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Catholic upsets Walton in District 1-3A finals
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Neither Walton nor Pensacola Catholic were expected to be playing for the District 1-3A girls basketball championship by anyone outside the two programs.
The Braves were the tournament’s No. 3 seed and the Crusaders were the No. 4 seed, with both teams being seen by many as a tournament afterthought. Once the game started, it looked like the Crusaders not only expected to be there, but expected to win. The Braves, on the other hand, simply played timid.
Brimming with confidence, the Crusaders completed their surprising run through the tournament with a 40-32 win Saturday over the host Braves to win the district title.
Both teams will move on to the regional quarterfinals next week.
“We just came together,” Catholic coach Heather Bell said. “Everyone contributed from the seventh player to the first.”
The Crusaders (15-12) were led by Lauren Evans’ 15 points, while M.C. Bell chipped in 11.
Walton (16-8) was intent on beating Catholic with a steady barrage of outside shots, but just couldn’t find any consistency shooting. Combined with a few defensive breakdowns and some costly turnovers, the Braves’ lack of shooting success turned out to be too much to overcome.
Walton coach Terry McClure was disappointed with his team’s effort and intensity in what was obviously the biggest game of the year.
“They played with more heart and more character than us,” McClure said. “We worked all year to get to this point, and we still had some kids that just didn’t play very well. I’m not talking about shooting and passing, just effort.”
Catholic held a 16-11 lead at halftime and built it to 30-23 by the end of the third quarter.
As listless as the Braves looked early on, they showed plenty of fire in the fourth quarter when they cut the Crusaders’ lead to 32-29 on a Taliah Moore bucket with 2:35 to play. However, Walton couldn’t manage any more field goals after that and the Crusaders knocked down some clutch free throws to seal the win.
Jasmine Moore led the Braves with 11 points.
