BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- The Lady Raiders are State Championship-bound once again.
Fourth-ranked Good Hope met a scrappy, physical ninth-ranked Montgomery Catholic team at Legacy Arena on Tuesday afternoon. Good Hope’s identity of team basketball on both ends of the floor were apparent, with smothering defense and physical board work on offense leading to a sizable 27-13 halftime lead. In the second half, despite finding the bucket more, Good Hope was able to hold the Knights off for a 61-45 win.
“I’ve been asked in the past- ‘hey coach, who’s your best player?,’ and honestly, I’ve got five really good ones up here (Gossett, Marshall, Konrad, Davis and Adams). Any given night one of them can go off and score several points, but one thing they constantly bring is the defensive side. I’m pleased with their efforts,” Raiders head coach Justin Aby said at the podium after the win.
The defensive prowess of Good Hope was evident early. While Gossett and Konrad were already finding the hoop on crafty layups and floaters, and Adams was hitting from outside, the Raiders forced six turnovers with five coming off steals, and only allowed the Knights to shoot 3-9 from the floor. While they didn’t shoot particularly well either, only making six of their 16 attempts, Good Hope took a 15-8 lead into the second period.
The Raiders’ shooting got better in the second, and quickly. To start the period, point guard Ella Gossett found Lucie Adams at the top of the arc for a three, then senior Lexie Marshal hit threes from the wing on two consecutive possessions to jolt Good Hope out to a quick 9-0 run and a 24-8 lead under two minutes into the quarter. Riding the energy the offense was providing, the Raiders’ defense tightened up, matched the physicality of the Knights and only gave up five points while forcing Montgomery Catholic to shoot 2-10. Finishing off scoring in the strong quarter for Good Hope was Adams, who Marshall threaded a pass to as she drove to the hoop. Going into halftime, Good Hope led 27-13.
The Knights turned up the heat after the break, and began to utilize their physicality better on both ends of the floor. The always-active Konrad read an inbound pass, picked it off and put in a layup to start the scoring for Good Hope, but Montgomery Catholic would respond quickly with a three from Jordan Robinson. Robinson, the Knights second-leading scorer, was forced to step up as their leading scorer, 6-0 forward Hannah Smith, was being blanketed by 5-5 Gossett. She disregarded the size disadvantage entirely on the floor, and like some of the gritty Raider point guards before her, Gossett forced Smith to shoot just 6-17 on the afternoon while dishing out seven assists on the offensive end.
On her defensive matchup with Smith, Gossett said “I knew she was a lot bigger than me, and a lot stronger. I knew I was going to have to play my tail off to win this game, so that’s what I did.”
The rest of the third quarter saw the Knights attempt to inch back into the game, which they did thanks to their best quarter, and Good Hope’s worst. Still, the Raiders led 40-28 heading into the final frame.
In a tale of two periods, Montgomery Catholic did jump back into the game, cutting Good Hope’s lead to just 42-33 early and threatening to complete a comeback. The Raiders had none of it, and found their feet again with floaters from Davis and Gossett. Smith would respond with a steal and layup, then Good Hope put an exclamation point on the game with a 9-0 run featuring beautiful ball movement, a pull-up three from Gossett and physical finishing from Konrad to end the game with a 61-45 win to advance to the State Championship.
Konrad led Good Hope in scoring with 20 points, six rebounds and two steals. Gossett had an impressive game in terms of offensive output considering her defensive assignment, scoring 10 and dishing out seven assists. Adams notched a double-double with ten points and rebounds, and Marshall scored eight in addition to stealing three passes.
Good Hope will go on to face the winner of Jackson and first-ranked Plainview on Friday at 4 p.m. at Legacy Arena.
