For just a brief moment, Avery Brewer let the look of determination she had been showing all game slip off her face and turn into a smile.
It was when her freshman Central teammate, Sasha Foster, made two free throws to give the Lady Bobcats a seven-point lead with 30 seconds to play.
The look quickly came back as Brewer hit two free throws of her own.
But when the buzzer sounded, it was more than smiles for Brewer and her teammates; it was flat-out jubilation.
An appropriate response for a piece of history being made.
Central toppled Powell 57-48 on Monday night at Halls in the championship game of the District 3-4A Basketball Tournament.
It’s believed to be the first district basketball title for the Lady Bobcats since the 1950s.
“We’ve been trying to find when’s the last time Central has won a district championship, and they just told me a minute ago they think about 1956,” coach Lebrandon Marie said.
“So you have to think there’s been a lot of teams to come through here and they’ve poured into these girls. My first year was Avery’s freshman year and I’ve known her since middle school, and (Auayana) Ramsey, to be those two seniors, I’m proud because they’ve worked this hard to get through things. We made history tonight.”
As with most things historic, it wasn’t going to come easy. Powell, the tournament’s top seed, went undefeated during the regular season in district play, including two wins over third-seeded Central.
One was in overtime, but the other was a 43-24 final exactly one month ago, marking the Lady Bobcats’ lowest point total of the season.
It also wasn’t easy within the game on Monday. After Central (17-11) led for most of the first half, Powell (18-10) caught fire from deep in the third quarter and pulled ahead by as many as eight points.
Marie said his team had been in this position before, and his players stepped up not only on the court, but also in the huddle with the suggestion to change from zone to man defense.
“We’ve played a lot of close games this year, and with composure. Give it up to my kids, they fight hard. They don’t quit. It’s been that way this year, we’ve gotten down by 18 points before and came back and won,” Marie said.
“It’s been a process. We never got rattled, we knew we had to lock in on some things. At one point my girls came to the bench and said ‘we’ve got to play man, let’s go man, we need it,’ so they were hungry, they’re the ones that changed the game.”
The Lady Bobcats had the answer. Brewer went on a personal 7-0 run with a 3-pointer and four free throws to turn a 43-38 deficit into a 45-43 lead with 2:12 left in the game.
With the lead back and with the backing of a Central-heavy crowd, all that was needed was good free throw shooting.
Central got great free-throw shooting instead.
The Lady Bobcats went 14 of 14 on foul shots in the fourth, 10 made by Brewer and four by Foster.
Brewer never appeared rattled at the line.
“One thing you’ve got to know about Avery Brewer is she’s not rattled,” Marie said.
“She’s playing on one-and-a-half legs right now. This is her senior season, she’s missed most of it, and to still come through like that, that’s big. And then Sasha Foster got up there, she’s a freshman. To get up there and knock those free throws down like that, that’s big. I’m proud of every one of them.”
Brewer credits her foul shooting to her dad putting in time with her.
“Being at the line a lot really helps. My dad rebounding for me all the time, being money on that free throw line is because of him.”
The senior guard led the way for Central with 21 points and was named tournament MVP, but a lot of players stepped up for the Lady Bobcats.
Most of Brewer’s production came in the second half. In the first half, it was sophomore forward Malia Moore that took charge with eight points. She finished with 11 for the game.
Along with her late free throws, Foster hit two big second-half 3s, and scored 13 points on the night.
Especially in the first half, the entire Central team was coming up on the right side of 50-50 balls and limiting second-chance opportunities for the Lady Panthers.
That changed in the third quarter, where a rejuvenated Powell effort seemed to correlate with more confidence from long range.
Central held a 21-16 halftime advantage, but the Lady Panthers went on a stretch to close the third quarter where they hit four out of five 3-pointers, three from Izy Wiles and one by Daisy Gentry, both who were named to the All-Tournament team.
Gentry added another to give Powell its largest lead of 39-31 early in the fourth.
It could have been a moment where Central folded. But in a similar big-picture resolve that Brewer has shown battling through injury, losing seasons and other setbacks, she and her teammates refused to quit.
Central already locked up its first winning season since 2009-10 a few games ago, and can now carry more momentum into region tournament play.
“We started off not on our best foot,” Brewer said.
“But we grew and we knew that we could do it. We put the Lord first through it all and He really helped us through the whole process.”
And about the chance to celebrate a district championship, according to Brewer: “it was everything.”
Article written by Matthew Lutey/5Star Preps. To read more on area high school sports or to see photo galleries, videos, stat leaders, etc., visit 5StarPreps.com — and use promo code New2025 for 30% off your first year or month subscription.
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