HANCEVILLE — Issac Weissend avoided a scoreless fourth quarter by hitting four straight from the foul line in the final 36 seconds to preserve a 55-49 Hanceville Bulldog triumph over the Good Hope Raiders Friday night.
Weissend had been one of four Bulldogs who delivered scoring on knocking down five field goals. His free throws allowed the Bulldogs to take a 2-point lead and extend it, spoiling the debut of Chris Harris who is the new coach at Good Hope.
Things started well for Harris' team. Good Hope led 2-0 before time elapsed. A technical foul was called on Hanceville for Luke Duffie having the wrong number listed on him in the scorebook.
The Raiders led 8-0 less than 2:00 after the technical, but Hanceville showed poise and fought back to get the game tied at 16-16 at the end of the quarter.
One person who helped rescue the Bulldogs was freshman RJ Evans. He came off the bench and scored three field goals from close range. That with scoring from the perimeter by Weissend, JK Davis, and Xavier Malcom created balance for Daniel Wakefield's team.
Hanceville led 31-21 late in the second with Good Hope going on an 8-0 spurt to finish the half, trailing only 31-29.
Issac McDonald scored a three in this run with Kenneth Lyle netting three from the line and a layup by Garrett Bagwell.
A Matt Cofer field goal early in the third evened the score at 31-31. Hanceville then struck for seven consecutive points and never trailed the rest of the night. The Bulldogs were ahead 46-41 at the end of the third.
Down 51-43 with time winding down, the Raiders made their last comeback. A three by McDonald closed it to 51-49.
They had a chance to tie, but missed as Weissend got fouled with 36 seconds left. He put the Bulldogs up 53-49 with two in a row and added two more from the stripe 12 seconds later.
Good Hope didn't score the rest of the way and Hanceville ran out the clock to go home 1-0 on the season.
Weissend's four free throws pushed him on top of the leaderboard in scoring with 16, Evans wound up with 14, Davis scored 12 on four treys, and Malcom had 11.
Cofer was impressive in his first game back at Good Hope after playing last year at Cullman. Cofer scored 19, McDonald hit for 11, and Moniz tossed in eight.
Good Hope 66, Hanceville 37 (Girls)
Mixing veterans with youngsters, Good Hope controlled the second half by a 37-16 margin. The Lady Raiders were up 29-21 at the break and forced Hanceville to go into its bench with starters Taylor Hollingsworth and Karmen Johnson picking up their fourth personal foul early in the third.
That gave Good Hope what it needed to go inside with three FGs by Kate Kent to lead a 17-8 run and send the Lady Raiders to the fourth period with a 46-29 margin.
The season opener for Michael Oldacre's Lady Raiders ended with 20 points in the final 8:00 as six earned scoring honors in this segment.
Senior Kaylee Maddox got 17, eighth grader Miriam Oldacre scored 14, Kent, a sophomore, chipped in with 13 to give Good Hope 44 points between a guard, forward, and center.
Eighth-grader Kelly Pickett accounted for eight in her first varsity game, driving for a couple of shots in the final stanza.
Hollingsworth was able to deliver 15 for the Lady Bulldogs, but the foul problems factored in and Hanceville had no one to pick up the slack. The rest of the team netted three field goals in the final 16:00 while Hollingsworth scored three on her own.
Good Hope goes to Vinemont for its road opener Tuesday with Hanceville having six days to prepare for a visit to Dora on the 19th and to play West Point on the 20th at Lane Horton Gymnasium.
Other Scores
Cullman 57 — Athens 51 (Cullman 1-1)
Holly Pond 69 — Scottsboro 59 (HP 2-0)
Scottsboro 56 — Holly Pond 32 (G) (HP 1-1)
West Point 75 — Vinemont 44 (WP 1-1, VM 0-2)
West Point 61 — Vinemont 26 (G) (WP 1-1, VM 0-2)
