By Russell Frye

For the Enquirer

In front of almost 2,500 fans, two ranked teams, the Brewer Lady Patriots and the Priceville Lady Bulldogs, stepped on the court to face each other for the third time this season.

This time the Morgan County Tournament championship was at stake. The Lady Patriots were looking to defend their title from last year – and so they did, with a 60-41 win.

The teams started the game playing to a 13-13 tie through the first five minutes of the first quarter. From there the Lady Patriots took over and never looked back. During the final couple of minutes, they scored eight consecutive points to take a 21-13 lead into the second quarter.

Brewer had four players score in double digits. The Patriot girls were led by senior McCarley Northway, a Montevallo signee, who scored 16 points. Hope West scored 12 points, while Jacie Andrews added 11 and Evaiah Burrows had 10.

“Our offensive game plan was to take advantage of the mismatches when Priceville would switch on our screens,” said Brewer coach Jeff Andrews.

Priceville (19-5) was unable to get any momentum going during the game, thanks in part to the pressure defense of the Lady Patriots. “They knew they could let Priceville get easy shots and get into a rhythm, and my girls stepped up to the challenge from the start.”

Kathleen Wheeler, a Samford signee, had 19 points to lead Priceville. Over her two tournament games, she scored a tournament-high 49 points. Abigail Garrison added nine points for the Lady Bulldogs.

Andrews said the Lady Patriots’ plan in defending Wheeler was to force her to drive the ball to the basket instead of letting her get open looks from the outside.

For Priceville’s defense, Jenna Walker drew four charge calls that helped keep the Lady Patriots from extending their lead even further.

The 2019 Morgan County Tournament title was Brewer’s second consecutive and 20th overall.

The county title was the first for Andrews, who previously won two junior high county titles as the coach of Union Hill.

Brewer’s West, an eighth-grader, was named the most valuable player of the tournament. Andrews said for most of the season she was feeling things out and trying to get comfortable with the team. Over the past two weeks, things started to click for her.

West is the first eighth-grader in Morgan County Tournament history to win the Jane Nelson Fields MVP Award. The MVP award was first given out in 1982 to Jane Fields of Falkville.

The 2019 All-County Team was named, including the following players: from Brewer, Jacie Andrews, McCarley Northway and Hope West; from Priceville, Kathleen Wheeler, Jenna Walker and Skyler Benson; from Hartselle, Masyn Marchbanks, Kalli Cartee, Moriah Taylor and Lillyanna Cartee; from Falkville, Makenzie Veal and Ravyn Gilstrap; from Danville, Jolee Cole, Emma Broadfoot and Kayla Compton; and from West Morgan, Madison Stedham.