BRASHEAR’S RA’NIYAH MORRIS HAD A BIG NIGHT AGAINST OBAMA. (PHOTOS BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
City League teams prepping for girls high school basketball playoffs
With two eight-minute quarters in the books inside the gym at Obama Academy, some people couldn’t believe their eyes when they looked at the scoreboard.
It was 23-22, with Brashear ahead of Obama, in this girls high school basketball Monday night tilt, Jan. 29.
Alright…some context. Usually, Obama has a big, big lead on Brashear when the two teams play, especially in “East Lib,” where the Obama Academy Eagles reside. It’s been like that for years.
But when you mix in a few injuries on the Obama side, with a first-year coach for Brashear that’s instilled some new confidence in the program, you get a possible upset in the making at halftime.
LONGTIME OBAMA HEAD COACH MONIQUE MCCOY SAYS HER TEAM IS “FAIRLY YOUNG,” BUT STILL HAS THE MAKINGS TO WIN YET ANOTHER CITY LEAGUE TITLE.
However, when the second half began, whatever longtime coach Monique McCoy said to her Obama Eagles worked, because they came out flooding the basket with buckets. A one-point deficit to start the third quarter turned into an eight-point lead by the end of the quarter for Obama, 39-31, and they didn’t look back, en route to a 53-35 victory.
“Not our best performance,” voiced McCoy to the New Pittsburgh Courier in an exclusive interview after the game. “We’re fairly young so we’re still teaching and reiterating, and really trying to get a lot of the kinks out.”
OBAMA’S GIONNA SIMMONS, RIGHT, PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN HER TEAM’S SUCCESS.
Obama is no stranger to winning. They’re the two-time defending City League champions, and since the school said goodbye to “Mr. Peabody” and hello to “Mr. Obama” in 2011, they’ve won six City League girls basketball titles. But being the underdog didn’t phase the Bulls from Brashear. The team from Beechview took the 30-minute bus trip across town hungry for the upset.
“It was a close game compared to how many years that we haven’t been close with Obama,” said Brashear junior Ra’Niyah Morris, who dazzled on the court with 22 points to lead her team.
Ariana Sherrill, another Brashear junior who is the team’s starting point guard, had six points.
After a first quarter that saw just 11 points scored between the two teams, the second quarter saw the pace pick up, with Brashear outscoring Obama, 18-16.
FIRST-YEAR HEAD COACH RUTHIE WALKER HAS HELPED TO MORE THAN TRIPLE THE NUMBER OF WINS BRASHEAR HAS THIS SEASON AS OPPOSED TO LAST SEASON.
Ruthie Walker, the Brashear head coach, is known in the city’s basketball circles for her numerous championships as coach of the Obama middle school teams (grades 6-8). This year, she took the leap to the high school coaching world and became Brashear’s first Black female head coach of its girls basketball team. Last season, Brashear won two games total. This season, the team has won seven as of Jan. 29, with at least five more regular season games remaining, including Senior Night, Jan. 31, against Perry.
BRASHEAR’S ARIANA SHERRILL DRIVES TO THE HOOP…
“One thing we have to work on as a coaching staff, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it to the girls, because when they hear screaming, they (sometimes) shut down,” Walker told the Courier exclusively. “We can’t afford for them to shut down.”
MA’RYAH TERRELL IS BECOMING A FORCE INSIDE FOR BRASHEAR.
Walker said she’s trying to instill more of a “sisterhood” among the team, more “uniting as a team,” and more wins have come because “the captains are able to hold each other accountable and hold players accountable.”
Walker said her team is practicing more, but she still needs to build up the endurance in most of her players in order for them to play their best in the third and fourth quarters.
OBAMA’S TAYLOR PHILLIPS SCORED 23 POINTS IN THE TEAM’S WIN OVER BRASHEAR.
Was endurance a problem for Obama’s star junior Taylor Phillips? Probably not, as she led the Eagles with 23 points—12 points in the first half, 11 in the second half. She also had a few fierce blocks and a few Steph Curry 3’s that got the crowd on their feet. In all, the Eagles outscored the Bulls in the second half, 31-12.
“We started off a little slow but we just kept at it, stayed disciplined and we knew eventually, our shots were going to start falling,” Phillips told the Courier.
In addition to Phillips, senior GiOnna Simmons had eight second-half points, 14 total for the game for Obama.
The quest for the City League girls championship is up for grabs with roughly 10 days left before the regular season ends and the playoffs begin. Allderdice won its first five City League games and has a team that features star sophomore guard Bailey White. Westinghouse was tied with Obama for second in the City League standings (4-1) as of Monday night, Jan. 29. Carrick was tied with Brashear in-conference (1-4), while Perry, as of Jan. 29, was still searching for its first win in-conference.
About Post Author
