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By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
District Champions.
For the first time since 1987, the Central Lady Bulldogs can lay claim to the title following a decisive 56-40 victory over Lebanon in the Class 6 District 10 championship game Thursday night at Parkview High School.
The Lady Bulldogs rolled to the district title on the shoulders of their record-setting leader, senior Makaiya Brooks.
Having already broken the Springfield Public Schools’ scoring record of 2,136 on Feb. 11, the sharpshooter added to her record run by surpassing the City scoring record of 2,312 points, held since 2015 by New Covenant Academy’s Casy Askins. And, she did it in typical Makaiya Brooks fashion – with a long-distance 3-pointer.
With 1:18 left in the first quarter, Holland Hawkins found Brooks open on the right wing and the Memphis signee drained it for her eighth point of the night and the 2,313th point of her career, tying the game at 11.
But, if you ask Brooks, the district title was the coveted prize.
“It means everything,” Brooks said of the district championship. “I wasn’t really focused on (the scoring title), but it feels great. I don’t even know how to express it – it feels amazing.”
That’s because it had been 34 years since Central had hoisted the trophy when they were the top dogs of the 1980s, having won the Class 4 state championship in 1984 and district titles in 1986 and 1987. Their last district championship appearance was in 2012.
“It’s surreal,” Central coach Caitlin Lamberth said. “I was just saying it’s surreal to think that Central, our high school, has gone that long without bringing home something for all their hard work. I know we talk a lot about it with the girls, ‘your hard work will pay off. The journey, it’s a process,’ and they’ve trusted the process. So now that they know that they can do it, I think these younger ones will want to get back here, and they’ll want to make Central that tradition to get back here each and every year.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
The Lady Bulldogs, who improved to 15-12 overall, not only had Brooks’ scoring to lead the way, but their defense also was very active Thursday night, as the Lady Bulldogs were deflecting passes, blocking shots (5) and picking up steals (12).
“We were locked in,” Lamberth said. “I could tell from these past few practices that we’ve had as a team, we wanted it; they wanted it and they held each other accountable in practices. They were making that extra effort in practice, going hard against each other, so that made it easy in the game. And that’s what it takes. We practice harder, so that we can play just as hard at the level of intensity that we’re at. That practice really helps them have that energy for tonight.”
All 10 Lady Bulldogs saw action Thursday night and every one of them made an impact, namely freshmen Desteny Pierce and Milian Sylvester off the bench. Pierce added 14 points and two steals and handled the ball a great deal of the time, while the 6-foot-2 Sylvester scored two points and added a deflection, four steals and a block.
“We have a lot of weapons,” Lamberth said. “We have 10 on the roster, five coming off the bench. Desteny’s a point guard that has such natural ability to see where the ball is going and can anticipate and get to the basket whenever she wants to. And then, Mili, it is hard to get by her, so her stepping in and giving us that defensive spark off the bench was huge because it gave our starters some time to reflect and then come in and do what they needed to do afterwards.”
Brooks was proud of the youngsters, too.
“They stepped up really well,” Brooks said. “I’ve been preaching all week that they need to step up, even though they are young. We need them. They played really, really good tonight.”
The Lady Bulldogs executed their game plan in slowing down Lebanon sophomore guard Raegan McCowan, who was coming off a 25-point and a school-record 23 rebounds in the Lady Yellowjackets’ win over Parkview, as well as Makayah Alexander. McCowan was held to 10 points and 6 rebounds and Alexander had six points and six boards.
“Raegan is averaging 21 or 22 a game and Makayah is averaging around 12, and I think they both had half of what they normally get,” Lebanon coach Jacky Payne said. “That’s a big thing.
“We’ve got a really good group of kids, some of the finest people I’ve ever coached in all my coaching years. We played hard, we made some adjustments, but 21 turnovers, a lot of missed free throws – that’s hard to do in a district game. On the other hand, give Central credit. They played really well and they were strong on defense and made some shots when they had to.”
And that included three players in double figures: Brooks with 21, Pierce (14) and Heaven Shockley with 11 points, four blocks and six rebounds.
“Brooks had her normal kind of night,” Payne said. “She’s just a great player and she’s a great leader out there on the floor. She’s got talent, she works so hard and she’s a smart, heady player for them. She’s just a solid leader.
“And I talked to our team about it. The leadership qualities she brings to that team just settled everybody down. When you’ve got a player with that kind of leadership and that kind of talent, everybody jumps on the bandwagon and follows her. So, give her a lot of credit. I hope she does well at Memphis and I’m glad to see her graduate.”
Coming into the game, all Brooks wanted to do was lead her team to a district title, and she left doing just that.
“I know that she wasn’t even thinking about it,” Lamberth said of Brooks who now owns the scoring record with 2,326 points. “She wanted her team to win so bad that she was going to do whatever she needed to do, whether that was score, rebound or defend – and she did all of that tonight. She led her team with her voice, she stepped up and made sure that people were where they were supposed to be, and the points just follow.
“She’s a natural scorer. She’s always been a natural scorer. And, we’ve always known that she can get a bucket anytime she wanted to. So, I think her focus was just on that district title for her team and for her school.”
Now, the Lady Bulldogs must turn their focus to Jefferson City in the sectional round on March 10.
“We’re not done yet,” Brooks said. “That’s been our saying for two weeks is ‘we’re not done yet.’ So, really just me staying on them to stay in the gym and to really focus at practice (is the key.)”
“We haven’t had this in 34 years,” added Lamberth, who is in her seventh year as Central’s coach. “So, for these girls, this is their first championship. This is their first go-around with it, so we’re really going to have to talk about ‘what more do you want? How are we going to excel even more since this championship? Do we want to keep going or does it end here,’ because I think they really want to keep going. I think they want to ride this out as long as they can.
“I know my group of seniors – I’ve got four on the court right now – they don’t want it to end. They’re not ready for their basketball career to be over at Central, so I know that they’re going to lead and they’re going to have those practices like we’ve have been having.”
Class 6 District 10
Championship
CENTRAL 56, LEBANON 40
LEBANON 11-8-11-10—40
CENTRAL 11-13-13-17—56
LEBANON (15-11) – Jocee Pettyjohn 6, Raegan McCowan 10, Makayah Alexander 6, Destiny Zimdars 1, Chloe Shivers 10, Kara Campbell 7.
CENTRAL (15-12) – Makaiya Brooks 21, Heaven Shockley 11, Aaliyah Pittman 5, Tekaira Finley 3, Desteny Pierce 14, Milian Sylvester 2.
Up next: Class 6 sectionals – Central vs. Jefferson City, 6 p.m., March 10, site TBD
