Davidson coach Charlie Shipp encourages his players Friday during the Warriors’ 56-47 loss to Daphne Friday in the Class 7A South Regional semifinals at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery. Shipp said afterward is he is retiring after winning 600 career games in 24 seasons. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
Davidson’s Jadyn Sharp puts up a shot in close during Friday’s Class 7A South Regional semifinal against Daphne at Garrett Coliseum inn Montgomery. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
MONTGOMERY — Davidson’s girls lost a nine-point lead and the game to Daphne on Friday but lost far more than that.
Following his team’s 56-47 overtime defeat to the No. 6-ranked Trojans in the Class 7A South Regional semifinals at Garrett Coliseum, Warriors coach Charlie Shipp said he is retiring after piling up 610 victories in 24 seasons.
After falling short of getting past the regionals and back to the state tournament for the ninth time in the last 10 tries, Shipp said he would not return for his silver-anniversary season.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
After addressing his saddened players for the final time, Shipp said he has only to file the paperwork and then go on a cruise.
Shipp, who went to five state final fours and left without a Blue Map, will leave some massive shoes to fill.
“Size 12,” he joked.
That’s Shipp’s final game came in the regionals — a venue he once dominated — was not lost on the 61-year-old coach. Shipp was at one time 11-3 in the regionals before losing eight of the next nine and this time didn’t even get the chance to make the finals, where he was 1-8 in his final nine appearances.
“We used to be really good (at regionals),” he said. “It’s changed a little bit. This has been our story like the last three years. In the past, we didn’t show up to play at the regionals. We showed up to play today but it just wasn’t good enough.”
They were much better than in December, when they lost to Daphne 58-33.
Center Jadyn Sharp scored 20 points and helped Davidson (20-9) build a solid lead before fouling out in overtime. The Warriors were also severely crimped by making just 10 of 25 free throws, turning the ball over 22 times and getting outscored 12-2 off second-chance points and 19-1 off the bench.
“It slipped away,” Shipp said. “We just missed free throws.”
Meanwhile, Abby Johnson, who made 8 of 11 free throws and scored 20 points, tiny point guard Fredayshia Goodwin (12 points) and Victoria Moten (10 points) led the Trojans (21-8) from behind.
“Sometimes we have those slow starts but we’re such a young group,” Daphne coach Kemyatta Perry said. “My girls have heart and they’ve been battle tested before throughout the season. We’ve had extremely hard schedules trying to prepare for these type of moments. It’s hard to win regional games and to be able to do that with a roster of juniors and some seniors and freshmen, I’m happy.”
Moten’s 3-pointer with 1:37 left in regulation gave the Trojans their first lead since early in the first period at 43-41. Johnson followed by making the first of two foul shots to tie it 44-44 and after Shipp took a timeout with 32.6 seconds left, Sharp got clogged up on a baseline drive to send the game to overtime.
Goodwin, the 5-foot point guard, gave Daphne the lead for good at 47-46 with a three-pointer from the right wing.
Shortly thereafter, Davidson tried to force the ball to Sharp, who fouled out going for the ball. At that juncture, she had 20 points and the remainder of the Warriors had 19 points combined.
“They missed a call where (Sharp) got pushed in the back and then turned around to call her for the foul,” Shipp said.
Perry said one of her goals was to get Sharp in foul trouble.
“You know, that’s part of the game plan, just be more aggressive attacking those gaps on her side,” Perry said. “We didn’t get all the calls we wanted but it worked out in our favor.”
