John Curtis clamps down on McKinley to win second consecutive girls basketball state title

Video: John Curtis head coach Barbara Farris, players Salma Bates, Dynah Jones, Jerkaila Jordan

ALEXANDRIA, La. – For most teams, when its star player is off her game and does not score, it leads to a bad result. When you have the ensemble that John Curtis Christian has assembled, it does not matter.

John Curtis Christian overcame an unusual subpar evening by Tulane signee Dynah Jones with suffocating defense which translated to a bushel of free throws as the Lady Patriots downed McKinley 62-49 at Rapides Coliseum Saturday evening to win their second consecutive Division I state championship over the Lady Panthers.

The Patriots converted 23-of-30 attempts from the free throw line, outscoring McKinley by 14 points from the line.

Jones did not make a field goal, going 0-for-9 from the field and scored just two points, going 2-for-4 from the free throw line. Her teammates were there to pick up in huge fashion.

That was particularly true of sophomore Jerkaila Jordan. For the second straight year, Jordan played perhaps her best game of the season in the state championship game, earning Most Outstanding Player honors, scoring 21 points. Jordan had five steals and four rebounds.

“I just played my hardest like I always do and I knew it was a big game, especially against them since it was our only loss this season,” Jordan said. “It was my last time with these seniors.”

A year ago, John Curtis downed McKinley 43-36 for the state title. Earlier this season, the Panthers avenged the defeat with a 44-43 win over the Lady Patriots 44-43 on Dec. 1 in the St. Michael Tournament. Since then, the Lady Panthers lost 6-foot-7 center Kenyal Perry to an injury. It may not have mattered with the way that Curtis defended and handled the ball.

Jones admitted that the Lady Patriots were motivated by an early season loss to the Lady Panthers.

“It did,” Jones said. “It was personal. I’m really going to miss this, my teammates, Coach Barbara (Farris).”

McKinley started fast, opening up a 6-0 lead and a 13-5 bulge before Curtis ended the opening quarter on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 13-12. Salma Bates banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer and had six points in the frame.

“We came out a little sluggish again and we’ve seen McKinley before where they came out and basically just sucked the life out of a team early by hitting shots and defending,” Farris said. “We knew it was a four quarter game. We wanted to make sure we maintained pressure and tried to force some turnovers and get easy baskets and we didn’t lose focus in the half-court game. We tried to finish well around the rim and we did that.”

The second quarter saw four lead changes before the Lady Patriots clamped down on defense and got on a roll. McKinley lost its composure and was assessed a technical foul. A second technical foul was assessed when a player entered the game with the wrong jersey number listed in the official scorer’s book. Curtis took advantage, closing the half on a 9-0 run to take a 30-20 lead by halftime. Jerkaila Jordan had 11 points in the period and 14 points to lead all scorers in the half.

The other issues for McKinley were turnovers and fouls. The Lady Panthers committed 18 first half turnovers, including nine by star Alexius Horne. McKinley committed 14 fouls, resulting in 17 free throw attempts for the Lady Patriots. Curtis converted 12 of those.

“We started off the game great but after that, we didn’t take care of the ball,” McKinley head coach Crystal Huggins-Flowers said. “We finished the first half with 18 turnovers. Eighteen against a team like John Curtis is hard to bounce back from. And then the offensive and defensive rebounds, they pretty much beat us on the boards and just out-hustled us.”

Horne scored seven points in the third quarter as McKinley closed to within seven points but the Patriots (31-1) responded in solid fashion, closing the quarter on a 9-4 run to open up a 45-31 lead going to the final quarter.

Salma Bates added 14 points, including hitting 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Abryhia Irons had 10 points. Bates was outstanding defensively, playing Horne much of the way.

“I had to pick it up on defense, too, with our energy,” Bates said.

Horne led McKinley (30-5) with 18 points and five rebounds but she had 13 turnovers, two more than Curtis had as a team. Caira Wren was good with 13 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots and three steals.

“It’s tough,” McKinley junior Alexius Horne said. “We know we are the better team. It’s hard to lose to a team that we should beat.”

“I’m just tremendously proud of these girls,” Farris said. “It was a perfect end to the season.”

The title is the fifth in the history of the John Curtis program and the third for Barbara Farris as head coach of the Lady Patriots. It is the 72nd state championship overall in all sports for John Curtis.

Final
JC 12 18 15 17 62
MCK 13 7 11 18 49

Scoring
JC—Jerkaila Jordan 21, Salma Bates 14, Abryhia Irons 10, Alaan West 7, Dynah Jones 2, Maya Washington 2, Da’Jha Virgil 2
MCK—Alexius Horne 18, Caira Wren 13, Jamia Schofield 8, Erica Lafayette 8, Carley Gipson 2

Rebounds
JC 26, MCK 34

Turnovers
JC 11, MCK 24

Saturday’s final results from Rapides Coliseum in Alexandria
Class 2A: (1) North Caddo 47, (2) Lake Arthur 41
Division III: (6) St. Katharine Drexel 43, (8) St. Mary’s Academy 42
Class B: (1) Holden 40, (3) Anacoco 39
Division I: John Curtis Christian 62, (2) McKinley 49
Class 5A: (8) East Ascension 37, (7) Natchitoches Central 32
Class 3A: (2) Loranger 42, (5) Madison Prep 38