“What a game.”

What an understatement.

Those were the words of Bob Jones head coach Tim Miller following the Lady Patriots’ come-from-behind victory over Hoover, 39-36, to claim the Class 6A state championship Saturday at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Miller said of his team, who was defeated last season by the Bucs in the 6A title game.

The Bucs (33-4) jumped out to an early lead in the opening period, and then extended it to six at the half.

“I told them ‘we’re down 6-0,’ and that’s how we looked at it,” Miller said.

In the second half, the Bucs scored the first five points to increase the Hoover lead to 11, but the Lady Patriots came storming back and went on a 10-0 to cut the deficit to one.

Down 30-28 to begin the final period, the Lady Patriots gained the lead for the first time on a free throw by Tierra Jones, but Hoover answered on a Breion Allen free throw.

Allen gave the Bucs the lead back on a three with just over 4 minutes remaining, but Katie Colson answered for the Patriots with a lay-up to cut the Hoover lead to one.

Tierra once again tied the game on a free throw, and then gave the lead back to the Patriots on a lay-up 1 minute later.

Allen pulled the Bucs back to within one by hitting the front end of two free throws, but Rikeya McKinnon was called for the lane violation following the missed second shot and Allen sank the third free throw to tie the game back up with less than a minute remaining.

Tierra sank one more at the charity stripe before DeAsha Campbell sank two free throws with 20 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

“They did not quit,” Miller said of his team. “They wanted it.”

Offensively for Bob Jones (31-7), Tierra led the way with 15 points.

“I know if I can just step up and score for my team, we can win,” Tierra said.

Jasmine Jones, who transferred from Sparkman at the start of season, was next for Bob Jones with nine points and 14 rebounds.

“She looks like the smartest girl in the world right now,” Miller said of Jasmine’s decision to transfer.

Joidon Jennings also had seven points in the victory.

For Hoover, Allen had a team-high 11 points, followed by Chardonae Fuqua with 10.

“There’s a lot of team’s that wish they had a red trophy,” said Hoover head coach Donnie Quinn of winning the Class 6A runner-up trophy. “We just didn’t shoot the ball well enough to win. We ran out of time and ran out of opportunities.”