Asia Patin stepped to the line Saturday with 17 seconds remaining and calmly sank a pair of free throws to extend Southern Lab’s lead to five points.
And the No. 1 Lady Kittens, continuing their smothering defense from the entire afternoon, didn’t allow No. 2 J.S. Clark Leadership another shot attempt as they put the final clamps on their third straight Division-IV Select championship, 43-38.
“Great game,” Southern Lab coach Krystal Huggins said. “I think that my girls, they stayed poised, and they controlled the tempo. That was one of the things that I said to them. We took a run, and we kinda started moving fast and trying to rush it, and I said, ‘Hey, we’ve gotta control this tempo. We’re not gonna allow them to speed us up.'”
J.S. Clark’s 38 points marked its second-lowest scoring output of the season and lowest since Dec. 30, 2025.
And, at the most critical time, the Kittens were able to hold the Bulldogs without a single field goal for the final four-plus minutes to close out the contest.
Patin, junior guard Kori Wesley and company hounded ball-handlers, deflected dribbles and passes and forced turnovers.
And freshman post player Bre’aile Clark blocked five shots to highlight the Kittens’ all-around effort closing out on and altering shots.
“That’s something that if you’ve watched us all year, that we do day in and day out,” Huggins said. “We are a full-court pressing team. We’re gonna pick up man-to-man. We can switch to maybe a zone, but for the most part we like to play man-to-man. And we’re quick. We’re gonna speed you up, and we’re gonna make you turn the ball over. So I think that our girls did what we prepare for all year. Not just for this game or the semifinals, but all year we prepared to play a full-court man and pressure the ball and not allow you to get a shot up.”
The Lady Bulldogs made the Kittens work, too, though.
Southern Lab’s five-point margin of victory was its first single-digit game during the current three-peat run or in any of its four titles in the past five years.
J.S. Clark led as late as midway through the third quarter and remained squarely on the Kittens’ heels until the combination of disruptive defense and a couple missed opportunities cut the rally short in the final minutes.
“You win with grace, you lose with grace, but to God be the glory,” coach Dewaskie Fuller said. “I couldn’t ask for no more from this team. They did exactly what I wanted them to do. They left it all on the line. They played as hard as they could. We were told that this was the Southern Lab Invitational. Everybody thought it was gonna be a blowout. Everybody thought it was gonna be a cakewalk. And I feel like we gave them everything that they wanted. Ain’t no such thing as moral victories, but I guarantee you everybody knows who J.S. Clark is when we leave here today.
The first quarter and a half featured wild swings of lopsided runs before the teams finally settled into a tighter back and forth for the final few possessions of the half.
Southern Lab looked the part of a two-time defending champions out of the gate with the game’s first 10 points.
But J.S. Clark, a perennial contender in its own right, responded in kind with 17 unanswered.
“We just had to settle down,” Fuller said. “Don’t get me wrong, we have seniors that have been on this stage and played, but we also have players who have never been here. We were without one of our senior guards who would have been a tremendous help on the day, but she tore her meniscus, so we had to bring in some sophomores. And I think it was a little jittery.
“But I knew that once we settled down and once we started to follow the gameplan, we’ve been wanting Southern Lab all year long, so we knew that we could play with ’em and that if we got our heads out of it and just let our nerves rest, then we were gonna make it a game.”
Still, the Kittens were unfazed, mounting another 11-point run to reclaim the lead before halftime with their first of consistent answers to every J.S. Clark push.
“I was like, ‘We’re still good. They’re going on a run,’ but I know what we can do,” Patin said. “I know what we do as a team, the work we put in, the schedule that we had, we were built for moments like this. We got on defense, we got stops, and then we started scoring.”
Patin earned the game’s MVP honors with team-highs of 12 points and five assists, as well as six rebounds and a steal.
Wesley and freshman guard Shelby Johnson each scored eight and snatched four and two steals, respectively.
Junior forward Jamya Cain added seven points and six rebounds, and Clark scored six points, grabbed eight boards and blocked five shots.
“I’ve been to a couple different schools, and I told them just yesterday that I think that not that they’re ‘the best team,’ but they are the best team around when it comes to being a sisterhood,” Huggins said. “Everyone is genuinely happy for everybody. Somebody could not be having a good night, but they’ll be on the bench and about the jump on my back when I’m walking down because they’re cheering for their teammate. And that’s just amazing to see and it’s an amazing feeling to know that all of your girls whether they’re scoring or not, whether they’re having a good night, they’re genuinely happy for their sister.”
Sophomore guard Jailee Edwards and senior guard Taylor Barnaba paced J.S. Clark with 11 and 10 points, respectively, and three assists each.
Senior forward Hailey Robins and Edwards led the Bulldogs’ rebounding with nine and eight, respectively, and sophomore forward Mali’yah Crowden grabbed two steals.
