The 2022-2023 high school basketball season came to an abrupt end for the Central High Lady Red Devils last week with a 56-40 loss to No. 7 ranked Foley High in the Central Regional Tournament in the Ben Harris Arena at the Birmingham CrossPlex. The No. 8 ranked Lady Red Devils finished the season at 18-12 in the Sweet 16 of Class 7A.
“We did not play as well offensively as we should have. I thought we got a little fatigued at the end. I think we held them to the point total that we needed to hold them to and they held us where they needed. We’re young. We really only played one senior most of the time. We have to keep working hard. We will just have to keep rebuilding and get better,” Central coach Carolyn Wright said.
After Foley’s Jestiny Dixon nailed a three-point shot 12 seconds into the contest, the closest the Lady Red Devils came to catching up with Foley was with 2:40 left in the opening quarter on a Destiny Johnson layup that made the score 7-6. Central trailed 11-6 when the quarter ended.
Central’s leading scorer during the season, freshman Jabria Lindsey, was held scoreless for the first 3:57 of the contest. Lindsey’s lone points in the first quarter came on a fastbreak layup. In addition to Johnson’s layup, Central’s other first quarter points came on a jump shot from Latasja Deloney.
The second quarter was better for Central’s girls even though they were still outscored by Foley, 14-12. With 2:27 left in the first half, Lindsey scored on another fastbreak layup to keep her team within three points of Foley at 21-18. But Central added no more points over the rest of the quarter and trailed 25-18 at halftime.
Lindsey had eight points at the half while Johnson had six and Deloney scored four points for the Lady Red Devils.
The third quarter was much like the first quarter for Central as Foley opened with an 8-2 run to lead 33-20 and outscored the Lady Red Devils 15-8 to lead 40-26 as the two teams entered the final eight minutes. Lindsey scored six points in the quarter and Deloney scored two points.
The fourth quarter was better for Central though once again Foley outscored the Lady Red Devils 16-14.
Lindsey finished with 19 points for Central. She also had four rebounds, three steals and two assists. Johnson scored eight points and had 11 rebounds. Deloney also scored eight points while Gerritt Griggs had three points and Ivy Webb scored two points for Central in the loss.
Central shot 39.6 percent from the field, hitting 19-of-48 shots. The Lady Red Devils - actually just Lindsey - were 1-of-3 from the freethrow line. Foley connected on 23-of-43 shots, 53.5 percent, and on 8-of-9 free throws, 88.9 percent. Central committed 12 fouls to Foley’s six. The Lady Red Devils made 14 turnovers to Foley’s nine.
Foley advanced to the championship game of the Central Regional to play Daphne High yesterday. Daphne defeated Auburn High in the opening round of the regional, 58-48.