BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Caroline Smith’s rebound putback at the buzzer gave the Northside Christian Academy girls basketball team a 14-12 win over Open Bible (Valdosta, Georgia) in an eight-minute playoff quarter at the Southeastern Christian Conference tournament on Feb. 19 in Waycross, Georgia.
It concluded a 17-4 season and gave the Eagles their fifth championship in eight years. Northside won four straight titles from 2015 through 2018 and then had a pair of third-place finishes in 2019 and 2020 before a second-place finish last season.
“Every run has to end sooner or later,” Head Coach Jason Pilcher said, “but Northside is back where they belong — on top.”
Northside won four games on Feb. 17 and Feb. 18 to reach the SECC final. Open Bible defeated the Eagles 44-40, but since that was the Eagles’ first loss in the double-elimination tournament, an eight-minute quarter was played to determine the champion.
The score was knotted up at 12-12 when Smith, a senior, received an inbounds pass with 12 seconds left. She dribbled the length of the court, but missed a layup. She rebounded the miss and put it in the basket before time expired.
“What a way to end your high-school career,” Pilcher said.
Northside began tournament play with a 44-20 win over Faith Baptist (Ludowici, Georgia) on Feb. 17. The Eagles then played two games on Feb. 18, defeating Old Plank (Jacksonville) 48-23 and Open Bible 37-18.
Open Bible played its way out of the losers’ bracket to reach the championship game.
That game proved to be frustrating for the Eagles. Pilcher said officials were calling fouls on his players that weren’t being called on Open Bible’s. Smith and two other starters fouled out, while the other two starters had four fouls on them.
Pilcher said all he could tell his players was to keep playing their best. He was at a loss as to how they could play and not get fouls called on them.
“If we breathed on them, they called a foul,” Pilcher said.
The Eagles led by 10 when Smith fouled out in the third quarter. Open Bible eventually made up ground at the foul line. The Eagles had their struggles when they did get to the line, missing six straight free throws during one stretch.
As Pilcher saw it, the one good thing was when the teams had to play that eight-minute session to determine the champion, his team was basically fresh.
“Most of my starters had plenty of rest,” he said.
Pilcher said Smith, senior Sam Cowart and junior Finley Poyner were his “big three” this year.
Smith put together an incredible season. During the regular season, she averaged 20.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.1 steals, 2.9 blocks and 2.4 assists per game.
Pilcher coached Smith for eight years, thanks to the Southeastern Christian Conference’s decision to allow fifth-graders to play at the middle-school level. Smith’s also been playing travel ball outside of the school season.
“She does a lot of work on her own to make herself better,” Pilcher said, adding, “When she gets out there, she gives it her all.”
Cowart proved to be the Eagles’ outside threat. Pilcher said she made multiple three-pointers during each of the team’s tournament games. The Eagles held a 13-9 halftime lead in one game, but got off to a quick start in the third quarter, thanks to Cowart hitting consecutive three-pointers.
“That was big for us,” Pilcher said.
Cowart was the team’s third-leading scorer in the regular season (prior to the SECC tournament), having scored 67 points. She had the most three-pointers on the team with 12.
Pilcher said Poyner was an impactful player at center. Her contributions didn’t always show in the stats, Pilcher said, adding that if Poyner didn’t grab a rebound, she at least created an opportunity for a teammate to.
“She was a big presence under (the basket) as far as affecting people’s shots, getting rebounds and knocking balls around,” Pilcher said.
Poyner had the second-most rebounds on the team during the regular season with 75 (behind Smith’s (173), averaging 5 per game. She was second on the team in scoring with 77 points (behind Smith’s 305).
Two other players scored more than 50 points during the regular season: junior Karissa Lawrence, who had 66, and sophomore Chylee Kahakua, who had 57.
The rest of the Eagles team consisted of seniors Haley Nugent and Leah Smith, and sophomores Tatiana Coleman, Harli Mosley, Rosalea Norman, Makayla Price and Chloe Templeton.
Pilcher’s wife, April, and daughter Aniston served as assistant coaches.
