ACA dropped two of three games in the Capital City Conference Holiday Tournament to finish in sixth place. Alabama Christian opened the tournament against Catholic and lost a close battle 44-41. The Eagles were defeated by twenty points to Catholic earlier in the season, but played the Knights tough and had a lead in the final period, but couldn’t hold it and eventually fell by three points. Michaelyn Manning carried the offense with a game high 20 points with five assists, four rebounds and four steals. Manning’s combination of points and assists directly accounted for 30 of the team’s 41 points. Katelyn Sutton hit a couple of threes and finished with eight points while Katie Chappell scored four points and pulled down nine rebounds.
In the second game of the tournament, on Saturday, ACA played Area foe BTW and dominated with a 66-38 victory. The Lady Eagles led 16-4 after one and 40-12 at the half and cruised to the easy win over the Yellow Jackets. For the first time since 2009, when Audrey Ainsworth and Christina Hayes each scored 20 against Catholic, the Lady Eagles had two players score at least 20 points in a game. Michaelyn Manning led the way with 24 points and added six assists, six steals and five rebounds. Fellow senior, Sarah Johnson drained three 3-pointers on her way to a career high 21 points with six rebounds and three assists. Heather Ford joined Johnson as top rebounder for the game with six boards.
Katie Chappell fights for a rebound against St James.
In the final game of the tournament on Monday, ACA battled St James for the second time this season and were defeated 56-39. The Eagles fought all the way, but did not have enough to overcome the Trojans. With Manning in early foul trouble, the offense leaned on Sarah Johnson and she responded with a team high 16 points with three rebounds. Manning finished with 12 points and three rebounds while Katie Chappell scored five points and collected a team high nine rebounds.
The Lady Eagles (3-8) resume play on January 5th as they host Catholic.