Luke Judge

Fort Payne senior point guard Alicia Williams watched ontelevision Thursday night as Kobe Bryant scored 20 of his 23 pointsin the second half while leading the Los Angeles Lakers past theBoston Celtics 92-86.

With her team trailing by six points at halftime of the girlsClass 5A, Area 14 high school basketball tournament championshipgame Saturday, Williams found some inspiration while thinking backon Bryant’s performance and proceeded to put together a second halfthe Los Angeles star would have been proud of.

Williams, a two-time all-state selection, scored 20 of her 31points after halftime as no. 1-seeded Fort Payne rallied to defeatNo. 2 Arab 55-44 and claim its fourth straight area tournamentcrown.

Both teams advanced to Thursday’s sub-region playoffs. FortPayne (27-4) will play host to Etowah (20-8), while Arab (11-15)will travel to Boaz (23-6). both games are set for 7 p.m.

The winners advance to next week’s Northeast Regional Tournamentat Jacksonville State.

Williams said the team’s streak of consecutive titles was topicof conversation before the game.

“There was no way we were going to lose it this year,” shesaid

The championship was also Fort Payne’s seventh since 2004, butLady Cats coach Steve Sparks was focused solely on Saturday’sshowdown.

Fort Payne has five seniors – Williams, Taylor Dean, DiamondElston, Conner Jordan and Sara McCutcheon – and Sparks stressed theimportance of winning a title in their final year of prepbasketball.

“You only have one chance to be an area champion [as a senior],”he said. “The total in a row isn’t important. You’re competing forthe right to host the sub-region game.”

Arab had played Fort Payne close in two earlier meetings anddidn’t make things easy for the Lady Cats in the third. with FortPayne converting only 6 of 32 (18.8 percent) shots from the fieldin the first half, the Lady Knights built a pair of nine-pointsleads before settling for a 23-17 halftime advantage.

The margin would have been larger, but Williams drained a pairof 3-pointers in the final 35 seconds of the second quarter.

“Those not only broke our drought … they were also momentumstoppers,” Sparks said. “They still had the lead, but it was sixpoints as opposed to 12.”

Said Williams, “I just knew we couldn’t go into halftime downthat much.”

Senior guard Taylor Dean, who struggled with her shot all nightbut contributed seven steals, said focusing on other aspects of thegame is a challenge when things aren’t going well offensively.

“It’s really hard,” she said. “As Coach Sparks says, defensewins basketball games, so that’s just the first priority.”

Arab led 28-19 when Cassie Hayes scored a transition bucket with6:01 left in the third period, but Fort Payne answered with a 13-0run that Elston capped with a putback with 3:27 left inquarter.

Elston scored in transition with 12 seconds remaining in thequarter, sending Fort Payne into the fourth with a 34-30 edge.

“In the second half we played better defensively, got pressurein the traps and forced some turnovers that led to transitionbaskets that we had not gotten in the first half,” Sparks said.”Then we started making some shots.”

Fort Payne pushed its lead into double figures at 47-37 onDean’s steal and layup with 1:57 to play. the Lady Cats led by asmany as 15 points twice, the second time at 54-39 on two Williamsfree throws with 28.2 seconds remaining.

Jordan finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds for the LadyCats, who forced 25 turnovers and committed only seven. Fort Paynehad 16 steals.

Fort Payne had a big advantage at the free-throw line, making 17of 29 shots. Arab converted 4 of 8.

Kylie Moore paced Arab with 16 points

ALL-TOURNEY: the all-tournament team included Williams, Jordan,Dean, Moore, Arab’s CarLeigh Larkin, Madison County’s HannahNichols and Scottsboro’s Katie Kirkland.

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