When the 3A Girls West Central District bracket was released, there weren’t many people outside of the nine players and two coaches that believed the Decatur Gators girls basketball team was capable of making the state tournament.

But a week later, the Gators clinched a spot in the year-end dance after a 36-26 win over Auburn Mountainview on Feb. 15.

Decatur came into the postseason with an 8-12 record and were named the number 14 seed in the district tournament.

The Gators began the tournament Feb. 13 with an upset on the road over Bellarmine, 44-41.

“They’re just hungry, I guess. They know we have to fight. We are not deep. They have to fight every game and possession,” Head Coach Morris Anderson said.

The Gators entered the playoffs losing four out of their last five games, but have now won three straight games heading into their semifinal matchup with White River.

In the regular season, the two sides split the season series. Decatur won the first game in the middle of December (56-49) and the Lions won the more recent fixture on Jan. 31, 49-34.

Decatur’s defense shined against the Lions from the get-go, but their offense needed a spark early. At the end of the first quarter, it was clear these two teams were evenly matched and defensively very physical with the Lions on top, 8-5.

The spark and difference maker came in the second quarter via Jayda Thomas for the Gators. The junior took over on offense after a tough first quarter shooting the ball, and more than made up for it in the second.

“She started off rough. I pulled her over to the bench and said let it go,” Anderson said.

Thomas scored 13 points in the second quarter alone, that is more than Auburn Mountainview scored in the first half. Thomas made a trio of three-pointers and had two fast-break layups to give Decatur a 22-10 halftime lead.

“It felt really good. Usually my mentals are really bad. I missed two open layups and I was really down on myself. But my team helped me get up and in the second quarter I just started thinking differently with the help of my team,” Thomas said.

Decatur was battling foul trouble all night, especially their starters. Jerralyn Sevaaetasi picked up three fouls in the first quarter, and Thomas had four fouls by the third quarter. But the only player to foul out was Kaylahna Cruz of Auburn Mountainview. Every Gator played until the final buzzer.

“It says a lot about that we know when not to foul. Listening to our coaches and knowing where we are at and supposed to be on defense and on offense,” Thomas said.

In the second half, Decatur struggled to find any offensive rhythm outside of Thomas. She added two third quarter points and six fourth quarter points. The rest of her team could only manage to score six points outside of her contributions.

But what kept Decatur in the lead was their rebounding, especially on the offensive glass. The Gators were able to pick up the loose balls, and bounces found the hands of the blue and gold. This allowed players like J’Dynn Cox-Mika to have nine points off three three-pointers.

“They’re young so once something works, they keep doing it. It worked,” Anderson said.

The success on the boards is a new achievement for the Gators, as Thomas says they are just now getting the benefits of that effort.

“We really suck at rebounds. Tonight and against Bellarmine we did really good on defensive and offensive rebounds. We talked a lot about it before the game, being there and crashing the boards,” Thomas said.

Decatur held the Lions to just five points in the third quarter and punched their ticket when the final horn sounded.

The Gators lost to number two White River, 62-49, on Feb. 19. The Gators will now wait for their state tournament seed for their first game. The state tournament begins on Feb. 25.

“We are in a great spot. I know we will do our best to be ready to go. Getting our ticket to state is not just it. We want to still keep playing well… A lot of people counted us out when we beat Bellarmine. You can’t count us out yet,” said Anderson.

Iyanna Waltar holds the ball for Decatur. Ben Ray / The Mirror