Callaway ends St. Martin's season in 6A semifinals

JACKSON -- One of the Coast's most talented girls squads in recent years will not play for a state title.

Callaway topped St. Martin 69-56 Wednesday at the Mississippi Coliseum in the Class 6A semifinals for its second consecutive win over a Coast squad. The Lady Chargers beat Harrison Central 60-49 in the quarterfinals on Saturday in Jackson.

After grabbing 23 points and 22 rebounds in the win over Harrison Central, it was more of the same from Callaway star senior Twila Hill on Wednesday. The Prairie View A&M signee pulled down 18 points and a whopping 24 rebounds against the Lady Jackets.

It was a disappointing end for the St. Martin girls team's first trip to Jackson.

"We were wide-eyed when we got here," St. Martin coach Gina Bell said. "No one in St. Martin history has done this. The girls didn't know what to expect. Our guys saw all the people here for the (Choctaw Central-Velma Jackson) game before. We just couldn't get clicking."

Callaway (23-9) avenged a 58-41 loss to St. Martin on Dec. 27 in a tournament at Clinton.

"We knew coming into this game we had to play one of our best defensive games," Callaway coach Stacey Bailey said. "The last time we played them she (Savannah Jones) had her way so tonight our game plan was to slow her down. I told my big girl (Hill) that it is going to be her and Savannah Jones and I think she stepped up big."

Jones again led the way for St. Martin (28-3) with 25 points, six rebounds and five assists.

However, the South Alabama signee had to work for every basket against double-team and triple-team defenses.

Jones hit 7 of 18 shots from the field, including 3 of 9 on 3-pointers.

"Callaway did a great job of shutting Savannah down," Bell said. "They got in her head. She scored 25, but it wasn't the 36 she had the other night (against Columbus)."

While Hill put in a big night in the post, Callaway also received good production from its guards. Mary Boyd scored 14 points on 4 of 5 shooting from the field and Cotoria Blackmon contributed 10 points.

"When we played them the first time, (the Callaway guards) didn't score like that," Bell said. "The biggest thing is we wanted to shut Twila down and we weren't able to do that. I wanted to keep her to 10 or 12 points, but that didn't happen."

Coast squads have often had to fight through slow starts in Jackson over the last week and the situation was no different for St. Martin Wednesday.

The teams traded a couple of baskets early, but Callaway finished the first quarter with an 18-7 advantage.

A basket by Mercedes Brown cut the Callaway lead to 26-20 with 2:00 left in the second quarter, but Callaway responded with a 7-0 run to close out the first half and earn a 33-20 lead at the break.

St. Martin's star post player, sophomore Daphane White, found it tough to hang with Hill inside.

The 6-foot-4 White had a nice stat line of nine points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks, but she was clearly frustrated by the 6-foot-2 Hill in the post.

"We told her that Twila was going to beat her up, and she did," Bell said. "Daphane is a baby. I told her she's got a lot to work on and she said, 'I know.' (Hill) was a beast inside and great for them."

The closest St. Martin got in the second half was 45-37 with 6:43 remaining following a basket by Jones, but Callaway always had an answer for each small run that St. Martin managed to piece together.

Senior point guard Deona Morgan was the only other St. Martin player in double digits with 14 points and seven rebounds.

"I told my girls to keep their heads up," Bell said. "We've got several girls moving onto the next level. We'll take the next week off and start preparing our young girls for next year."

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Callaway ends St. Martin's season in 6A semifinals ."