To get a clear view of how dominant the Olmstead girls have been in winning three straight championships of the Logan County Middle School Tournament, consider this: Although the Lady Rams doubled the score on Adairville in Tuesday’s championship game, the Lady Cardinals came more than twice as close to OMS as their past two opponents in the finals had done.
Olmstead won 40-20 this year. The previous two years the scores had been 42-8 and 43-8. That’s domination.
Coach Todd Webb’s Lady Cardinals made a game of it early. They led Olmstead 6-4 on a pair of goals by Lauren Batten and one by Ann-Meguiar Bouldin. But the Lady Rams tied it at 6-6 when Kathryn Smith scored on an assist from Logan Williamson at the buzzer.
Then Olmstead dominated the rest of the game, leading 20-9 at the half and 27-15 after three quarters.
Free throw shooting played a big role. Williamson hit 7 of 8 foul shots and LeeAnn Coots 4 of 4. The team went 12 of 16 for the game. Williamson finished with 11 points and Coots with 10. Batten had 7 for the Lady Cardinals and Amanda Crutchfield 5.
The four constants for the Lady Rams during their remarkable run has been team play, the coaching of Daniel Alvis and Chris Wilcutt, and the floor leadership of Williamson, who has been the point guard in all three championship seasons. Fellow eighth graders Coots, Claire Wilson and Kameron Higgins have been part of those titles, too. In the last three years, the Lady Rams have won over 50 games and have gone undefeated against the other four county teams, Coach Wilcutt notes.
“Composure, fundamentals, and team basketball were the difference,” Coach Alvis says.“These are some of the components that we stress in the Lady Ram program.”
Olmstead reached the championship game with a 32-15 win over Lewisburg Saturday. The Lady Rams led 11-2 and 20-5 at the first two stops. Coots and Williamson each scored 8 to lead Alvis’ team. Karson Inscoe got over half the points for Coach Travis Anderson’s LMS girls with 9. She and Caitlin Hardison were the team’s only eighth graders.
Lewisburg had taken a narrow victory over Chandlers in the opening game of the tournament. Meredith Johnson scored 8 for the game, and Kela Heltsley got all 6 of her points in the fourth quarter of an 18-15 win.
Chandlers put the pressure on Lewisburg by scoring 8 points in the final period, 7 of them by Amber Carroll. A key player on the Lady Bears’ county champion volleyball team, Carroll took game honors with 11 points, but no other player on Coach Stanley Fleming’s team managed over a pair of points.
Adairville was impressive in a 31-23 win over Auburn in the other semifinal Saturday. It was a balanced attack for the Lady Cardinals. Batten scored 8, Taylor Ward 7 and Bouldin 6.
Coach Josh Hall’s Lady Tigers were, like Lewisburg, very young. Victoria Welsh was the only eighth grader and Teanna Gray the only seventh grader. Sixth grader Sarah Beth Hale had an impressive 9 points while hitting a trio of 3-pointers. In fact, sixth graders scored 19 of the 23 Aubuurn points.
Like their boys team, the Adairville girls were without an injured player, Lauren Barnes, who suffered a broken arm in the same week that Cardinals Austin Rayno and Jackson Campbell went down with damaged appendages.
Assisting Coach Todd Webb of Adairville were Bill Hendricks, Jennifer Webb and Amy Hallman. Jerald Tabb and Brian White assisted Coach Anderson on the Lewisburg team. Adam Decker and Fleming are co-coaches for Chandlers.
Championship Game
Score by quarters: 1) 6-6, 2) OMS 20-9, 3) 27-15, Final) Olmstead 50, Adairville 20
OMS (40) Logan Williamson 11, LeeAnn Coots 10, Abi Lindsey 6, Kathryn Smith 4, Kameron Higgins 2, Blayke Bingham 2, Ginny Edwards 2, Claire Wilson 2, Carlie Alvis 1, Madison Stratton, Jessica Hines, Joni Arnold, Shannon Bryant, Paige Vanzant, Peyton Vanzant
AMS (20) Lauren Batten 7, Amanda Crutchfield 5, Taylor Ward 4, Ann-Meguiar Bouldin 2, Rachel Pitts 2, Lindsay Allen, Jordan Woodard, Olivia Bouldin, Kristen Hendricks, Hannah Mimms, Brittany Garrett, Jessalyn Robey, Kennedy Nichols, Kayleigh Harlan
Semifinals
Score by quarters: 1) OMS 11-2, 2) 20-5, 3) 26-12, Final) Olmstead 32, Lewisburg 15
OMS (32) Coots 8, Williamson 8, Smith 7, Lindsey 4, Stratton 2, Bryant 2, Edwards 1, Higgins, Bingham, Alvis, Hines, Wilson
LMS (15) Karson Inscoe 9, Madison Collins 3, Maleea Reno 2, Meredith Johnson 1, Caitlin Hardison, Keila Heltsley, Mackeenzie Blair, Maria Wells, Hanna Goss, Addie White, Sydney Lee, Gracie Christian
Semifinals
Score by quarters: 1) AdMS 15-7, 2) 19-10, 3) 26-13, Final) Adairville 31, Auburn 23
ADAIRVILLE (31) Batten 8, Ward 7, A. Bouldin 6, Crutchfield 3, Woodard 3, Nichols 3,, Pitts 1, Garrett, Mimms, O/ Bouldin, Hendricks, Harlan, Robey
AUBURN (23) Sarah Beth Hale 9, Karrah Cron 4, Macie Hunt 4, Teanna Gray 2, Victoria Welsh 2, Jilliam McLellan 2, Rosie Kerchenski, Jamicia Key,
OPENING ROUND
Score by quarters: 1) LMS 6-2, 2) 8-3, 3) 11-9, Final) Lewisburg 18, Chandlers 15
LMS (18) Johnson 8, Heltsley 6, Inscoe 2, Reno 2, Hardison, Collins, Goss
CMS (15) Amber Carroll 11, Alexis Chick 2, Kassidy Justice 1, Shelby Rigsby 1, Dixie Shoemake, Catlyn Abney, Jaycee Buckner, Onahka Fuller, Chelsea Cummings