Lions stun Cougars in state championship game
ACA brings another title back to Swannanoa
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
February 28, 2022
A pair of late 3-pointers by ACA junior and co-Conference Player of the Year Emma Larios, tied the NCISAA 3A Girls Basketball State Championship game at Winthrop University, Feb. 26. The Lions would go on to win the title with a 48-44 overtime victory. Photo by Fred McCormick
As the NCISAA 3A Girls Basketball State Championship game entered its final seconds on the court at Winthrop University, Feb. 26, all indications pointed to High Point Christian Academy coming away with the title. On the other end of the court, however, Asheville Christian Academy had other plans.
Overcoming the odds has been the standard operating procedure for the Lions this season, and as they appeared in their fourth championship contest in five years, leadership and big-time playmaking took over.
Junior guard Emma Larios, co-Carolina Athletic Conference Player of the Year whose knack for hitting timely long-range shots played a key role in her team’s 17-9 season, knocked down consecutive 3-pointers in the final seconds of regulation against the Cougars. The dramatic sequence of plays tied the game, 42-42, forcing the teams into overtime.
The Lions would get another critical play in the extra period from their other co-Conference Player of the Year, junior Evangelia Paulk, who blocked a potentially game-tying shot before corralling the loose ball and connecting with Elizabeth Harrington for a layup, clinching a 48-44 victory for ACA.
“I’m proud of them for finding a way, and winning when it was winning time,” Lions head coach John Williams said of his team’s performance in Rock Hill, S.C. “Especially when the odds were against us, they kept an upbeat mentality and the right body language to see it through to the end.”
The state championship is the second in three seasons for ACA, which last won the title in 2020, after falling in the finals in 2018. The Lions lost, 58-57, to Concord Academy in the 2021 championship game. But, the team’s leaders wouldn’t be stopped this year, according to the head coach.
“Emma came through for us, hitting those big 3s to get us into overtime,” Williams said. “There’s nothing more deflating than being in a position to win a game in regulation, and the other team comes back and finds a way to send it to overtime. So, the momentum was in our favor at that point.”
The Lions grabbed an early 2-point lead in the extra minutes.
“Then Evangelia got a huge block, and passed it ahead to Liz for the layup, and that’s game,” Williams said.
Junior and co-Conference Player of the Year Evangelia Paulk represents half of a duo ACA head coach John Williams calls the “queens of the state” for the 2021-22 State Champion Lions. Photo by Fred McCormick
ACA struggled early on the offensive end against High Point Christian Academy, which entered the contest with a 20-9 record. While the pressure of a championship game environment impacted the usually reliable outside shooting of the Lions, the junior-heavy roster played through it, even as the Cougars established a 15-point lead late in the third quarter.
“At that point I told them let’s focus on getting singles, not home runs,” Williams said. “It started with us getting defensive stops.”
The players relied on their experience with the three-and-out drill Williams and his staff of Hope Ramsey and Joey Harrell frequently run in practice.
“In that drill, you have to get three defensive stops in a row to get off the court,” Williams said. “In order for you to do that, you have to close out with your hands up, be available in the gaps and be able to box out your opponent. And, it’s not over when you box out, you have to get the rebound and control the ball for it to be a defensive stop.”
With a focus on sustained defensive intensity, the Lions clawed their way to within striking distance.
“It would be easy to say Emma hit two impossible shots, but I can’t call them impossible anymore because she’s been doing that all year,” Williams said. “The kid knows how to win, she wants the moment and she’s been practicing and training to hit those shots in those moments.”
The late comeback victory in the state championship game might have seemed stunning to those unfamiliar with the ACA program this season, but in reality it was just the latest hurdle for the team to overcome in 2021-22.
The Lions entered the campaign with seven players - six juniors and freshman - on the roster, before losing its most versatile player, Katie Alexander, only five games into the season.
“She’s the heart and soul of our team,” Williams said of Alexander, who has been a vocal supporter for her teammates on the bench since suffering a season-ending injury. “She’s so serviceable in so many areas of the game, whether that’s scoring, facilitating the offense, being our safety valve on defense, you see how impactful she is. Her IQ is out of this world, and losing her exposed some of our blemishes and holes.”
ACA girls basketball coaching staff, John Williams, center, Joey Harrell, right, and Hope Ramsey led a roster that featured only six players to the team’s second NCISAA 3A State Championship in three years. Photo by Fred McCormick
Losing Alexander left the ACA roster with six players for the majority of the season.
Larios, whose younger sister Sara is the sole freshman starter on the Lions squad, responded favorably to the coaching adjustments, emerging as the team’s top scoring option. Paulk, who transferred to ACA from Asheville High School prior to the season, averaged around 13 points per game in her first season with Lions, while leading the team in rebounding and blocked shots.
“Those two are champions,” Williams said of Larios and Paulk. “They both put in a ton of work to get to that moment, and they turned into the leaders we needed. They take their skill development and work seriously, and they’re pillars in the classroom and outstanding representatives of our team.”
Williams calls the duo “queens of the state.”
“This whole team is a special group,” he said. “We came into the season with seven players who love the game, want to play it, and don’t care where or why. They were thrown into the fire, and with the way they responded, they’ll go down in history at this school.”