The Phil Campbell High School varsity basketball teams celebrated Senior Night in winning fashion on Thursday, both squads knocking off county rival Belgreen at home. The Lady Bobcats stunned Class 2A’s No. 5 team and avenged last week’s Franklin County Tournament loss by coming from behind to beat the Lady Bulldogs 38-35, while the Phil Campbell boys’ team held off Belgreen 42-30.
No doubt the highlight of the evening—at least from the neutral’s perspective—was the Lady Bobcats’ double-digit second-half comeback.
Phil Campbell, giving away more points than they found, fell into a hole in the early stages and couldn’t find a path out before halftime as they trailed 25-9 at the break. The final 16 minutes, however, were a different story—a very different story. The Lady Bobcats came out of the intermission and, in less than 12 minutes, erased the 16 point deficit, took the lead, and then held on to it for dear life.
“We were two different teams,” Phil Campbell head coach Craig Thomas told the Franklin Free Press. “We came out in the first half, we were not disciplined, turned the ball over. We had more turnovers than we did points. Second half we came out and it was right the opposite. We didn’t turn the ball over hardly any, executed the offense the way it’s supposed to be run. Things worked out.”
In the third quarter the hosts outscored Belgreen 16-4 to shrink the deficit to four points, 29-25. Then, just a couple minutes into the fourth, two Phil Campbell steals put the Lady Bobcats in the driver’s seat. A steal and a fast-break layup pulled PCHS within one point with 5:31 to play; then on the ensuing Belgreen possession the Lady Bobcats forced another takeaway to set up Leela Baker, Phil Campbell’s top scorer with 12 points, who sank a three-pointer to give the hosts their first lead of the game, 33-31, with 5:05 remaining.
“We just talked about turnovers real hard (at halftime),” Thomas said. “Turnovers and points off turnovers was what the difference was in the game.
“We’re a good defensive team, we just struggle sometimes on the offensive end,” he added. “Getting (Belgreen) to turn it over instead of us was very important. It switched the ballgame around.”
But the Lady Bobcats didn’t quite get to run away with it. With 1:29 to play, Belgreen senior Dacota Green hit two free-throws to tie the game back up at 33, so Phil Campbell needed to make a few more shots to seal the comeback.
Senior Kaylie Motes sank a go-ahead lay-up and senior Siddalee Rogers hit a free throw to make it 36-33, PCHS, with just over 30 seconds left. Green forced another shooting foul and was sent to the line where she promptly pulled the Lady Bobcats back within one, but with just 16 seconds left Belgreen was forced to foul. With just 11 seconds on the clock, senior Macy Hardy made both her free throws to essentially ice the game as Belgreen’s last ditch effort to tie fell shy.
It wasn’t pretty, Thomas said after the game, but it was a win—and a win on senior night, which made it that much sweeter for the Lady Bulldogs’ four seniors: Mia Ambrosio, Kaylie Motes, Macy Hardy, and Siddalee Rogers.
“I told them they’ll remember this for the rest of their lives. Down (16) at half, come back and win on senior night; they’ll remember it for the rest of their lives,” he said.
“These seniors are great. This is the most seniors I’ve graduated in six or seven years. Most of them have been in the program for five years, so that’s pretty good for them to be able to stick around that long and put up with me,” Thomas added with a laugh. “But they’re a dedicated bunch, these seniors. Very dedicated.”
The Phil Campbell boys’ team capped the evening with a 12-point win over the Bulldogs, though it didn’t have near the fireworks of the girls’ game.
After a tight opening period, which ended with Phil Campbell up by one point, the Bobcats outscored Belgreen 12-2 in the second quarter to take a 20-9 advantage into the break. In the second half, Phil Campbell, despite a few offensive spurts by the visitors, were able to keep the Bulldogs on a leash and come away with the low-scoring 42-30 victory.
“It was about as ugly as you can get,” Phil Campbell head coach Shannon Benford said. “Both teams stayed in foul trouble the whole time—our star (player), their star. So it was ugly. It was tough to score tonight. Both teams played well defensively.”
Benford said his main takeaway from the game was his team is going to have to focus more on offensive production, especially with some very important games coming up.
“We’re just not scoring, not making shots, you know? Which is typical of us lately,” he said. “Defensively we’re playing well and holding opponents down, but we’re gonna have to get our scoring up for the area tournament that starts very soon.
“Getting into the gym to shoot—that’s gonna be our main thing,” he added.
Phil Campbell’s two seniors Hayden Wingo and Logan Wright, who were honored pregame, were the Bobcats’ two top-scorers on the night, dropping 17 and 10 points, respectively. Benford said he was proud of the way Wingo and Wright have helped lead the team in their final season, his first as the head coach.
“Hayden Wingo…works hard at everything he does, and Logan Wright’s the same way,” Benford said. “They’re there every time at practice and good leaders for the team. Good guys to look up to.”
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