Photo: Gadsden City’s Naomi Wise (32) drives to the basket as Shades Valley’s Zoey Little defends during the Lady Titans’ 46-26 victory in the Class 6A subregional basketball playoffs on Friday, Feb. 7 at GCHS. (Chris McCarthy/Messenger)
By Chris McCarthy/Publisher
For the first time since the 2020-21 season, the Gadsden City High girls basketball team will pay a mid-February visit to Jacksonville State University.
The Lady Titans (17-15) earned a berth in the North Regional Tournament with a 46-26 victory over Shades Valley on Feb. 7 in the Class 6A subregional round. GCHS will face Mountain Brook in the regional semifinals on Monday, Feb. 17 at 12 p.m. at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
“We knew that [Shades Valley] was a team that does a lot of switching on defense, and we had to adjust and try to get into the gaps,” said GCHS head coach Jay Tinker. “We wanted to get a lead and make [Shades Valley] spread out to defend our guards. We knew that with Naomi inside, our guards could penetrate and cause some problems for [Shades Valley]. “
Ahead 18-12 at halftime, the Gadsden City defense stiffened in the second half and held the Lady Mounties scoreless over the first five and a half minutes of the third quarter. In the meantime, six points from eighth grade center Naomi Wise and respective three-point baskets by Destiny Whiteside, Madison Tinker and Karleigh Sheffield helped stake GCHS to a 33-17 advantage at the start of the final period.
“Naomi has been doing that for us all season long,” said Tinker. “She’s pretty much averaging a double-double, and that’s saying something for an eighth grader. She’s one of our most physical players on the floor every night, and she has a very bright future.”
Shades Valley never got within striking distance the rest of the way. Wise added six more points during the final frame, and GCHS went 7-for-8 at the free throw line down the stretch to punch the Lady Titans’ ticket to JSU.
Wise finished with 16 points, followed by Whiteside with 11, Tinker and Sheffield with seven each and Jac’kiera Woods with six.
The first half was a low-scoring affair with both teams playing tight defense. Gadsden City emerged from the first quarter with a 7-3 lead, and Woods’ 3-pointer at the 2:37 mark of the second period provided GCHS with a double-digit lead before the Lady Mounties pulled within 18-12 at halftime.
“I know our record doesn’t show it because we just got over.500 tonight, but these girls worked really hard to get to this point,” said Tinker.
