HANCEVILLE – Even though the Cullman Bearcats and Fairview Lady Aggies didn’t claim a championship trophy in the 4th annual Mitch Smith Yule Tide Basketball Classic Wednesday, both teams ended the 2015 portion of their schedule with solid performances to be victorious.
Both prevailed in the fifth place game at Tom Drake Coliseum. Cullman shook off a double-digit deficit in the first quarter to top Holly Pond 73-58.
That came after the Fairview Lady Aggies downed Priceville 60-51 in the early afternoon.
Both went 2-1 in the tournament, finishing with consecutive victories after falling in the opening round on Monday.
Cullman got caught by a Holly Pond blitz with the Broncos ahead 11-0 before the Bearcats scored their first field goal of the contest. Cullman stayed close, trailing 23-14 when the period came to a close.
In the second, the Bearcats got hot while the Broncos struggled. Cullman went on a 23-6 spurt and took a 37-29 lead to the locker room.
The second half was highlighted by senior Seth Swalve. Swalve got free for 23 points in the final two quarters and had the best performance of the tournament, a game-high 35 points.
Cullman led 52-45 going to the fourth and tallied 21 points in the final period to finish with a double-digit win after trailing by double digits less than halfway into the opening quarter.
Supporting the 35 points from Swalve was Gage Goodwin with 15, Jacob Heatherly 10 and Nick Handley eight.
Holly Pond was led by Matt Cahoon with 19, Bailey Smith 12, Caleb Jones nine, Drew Jones and Landen Walker seven.
The Bearcats enter January with a 12-4 record while the Broncos are 13-4. These two have another meeting, January 30 on the campus of Cullman High School.
Fairview blitzed the basket with a 20-point first period, hitting four shots from long distance. Three came by Jada Golden, and the Lady Aggies were ahead of Priceville 20-6 when the period ended.
Priceville made a comeback and narrowed to 29-26 late in the second. It was time for a three from Golden to give Fairview a 32-26 edge at the half and momentum they needed to put away the Lady Bulldogs.
Ahead 48-43 after the third, the Lady Aggies were able to mix in good free throw shooting with Golden’s fifth trey of the game and two shots in the paint by Abbi Taylor to keep Priceville at arms length.
Taylor would score 16 in this fifth place contest with Golden getting 15 and Taylor Yeager 12.
Skyler Benson’s 17 was the high for Priceville with Kathleen Wheeler scoring 13.
Fairview improved to 14-4 while Priceville entered the New Year at 11-6.
Athens Lady Golden Eagles defeated Cullman 61-43 in the third place game. Cullman was down 13-8 after the opening frame and stayed close, trailing 28-21 at halftime.
However, Athens was too strong in the second half, moving the lead to 47-32 heading into the final period of play.
Jakayla Bridgeforth tossed in 23 for the No. 8 team from Class 6A who is 16-3 on the season. Leading Cullman was Taiya Ponder with 14 and Christina Skinner 10.
