AHSAA BASKETBALL STATE TOURNAMENT: Scottsboro edges Ramsay for program’s first state title
Story by Jason Bowen
As the buzzer sounded throughout Birmingham’s Legacy Arena, the Scottsboro girls basketball team began a celebration many envisioned possible nearly a decade earlier.
A group of players billed as state-championship material as far back as elementary school delivered No. 2-ranked Scottsboro its first AHSAA High School Girls Basketball State Championship thanks to a 54-53 win over top-ranked Ramsay Saturday morning.
“They’re all Scottsboro kids, they’ve all played together from the time they were really young — Shane Small and Cully (Nelson) coached them (then) — and we’ve built for this ever since then,” said Scottsboro head coach Brandon Childers. “It’s been really special for it to come together like it has.”
Scottsboro (28-5) returned all five starters and its top-four reserves from last year’s state runner-up team and entered this season as a state-title favorite, but senior Bree Sexton said that pressure never bothered the Wildcats.
“This whole postseason, I just felt like we were going to win (the state championship) this year,” Sexton said. “If we just keep putting up the fight, there was no way we could lose.”
“It’s been a lot of pressure on these kids, but they’ve handled it really well, sticking together and being there for each other,” Childers said. “They worked harder than ever before. Proud of the kids and what they did for our high school.”
The Scottsboro girls basketball program became the third SHS athletic program this academic year to win its first state championship, joining boys swimming and girls bowling. Counting the wrestling's program's state titles in the duals and traditional formats, SHS teams have won five state championships during the 2024-25 school year.
Scottsboro and Ramsay traded baskets in the early going before the Wildcats took a 14-9 lead after one quarter. Scottsboro built a double-figure lead, 30-20, on Izzy Nelson’s layup with 1:46 left in the second quarter, but Ramsay (29-8) finished the first half with a flurry to close within 30-28 at halftime. The Rams momentum carried over into the third quarter, and they seemingly had Scottsboro on ropes after taking a seven-point lead. But Nelson drained a long buzzer-beating 3-pointer to pull Scottsboro within 43-39 at the end of the third quarter, and Childers said the shot set the stage for his team’s fourth-quarter rally.
“(Nelson) was about 26 feet out on that 3 and made it,” he said. “It changed the momentum.”
Scottsboro scored two baskets in the first 16 seconds of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 43-all when Nelson scored in the post and Sexton made a layup following a Ramsay turnover. The Rams went back in front 47-43 with 6:26 remaining, but a 3-pointer from Perkins after a Sexton steal and a Perkins layup on an assist from Nelson put the Wildcats in front for good with 5:25 remaining. Nelson scored on a putback for a 50-47 Scottsboro lead with 5:09 left, and Perkins ended a nearly two-minute scoring drought for the Wildcats when she scooped up a loose ball for a layup after Mia Martin’s defensive effort forced a Ramsay turnover.
“We got in a rut offensively in the third quarter,” said Childers, whose team turned 20 Ramsay turnovers into 15 points. “We had to just take some chances, (go) zone-press crazy (and) it worked out. Got us some steals, got us some pick-twos (layups off turnovers), got us a lead back.”
Sexton’s layup with 1:20 remaining gave the Wildcats a 54-49 advantage, but free throws helped Ramsay claw to within 54-52 with less than 10 seconds remaining. Scottsboro was then called for a foul after committing a turnover on an inbounds pass with 5.5 seconds remaining, but Ramsay made just one of the two foul shots to cut the Scottsboro lead to 54-53. Perkins was then fouled on the inbounds pass with 3.1 seconds left, and although she missed both foul shots, the second miss worked out perfectly for the Wildcats, bouncing off the rim and into the corner, where it was retrieved by teammate Caroline Dawson as time expired and the celebration began.
“So excited I got to win (a state championship) with this group because I love this group so much,” Sexton said. “First state champions in (program) history. I’m just so happy.”
Sexton finished with a team-high 15 points along with four rebounds and four steals for Scottsboro while fellow senior and fellow all-state tournament team selection Perkins had 13 points, four assists and four steals. Nelson, the Class 5A State Tournament MVP, totaled 11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, four blocked shots and three steals for the Wildcats, who also got five points, one assist and one steal from Abigail Shelton, four points, three rebounds, four assists and one steal from Dawson, three points and one assist from Tatum Shelton, three points and two rebounds from Martin, two rebounds from Ella White and one rebound from Grace White.
Nayla Wesley tallied 15 points and 10 rebounds for Ramsay while McKenzie Davis added 14 points and Camilyah Rowe had nine points and 10 rebounds.
“It was definitely a tough battle,” Nelson said, “but we toughed it out.”
After the buzzer sounded, Perkins said she was gripped with varying emotions.
“Getting a state championship, I’ve dreamed about this since I was a little girl. It’s just amazing to see a dream come true,” Perkins said. “I just froze for a second, then I looked at girls (celebrating) and got excited. Then I was a little sad because it hit me that it was my last game. But it couldn’t end any better.”
