Despite 28 points from Chauncey Dixon, McIntosh girls fall to Brilliant effort by O’Mary

 

 

 

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

BIRMINGHAM — Brooke O’Mary was the smallest player on the floor but made the biggest shot of the game.

The 4-foot-11 O’Mary chased down a missed three-pointer in overtime and laid it in to give Brilliant the lead with 37 seconds remaining and the Tigers went on to defeat No. 9-ranked McIntosh 54-51 in the Class 1A girls state tournament semifinals Monday morning at Legacy Arena.

“I was really nervous,” O’Mary said. “I knew we’ve got to get the ball back and we’ve got to stay up. So, I tried my hardest to get back and get the ball.”

O’Mary’s hustling play and performance made the difference as the Demons’ 6-3 star center Chauncey Dixon finished her high school career with a superlative line of 28 points — despite incessant double teaming — 10 rebounds, 7 steals, 5 blocks and 4 assists.

O’Mary isn’t even as tall as a floor lamp or a mop but she lit the way for Brilliant with a gut-spilling effort and cleaned up a pile of messes for the Tigers (23-10), who led for only 5½ minutes. Her steals, offensive rebounds and assists were directly responsible for 17 points.

“(O’Mary) is on the floor the whole game,” said Brilliant coach Ryan Sanderson, who was being literal in more ways than one. She never came out of the game and constantly dove to the court after loose balls or was knocked to the wood. At one point, a teammate had to scrape her limp body off the court, only to be revived once play resumed.

“She puts everything into it,” Sanderson said. “I wish everybody could just watch Brooke play basketball. It’s just the heart. She leaves it all on the floor. She is a big piece to this team.”

O’Mary produced a catalogue of highlight plays, including drawing a charge from McIntosh’s Marley Dixon to preserve a tie game with 1:01 left in regulation.

“It kind of hurt,” said O’Mary, who finished with 11 points, 6 steals, 3 assists and 4 rebounds. “She’s coming at me, so I might as well take it because I’m smaller than everybody.”

She played much larger, as O’Mary’s numbers don’t count all the times she dropped down into the low post to try and deny Chauncey Dixon the ball, then jumped back out front to keep pressure on McIntosh’s guards.

While the game was played according to the expected script — the Demons dominating down low with Dixon and the Tigers making three-pointers — the teams flipped the script in the final moments.

Brilliant’s last three baskets came inside while McIntosh’s Zoie Miller was forced into a missed 3-pointer with a second remaining. Demons coach Shaynae Barnes-Dixon said she had hoped to get the ball to Alisa Johnson, who came off the bench to make a jump shot from the right corner to tie it 41-41 with 33 seconds remaining and send the game to overtime.

Dixon scored on four straight inside baskets in overtime but was countered by 9 points from the Tigers’ Hadlee Sanderson, who overcame early foul trouble to finish with 17 points.

“McIntosh is a great team,” coach Sanderson said. “I’m just really proud of my girls for coming out and competing for four quarters. We faced some adversity early in that ballgame. Hadlee Sanderson had three fouls very early, so we had to make some adjustments and play without her pretty much the whole first half. But I’ll tell you this, our team, when she went out, played their tails off. … We had no true center in for that whole first half. And McIntosh has (Dixon), who is a great player and she was a problem for us.  We tried our best trying to get under her all night long.”

With Dixon making 14 of 20 shots and collecting 10 rebounds (six on the offensive glass), the Demons outscored Brilliant 42-18 in the paint and also pushed the Tigers’ offense out high away from the basket. But Brilliant made 8 of 24 threes and 10 of 12 free throws while McIntosh made just 2 of 15 foul shots and 1 of 14 threes.

“I couldn’t ask for a better, hard-working group of girls,” said Barnes-Dixon, whose team finished 24-10 in pursuit of the school’s fourth state championship and its first since 2012. “They really had heart, they were really committed and really dedicated. I didn’t have to make them practice. They were calling me and they wanted to practice. They worked really hard to get here.”

It was a difficult loss to take for Dixon, who fought back tears as she recalled her recovery from a torn ACL in last year’s regional finals.

“I was in the gym 24-8 working on my game,” she said, and that dedication is what her teammates and mother will remember. In two regional wins and the state semifinals, Dixon averaged 25.3 points, 13.6 rebounds and shot at 68% (32 of 47).

“Chauncey made me proud,” Barnes-Dixon said. “I’m proud to be her coach. I’m proud to be her mom. You know, we didn’t get the ring but like I told her, she’s my ring. She’s my treasure.”

 

MCINTOSH (51)

Miller 2-10, 1-6, 5, C. Dixon 14-20, 0-5, 28, M. Dixon 4-11, 1-2, 10, Brown 4-11, 0-2, 2, Radcliff 1-2, 0-0, 2, Barnes 0-1, 0-0, 0, Johnson 2-4, 0-0, 4. TOTALS 24-58 FG, 2-15 FT, 51.

BRILLIANT (54)

O’Mary 3-6, 4-6, 11, Sanderson 5-17, 6-6, 17, Stanford 2-3, 0-0, 4, Moore 5-9, 0-0, 14, Johnson 3-9, 0-0, 8, Moye 0-4, 0-0, 0. TOTALS 18-48 FG, 10-12 FT, 54.

3-POINTERS

McIntosh: Miller 0-3, M. Dixon 1-7, Brown 0-3. TOTALS 1-14.

Brilliant: O’Mary 1-3, Sanderson 1-4, Moore 4-6, Johnson 2-7, Moye 0-4. TOTALS 8-24.

REBOUNDS

McIntosh: Brown 11, C. Dixon 10. TOTALS: 21 (offensive), 18 (defensive), 39.

Brilliant: Johnson 8, Stanford 6, Sanderson 5. TOTALS: 13 (offensive), 20 (defensive), 33.

POINTS

In paint: McIntosh 42-18.

Off turnovers: McIntosh 20-15.

Second chance: Brilliant 15-13.

Fast break: McIntosh 14-7.

 

McIntosh  14   7    8  12  10 — 51

Brilliant    11   6  12  12  13 — 54