HANCEVILLE — Tournament basketball can present surprises. It did during the first day of the Mitch Smith Yule Tide Classic at Tom Drake Coliseum.
No. 2 Holly Pond experienced misfortune when the Broncos lost to Athens 64-59 in the first quarterfinal in the varsity division. Athens got its fourth victory of the season opposite nine losses coming into the 4th annual tournament hosted by Cullman High School.
Then a major shocker with the Bearcats getting defeated by North Panola, Mississippi 56-55. Cullman led 18-17 after the first, 37-30 at the half and 47-41 following the third.
The Bearcats led 53-45 late in the game and were unable to keep the Cougars from finishing with an 11-2 run to complete the second upset and knock the 2014 finalists out of the contention for this year's championship trophy.
Near upsets were also a part of the process. No. 8 Athens Lady Golden Eagles got by West Morgan 41-40 when they scored a free throw with 0:04 left to break a tie. The Lady Rebels missed a shot from the baseline as time expired.
Fairview Lady Aggies took No. 3 Thompson from the 7A rankings into overtime. However, the Lady Aggies lost their edge in the extra period and fell 59-53 to the Lady Warriors.
Priceville had Arab down 28-25 at the half, but the Lady Knights rallied for a 61-40 triumph, outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 18-3 in the fourth to break the game open.
Thompson downed West Morgan 59-48 in a battle of No. 8 teams in the respective classification (7A & 3A).
Winfield got defeated by Newton, Georgia 75-54 in which the Rams scored 22 in the first, 22 in the third and 21 in the fourth to go to 8-2 and hand the Pirates their second loss in nine games.
Cullman Lady Bearcats ended a losing drought with a 59-32 victory over Brooks as Christina Skinner, Taiya Ponder, AK Eastman and Anna Evans combined for 51 points in shooting the ball from the perimeter and in transition.
With day one in the books, the schedule for Tuesday is set:
GIRLS
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Priceville vs. West Morgan 9:30 a.m.
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Fairview vs. Brooks 12:30 p.m.
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Athens vs. Arab 3:30 p.m. (SF # 1)
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Cullman vs. Thompson 6:30 p.m. (SF # 2)
VARSITY
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Holly Pond vs. West Morgan 11 a.m.
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Winfield vs. Cullman 2 p.m.
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Athens vs. Thompson 5 p.m. (SF # 1)
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Newton (GA) vs. North Panola (MS) 8 p.m. (SF # 2)
