It was obvious how much helping her Polk County basketball team claim its second consecutive District 4-2A tournament championship meant to Callie Brewer. The senior point guard showed plenty of emotion as she made two key baskets in the final two minutes Monday to help the Lady Wildkittens pull away late for a 45-35 championship victory over Tyner at Brainerd High School.
Brewer was once again a smooth floor general in leading her team with 14 points, five assists and four steals, earning district tournament MVP honors for a second straight year.
After Polk County improved to 18-10 overall, Brewer, who has scored over 1,000 points in her prep career while also maintaining a 4.0 GPA and being named Miss PCHS by her senior classmates, posted on her Twitter, “Back 2 Back!! Beyond proud of this group of girls for all we have persevered through! Undefeated District 4-AA champs.”
Aubrey Long scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half for Polk County, which also got two second half 3-pointers from Ally Combs.
Tyner (13-12) put up a fight, especially through the play of Shy Harrison and her teammates as they fought to score a dozen second chance points in the game.
The speedy Harrison scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in the first half and finished with six steals. She made tough mid-range shots repeatedly in the first half to help the Lady Rams lead 24-23 at halftime.
“Shy has been huge and irreplaceable,” Tyner first-year coach Xavier Marshall said. “Her game has really developed and she still has so much untapped potential. When I first took the job here, I told her that we are going to depend on you to be a leader. She has answered that and much more. You don’t ever have to coach effort with her.”
Harrison’s offensive game has stepped up after an injury to freshman teammate Leya Mitchell, who was averaging 15 points and six rebounds per game before injuring her knee in the last game of the regular season.
With the Lady Rams looking to cut their deficit to two with under three minutes left to play, Brewer made a big stop against Harrison on a drive that helped the Lady Wildkittens begin to pull away.
“Polk is not undefeated in our district by accident,” coach Marshall said. “We have hung tough with them our last two meetings, but late in the fourth quarter you have to keep your composure and put your foot down. You have to go get it because a solid and experienced team like that isn’t going to give it to you.”
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.
