Spring Garden’s Ace Austin scored 35 points as the top-ranked Panthers powered their way to a 63-31 victory over No. 7 Marion County for a second straight Class 1A state title on Thursday at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena in Birmingham. It was also the second consecutive win over Marion County for the crown.

“The only comment I got is how proud I am of this team and their want to be back-to-back champions,” Spring Garden coach Ricky Austin said. “I am blessed. This is such a fun group and I am glad to see them rewarded like this.”

Spring Garden (33-1) shot out to a 13-2 lead more than halfway through the opening period, surging ahead on an 8-0 run powered by Austin and Maggie Jarrett, but Marion County’s Jasmine Wilson and Bekah Junkin produced a 7-3 run to cut the lead to 7 points with 1:15 left in the quarter.

Libby Brown splashed a second straight 3-pointer and Chloe Rule scored on the final Spring Garden possession to give the Panthers a 21-9 lead entering the second period.

Wilson scored 5 straight points for Marion County to open the second quarter, but the Red Raiders managed only 7 more points as the Panthers closed out the period with a 13-7 run to grab a 34-21 advantage at the halftime break. Austin and Rule combined for all 13 points for Spring Garden in the second period.

Rule and Marion County’s Lily Robinson exchanged layups to start the second half before Austin took control on a dominating 14-4 personal run to close out the third quarter. She had two 6-0 runs during the period and finished 6-of-7 shooting from the field, along with a pair of free throws.

Marion County (18-15) went 1-of-5 in the final period, Robinson scoring on an early 3-pointer, and could not overcome Austin’s third-quarter dominance. Spring Garden senior Maggie Reedy got in the game in the final minute and knocked down an open 3-pointer to cap the scoring with 20 seconds remaining in the game.

“I love Maggie Reedy more than anything,” Rule said. “We like to see everyone on the team succeed. When I get to see my little Maggie Reedy succeed, it just makes me so happy.”

Star of the game: Austin. The junior point guard and Alabama basketball commit posted a double-double with a both a game-high 35 points and 12 rebounds with 4 assists and 4 steals. She was 15-of-25 shooting overall and 75 percent from inside 3-point range and scored 14 straight points during a game-sealing third period run.

“He (Ricky Austin, the coach and her dad) told me to just shoot my jump shot and not fade way from that. At the beginning I did, but once I knocked down those two shot jump shots, I was able to get them to fall,” she said.

Stat sheet: Spring Garden – Rule finished with 10 points, 9nine rebounds and 2 steals, followed by Brown and Jarrett with 6 points each and a combined 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 steals. Olivia Law did not score, but brought down 9 rebounds and forced 2 steals, and Kristen Lewis and Reedy contributed 3 points each. Marion County – Wilson led the Raiders with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and Junkin had 8 points and 2 assists. Robinson had 5 points and 4 rebounds, and Kate Jolie Cox had 4 points and 6 rebounds.

By the numbers: The Panthers shot 45.6 percent overall while holding Marion County to 37.1 percent from the field. Spring Garden owned the rebounding battle with a plus-13 edge on the glass and forced 18 turnovers that resulted in 21 points.

“It is a key point for everything we do,” Rule said. “I think we live by the motto ‘defense wins championships’”

Did you know? Spring Garden is now 9-3 in state title games after its second straight over Marion County.

Coachspeak: “They (community) wanted it as bad as we did, no doubt. We started regional practice and we three of our elderly guys who sit on the front row come to practice, and they started asking questions. It speaks volumes to have three like that, but the whole community is like that. It’s something they expect now, they have a high standard for us.” – Spring Garden’s Ricky Austin

“What an honor to be back here another year. Our kids played hard but it’s like going against a giant today. I’m proud to be their coach and the future is bright. I love these kids and our team and we’re proud to be here.” – Marion County’s Scott Veal

They said it: “They (seniors) mean a lot to us in multiple ways. They make us better people and better players on the court.” – Ace Austin

“It really just means everything. We’ve been working so hard and the satisfaction to know that we can go out this way is more than I can ask for.” – Chloe Rule

“Working your whole life toward something like this, it feels greatly rewarded.” – Libby Brown