-to-back state championships, using a 9-0 run in the second quarter to take control before going on to defeat the Bruins, 70-54.
“It’s a cliche’ but you can see it in the way they play,” said head coach Barry Gray. “These girls play for the glory of God. They love the Lord and they love each other.
“At our devotional, we borrowed (the question) from Clemson (football). We asked them, ‘is your backyard big enough for another championship?’”
Their backyard is. But there may need to be an addition to the trophy case.
Northpoint frequently prompts confusing comments — or worse — from opposing fans due to its location. The campus is in Southaven, just a couple of miles over the state line on Getwell. But the Trojans are a full-fledged TSSAA school, keeping the membership it’s had since the school was known as SBEC and located in Shelby County.
Regardless of how you classify them though, one thing is for certain; these Trojans can play.
Baker — who was also the MVP in 2016 — was terrific in her 162nd and final high school game. She scored 25 points (9 of 16 shooting) to go along with 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 steals. She had 19 of those in the first half and keyed the game-deciding run that allowed the Trojans (29-2) to extend their 17-16 first quarter lead to 26-16.
“We opened up the middle for Ashtyn and she was able to take advantage,” said Gray.
Baker was quieter after the break but it hardly mattered. Lindsey Whiteside — who finished with 15 points — hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter and Lauren Gross added another.
“They asked me who I’d choose if we had to take a last shot and I said Lindsey,” said Gray. “We call her ‘Big Shot Lindsey.’ She’s had a knack for doing that since she’s been here.”
Said Whiteside, “We had to (make adjustments) because Ashtyn had gone off for like, 40 points. She couldn’t do it by herself.”
The closest the Bruins (29-4) got in the second half was at 47-42 after a 3 by Ashton Hulme. But Jade Wells responded with a bucket inside and followed with two free throws on the next possession and Northpoint was never really threatened after that. Wells finished with 17 points (13 in the second half) and pulled down a game-high 8 rebounds.
Wells, Whiteside and Gross joined Baker on the all-tournament team.
“We had been in (close) situations before because of our schedule,” said Baker, whose team’s only losses this year were by both by one point to Central, a team which qualified for the AAA state tournament on Saturday.
“We’d come back from being 14 down. We just came together as a team, worked hard, locked down.”
Anna Jones, who will join Baker and Harding’s Antoinette Lewis at Tuesday’s Miss Basketball presentation in Murfreesboro, finished with 17 points before fouling out in the last game of her fine career. Hulme also had 17.
Reach John Varlas at john.varlas@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @johnvarlas