Story By Heath Hambrick
The Fort Payne Lady Wildcats are area champions for the first time since 2020. The Lady Wildcats got redemption Monday night as they defeated the Southside Panthers 67-44. Last season, Fort Payne won the regular season title but lost on their home floor in the area final to Gadsden City.
Fort Payne led at the end of each quarter (23-14, 37-18, 51-30, 67-44).
Southside scored the first bucket of the game, but then the Lady Wildcats went on a 14-3 run to take an 11-point lead midway through the opening quarter. Four different Fort Payne players found the bottom of the net in the first quarter: Claire Carter, Kinsley Worthy, Naomi Wise, and Zimri Craig.
The Lady Wildcats' defense played a crucial role in initiating the scoring. Fort Payne picked up seven steals in the quarter, which all led to points. Worthy was a machine with her defensive play, which made it tough on the Panthers.
In the second quarter, Wise made a three-point basket early to extend the Fort Payne lead to 10, 26-16, but then it was all Craig as she accounted for 10 points in the quarter. Carter also scored a basket as Fort Payne took a 19-point lead to halftime.
In the second half, the Lady Wildcats maintained their double-digit lead, and at one point in the quarter, it had grown as large as 24 points.
Fort Payne started the final quarter with a 21-point lead but gave up an old-fashioned three-point play to allow Southside to get the lead under 20. That was short-lived as the Lady Wildcats, thanks to Craig, Wise, Worthy, and a three-pointer from Lucy Weatherly, pushed the lead back to 26.
With 3:29 to go in the game, Coach Steve Sparks took his starters out of the game with a 27-point lead and allowed some of the younger Lady Wildcats to get the experience of playing in an area championship game. Fort Payne closed the game with a 23-point victory.
Zimri Craig led Fort Payne with 23 points, Naomi Wise scored 16 points, and Claire Carter added 10 points.
“This wasn’t our best game, but I thought we played well. We are happy to be area champions, but we have told the girls that we want to be our best at the end of the season, we have to keep working, take one game at a time, and continue to get better every day,” said Fort Payne Head Coach Steve Sparks.
The Lady Wildcats improve to 24-4 on the season and extend their winning streak to 18 games. Fort Payne will be back at home Friday night for the Northeast Sub-Regional, where they will take on either Mountain Brook or Huffman, who play Tuesday night.
