Lincoln’s Day: Huskies complete undefeated seasons with EBL titles

It was a Lincoln Day of celebration.

CSA Lincoln capped off its first undefeated seasons in school history with wins in the Elementary Basketball League girls and boys championship games on Super Saturday at Columbus North High School.

“It’s something special,” Lincoln boys coach Randy Hammond said. “I try to tell these boys all year, ‘One game at a time.’ They were making history tonight. They will remember this when they’re my age. It’s lifetime memories, and I’m glad to be a part of it and a part of this school. It’s such an amazing thing. We have a great group of parents, boys and it’s an amazing feeling.”

Girls

Bella Slate has been tagging along to North girls basketball practices and games in Memorial Gym her entire life with her mom Ashley Slate and grandfather Jim Hilderbrand, who have been assistant coaches for the Bull Dogs. So when Bella finally got a chance to play in the big arena, she didn’t disappoint.

Bella scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Lincoln to a 28-13 win against Richards in the girls title game.

“I’ve always wanted to play on North’s floor,” she said. “I’ve played scrimmages and stuff like that, but I’ve never played a real game on it. I’m glad that the fans were there, and I’m just glad to be out there and win on North’s court.”

Ashley, who coaches the Lincoln team, was happy to have Bella on the floor for the entire game. In the regular-season meeting between the two teams, she was saddled with foul trouble, and the Huskies won by only one point.

“Bella didn’t get herself in foul trouble (Saturday), so that helped us,” Ashley Slate said. “I took Bella out the first game, and they went on a 10-0 run. We also put in a box-and-one play to get Bella open, and shots fell. They played phenomenal, and that was my thing in the locker room — if Bella gets taken out of the ballgame, someone else has to step up, and there were quite a few girls that stepped up today.”

That included Peyton Bailey, who added seven points and four rebounds, to go along with a collective team defensive effort that forced 19 turnovers and limited the Raiders to 6 of 35 shooting from the field.

“I feel like we played good on defense,” Bella Slate said. “I’m so proud of my team.”

While Lincoln was making its first finals appearance in a decade, this was Richards’s third consecutive title game appearance. The Raiders finished second two years ago and won last season.

“I’m happy with the way they played,” Richards coach Dick Macy said. “We played a good team. We knew it was going to be a challenge. We didn’t play as well as I thought we should have, but they played hard.”

Ella Macedo Gonzalez led Richards with four points. Jada Fields grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Raiders to a 31-26 advantage on the boards.

“I thought it was a pretty good game,” Richards’ Alivia Kellems said. “I thought we played hard, but we could have done better.”

Boys

Lincoln was cruising along with a 30-15 lead midway through the third quarter when Southside caught fire.

The Mustangs scored 15 points in a row in a span of a little more than 4 1/2 minutes to tie the game, only to see the Huskies put up the game’s final 10 points to claim a 40-30 victory for their first EBL boys championship.

“Basketball is a game of runs,” Lincoln coach Randy Hammond said. “They were going on a run, and we just needed to slow the game down, and I knew that we would go on a run of our own. We were sitting back in a zone, and they were kind of breaking our zone, so in that timeout, we went back to man(-to-man), and that’s when we went on our run.”

The game turned after Southside tied the game at 30-30 with 6:18 left in the game. With just under 5 minutes remaining, the Huskies’ Cyrus Broaddus hit the go-ahead basket and was fouled. Broaddus missed the free throw, but Will Andress grabbed the rebound, scored, was fouled and completed the three-point play for a 35-30 lead.

“It was pretty big,” Andress said. “It gave us enough momentum to win the game.”

“We kind of just lost all motivation after that,” Southside coach Chris Bodart added. “They fought hard all night long, and they hustled, even though we were pretty winded there in the first half.”

Bryson Sanders led the Mustangs with eight points and 14 rebounds. Hayden Burt scored seven points, DeAndre Ash had six points and Blake Plummer added five points and 10 rebounds for Southside, which finished runner-up for the second straight year.

Broaddus finished with 14 points to lead Lincoln. Andress had 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Brooks Devers added six points and 11 rebounds.

“It was getting tight,” Andress said. “We were kind of getting nervous, but we kind of brought it back.”

“We just needed to move the ball and cut and screen,” Broaddus added. “We’ve been working hard all season, and we pulled it off.”

CSA Lincoln girls 28, Richards 13

Richards;2;5;4;2;—;13

CSA Lincoln;12;10;4;2;—;28

Richards: Delaney Crider 1 0-0 2, Alivia Kellems 0 1-4 1, Ella Macedo Gonzalez 2 0-0 4, Brynn Kelley 0 0-0 0, Rylyn Dale 1 0-0 2, Emily Lawson 0 0-0 0, Haley Cave 0 0-0 0, Olivia Trevey 1 0-0 2, Ryleigh Jones 0 0-0 0, Jada Fields 1 0-2 2, Karolin Voelz 0 0-0 0, Manasui Phatak 0 0-0 0. Totals: 6 1-6 13.

CSA Lincoln: Isabelle Kaiser 1 0-0 2, Adela Garmene 0 0-0 0, Aivah Warsi 1 0-0 2, Lilly Garrett 0 0-0 0, Daryn Vogel 0 0-0 0, Bella Slate 4 5-9 13, Peyton Bailey 3 1-2 7, Annabelle McClain 2 0-0 4, Knelijah Simpson 0 0-0 0, Lani Mathis 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 6-11 28.

CSA Lincoln boys 40, Southside 30

Southside;5;8;11;6;—;30

CSA Lincoln;6;14;10;10;—;40

Southside: Braxton Minett 0 0-0 0, Will Burnett 0 0-0 0, Michael Bodart 0 0-0 0, Hayden Burt 3 1-4 7, Blake Plummer 2 1-2 5, Daniel Nordyke 0 0-0 0, DeAndre Ash 3 0-0 6, Knox Gaddis 0 0-0 0, Everett Watts 1 0-0 2, Clifton Miller 0 0-0 0, Bryson Sanders 3 2-7 8, Carter Chastain 1 0-0 2. Totals: 13 4-13 30.

CSA Lincoln: Cyrus Broaddus 7 0-3 14, Colin Robertson 2 1-2 5, Leo Miller 1 0-0 2, Drace Vera 0 0-0 0, Paxton Hammond 1 0-0 2, Brooks Devers 2 2-2 6, Will Andress 5 1-1 11. Totals: 18 4-8 40.