Photo: Gadsden City’s Destiny Whiteside (4) attempts a shot as Mountain Brook’s Avery Davis (3) and Ellie Halpern (24) defend during the Lady Titans’ 43-30 loss in the Class 6A Northeast Regional Tournament basketball semifinals on Monday, Feb. 17 at Jacksonville State. (Chris McCarthy/Messenger)
By Chris McCarthy/Publisher
The Gadsden City High girls basketball team made a game of it in the second half against Mountain Brook in the Class 6A Northeast Regional Tournament semifinals, but the 20-point hole the Lady Titans dug for themselves in the first 16 minutes proved too much to overcome in a 43-30 loss on Monday, Feb. 17 at Jacksonville State.
Trailing 26-6 at intermission, GCHS 
(16-16) opened the third quarter with a 6-0 run that led to a Mountain Brook timeout. The Lady Titans wound up outscoring the Lady Spartans 11 to 8 during the third quarter, putting themselves within striking distance at 34-17 at the start of the fourth period.
Four points from Destiny Whiteside, three from Madison Tinker and two from Naomi Wise trimmed the deficit to 12 points with just under three minutes to play, and Whiteside’s steal and resulting layup drew GCHS within 40-30 with 51 seconds to go.
“We stayed in out halfcourt man-to-man [defense[ and got some turnovers,” said GCHS head coach Jay Tinker. “But as time went on, we had to turn the pressure a little bit.”
But the Lady Titans were up against the game clock at that point, and Maddie Walter salted away the victory for Mountain Brook (24-6) with three points over the final 30 seconds.
Whiteside finished with 10 points and three assists, while Tinker added eight points. Wise ended up with seven points and eight rebounds, while Karleigh Sheffield chipped in four points and five boards.
It took Gadsden City some time to get settled out of the gate. The Lady Titans came up empty on their first five possessions of the first quarter before Wise knocked down a three-point basket to draw GCHS within 4-3.
Consecutive treys from Geisliser made it 10-3, however, and Mountain Brook took a 12-4 lead into the second frame.
Matters didn’t improve for Gadsden City during the next several minutes, as the Lady Titans failed score from the field the remainder of the first half. Their second period points came from respective free throws by Madison Tinker and Sheffield.
“We knew we might start off a little slow, but I didn’t think it would be that slow,” said Jay Tinker. “We knew that we were probably going to have a hard time, being that we haven’t been down here to Jacksonville in a few years. But we made a few adjustments at halftime and came out and played really strong in the second half.”
Geisiler paced Mountain Brook with 20 points, followed by Walter with 17. The Lady Spartans finished with a 29 to 23 advantage in rebounds and a 26-16 edge in points in the paint.
“We may have spotted [Mountain Brook] 20 points, but our girls never gave up and they played hard all the way through,” said Jay Tinker. “I’ve been coaching most of these girls since they were in the first or second grade, so they’re all like my daughters.”
Jay Tinker was not surprised that his 2024-25 team won the area tournament and made the regional tournament with seven underclassmen on the roster.
“From Day 1, this was our intention from the beginning. That’s why we lined up such an intense schedule, so that we would be ready for moments like this. Coming in last year, not making regionals was a disappointment, and I expected this year’s group to have a chance to get out of Jacksonville. We’re looking to put together a small little dynasty, so the bar isn’t going to be [getting to Jacksonville]; we want the bar to be set at getting to (the state tournament at) Birmingham. We want to play for the blue medal.”
