After Andrew Jackson avenges loss to Bishop England, all eyes are on state title game

Andrew Jackson’s win in the girls state semifinal over Bishop England felt like redemption.

After the Volunteers blew a double-digit, halftime lead in a one-point loss to Bishop England in last year’s state semifinals, the Volunteers left no doubt on Saturday, racing away with a 56-33 win to book their second state championship appearance in three years.

“(It served as a boost to the whole team), especially the bench players who came in to contribute,” Andrew Jackson head coach Steven Fair said. “The girls really praised their play, the crowd praised the bench play. It was just phenomenal the way (the team) came out and had a laser-like focus defensively.”

With that opponent now in the rearview mirror, Andrew Jackson sets its sights on the state championship game.

Andrew Jackson will play Landrum at 2 p.m. March 1 for the Class 2A girls title at The Florence Center Arena in Florence.

Fair was the bus driver for the girls basketball team when they lost to Christ Church in the state championship game two years ago.

“I remember the entire team from top to bottom, bottom to the top, was an emotional wreck,” Fair said. “At the time, everybody’s crying, everybody’s hurting. Christ Church had a very good team, they had the 2A player of the year at the time, she had a phenomenal game, and we started out slow and couldn’t recover.”

The top three scorers from that year’s team — Tamia Watkins, Ni’Yonna Asbelle and Emiley McCall — are on this team.

Fair said that experience has stuck with the team and motivated them to be on the winning side this time around.

“They’ve been there before,” Fair said. “They were a lot younger. Now, they’re two years older, and they have a lot more experience. They still have that burning fire from a missed opportunity two years ago.”

Andrew Jackson’s gameplan is going to be the same as it has been throughout its playoff run: lean on 2A Player of the Year Watkins and let that open up opportunities for other players like all-state guard Asbelle.

Watching the film, Fair sees where and how Landrum likes to run its offense, and he’s not the only one on the team who’s completely locked in.

“We had another film session today, and (my players) actually pointed out some things on the film themselves versus me pointing out some stuff, so that was good to see,” Fair said. “It’s good to know that they’re really, really honed in on what we want to do as a team.”

He said defense will play a huge role in the game for Andrew Jackson, especially running them off the 3-point line.

“All five starters can shoot the ball really well. Kaylee Cortez, she’s the leading scorer. She can score at all three levels. They do a lot of backdoor cutting, a lot of shuffle cuts, a lot of UCLA cuts,” Fair said. “They do a lot of different things. They have a very good basketball team, and they’re well coached.”