GUIN - It didn’t take Jasmine Martin very long to come up with her favorite thing about this particular Belgreen team.
“We all get along really well,” said Martin, a senior guard for the Lady Bulldogs. “I’ve never been a part of a team that gets along as well as this team does.”
It’s a good thing Martin and her teammates are so simpatico. If they weren’t, she might have driven every last one of them crazy by now.
As the team’s lone senior, Martin has taken it upon herself to make sure the Lady Bulldogs stayed pointed in the right direction and kept their collective eyes on the prize, day in and day out—that prize being, of course, a berth in the Class 1A Northwest Regional.
“They’ve probably been annoyed with me,” said Martin, who was a sophomore on the Belgreen team that went to Hanceville two years ago and was steadfastly determined to go back in her final season of high school hoops. “I’m always staying on them, telling them, ‘C’mon ya’ll, stay focused, let’s go.’ The [Belgreen] boys have seven seniors, but I’m the only one we’ve got, so I feel like I have to do a little more.”
As of Monday night, Martin’s constant prodding has paid off. The Lady Bulldogs used their superior athleticism and depth to throttle Area 12 champion Marion County on its home floor, clinching a regional berth with a 71-45 rout.
When it was over, Belgreen’s girls lingered on the court for 15 minutes, swapping hugs and high fives with one another and also with family members and fans who stuck around to take part in the post-game revelry. Freshman post player Emma Dempsey put the Lady Bulldogs on her back both during the game—when she had 18 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots—and after, when older sister Gracie (a sophomore guard) hopped aboard for an impromptu piggy-back ride/photo-op amid the celebration.
Belgreen’s camaraderie this season has been especially remarkable given how fierce the battle for playing time is on a nightly basis. Head coach Chad Green—now headed to Hanceville for the fourth time (twice at Tharptown, twice at Belgreen) in his 12-year career—talked about the challenges that come with trying to spread minutes throughout a rotation that goes nine or ten deep with potential impact players.
“Everybody wants to play,” said Green, who had five players score in double-figures in Monday’s win. “Everybody wants to get minutes, and you can’t give everybody all the minutes they’d like to get. The thing about this team is, with our depth we’ve got so many girls who can help us. A lot of times the girls who come off the bench can give us something we might not be getting from the starting five—whether that’s shooting, on-ball defense, help with the press or whatever.”
The balance demonstrated by Belgreen (20-10) on Monday night stood in stark contrast to the Lady Raiders, who were extremely reliant on 6’4 senior post player Emma Culp and lightning-quick point guard Madison Stewart. Those two combined to score 37 of Marion County’s 45 points, but when either had to come off the floor [foul trouble was an issue for one or both throughout much of the night] things deteriorated quickly for the home team.
“We wanted to try and keep the point guard out of the lane,” Martin said, “and double-team the post as much as we could.”
Belgreen’s pressure was particularly effective when anyone other than Stewart was forced to handle the basketball.
“We wanted to push the ball up the floor, and we wanted to come out and press,” said Green, whose team forced Marion County into a whopping 36 turnovers. “We also knew we’d really have to rebound the basketball.”
The Lady Bulldogs were successful on that front as well, attacking the offensive glass early for second-chance points and finishing the night with a commanding 36-22 edge on the boards.
“We got some second and third opportunities early in the game,” Green said, “and it wasn’t just our post players. Our guards were getting in there and rebounding, too.”
As was commonplace during a five-game win streak leading up to the Area 13 championship-game loss to No. 2 Phillips, the Lady Bulldogs got contributions from virtually everyone on Monday night. Sophomore guard Autumn Bragwell came off the bench late in the first quarter and sparked an 8-0 run with a three-pointer and a pull-up jumper; later, after Marion County had trimmed a 15-point halftime deficit down to six, Bragwell came up with a critical steal and layup to turn the tide and then buried another three off a nice drive-and-dish from junior guard Gabbie Moore to make it 52-39 with 1:50 left in the third.
Martin, scoreless for the game’s first quarter-and-a-half, put up 10 points in a three-minute span late in the first half, helping Belgreen push its early lead from seven at 24-17 to 16 at 39-23. Gracie Dempsey got to the foul line early and often, shooting 4-for-5 in the first quarter and 4-for-4 in the fourth, and twin sister Katie attacked the basket consistently on her way to scoring 10 points off the bench.
Reserve guard Emma Willingham took turns with Gracie Dempsey trying to contain Stewart; the feisty Willingham was largely responsible for holding Stewart without a field goal for the final 12 minutes of the game.
“All year long, Gracie and Emma have taken turns guarding the other team’s best ball-handler,” Green said. “They both do a great job. When one of them comes out of the game and the other one comes in, it doesn’t get any easier for whoever they’re guarding.”
Sophomore post player Ansley Tate chipped in with five points, six rebounds and two assists, helping Emma Dempsey control the paint—that is, when the 6’1 freshman wasn’t showing off her perimeter game. Following Marion County’s 19th turnover of the first half, Martin inbounded the ball with just 2.5 seconds remaining to Dempsey, who took one dribble to the top of the key and then drilled her first three-pointer of the season to send the Lady Bulldogs into the locker room with a 42-27 lead.
“I was throwing the ball in, and I just had a feeling that I needed to pass the ball to her,” said Martin, the team’s leading three-point maker on the season with 49. “When she made the shot, we all got pretty excited.”
Belgreen didn’t exactly capitalize on the momentum from Dempsey’s dagger, failing to score for the first three-and-a-half minutes of the second half and allowing Marion County to cut the lead to 43-38 on a three-point play by Stewart at the 4:20 mark.
“We preached to our girls at halftime about coming out and hitting them with an 8-0 run,” Green said. “Instead it went the other way.”
Marion County’s comeback bid came to a screeching halt with 3:59 left in the third, when Emma Dempsey grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in while drawing the fourth foul of the night on Culp. Dempsey missed the free throw, but the damage was done; Culp headed to the bench, and Belgreen closed the quarter on a 13-1 run to open up a 56-39 lead and never looked back.
Dempsey finished 7-for-10 from the field and 3-for-4 from the line, matching her season-high with 18 points. Bragwell had 12 points, four boards and three assists, and Gracie Dempsey shot 9-for-13 from the line to finish with 11 points. Martin had three rebounds and three assists to go along with her 10 points.
The Lady Bulldogs hit six threes on the night and finished 19-for-28 from the line. They won despite shooting just 38 percent from the floor and turning the ball over 26 times.
Stewart led Marion County with 19 points, and Culp had 18 points and 12 rebounds. The Lady Raiders shot just 34 percent from the field and finished 15-for-26 at the line.
Win No. 20 on the season clinched a regional berth for the Lady Bulldogs, who will take on Holy Spirit (a 74-44 winner Monday night over Covenant Christian) on Friday in a semifinal matchup. Martin, who turns 18 on February 16, will get to celebrate her birthday right where she wanted to all along—in Hanceville. As it happens, Tom Drake Coliseum on the campus of Wallace State Community College is the perfect place for a party.
It goes without saying that all of Martin’s teammates are invited.