HANCEVILLE – Two teams that had been playing very good basketball experienced unfortunate upsets in the semifinals of the Cullman County Tournament Thursday night.
No. 1 Fairview Lady Aggies defeated county opponents nine times in the regular season. They struggled at Tom Drake Coliseum and were defeated by No. 4 seed Good Hope 28-24.
Then in the second varsity semifinal, three-time champion Holly Pond Lady Broncos could not keep Cold Springs from going to the foul line in the second half and producing points. The Lady Eagles overcame a 10-point intermission deficit and won 44-40.
This puts the 4th seed Lady Raiders into the title game with the No. 3 seed Lady Eagles. Good Hope is looking to win the crown for the first time since 2012 while Cold Springs has not taken home the championship hardware since 2010.
Good Hope was able to take advantage of a tough night shooting the ball Fairview experienced. The Lady Aggies were also out of rhythm after starting point guard Taylor Yeager got her third personal foul and spent the third quarter on the bench.
Fairview did lead at the end of each stop, 8-6, 15-11 and 21-19. But in the final period, the Lady Aggies could only score three points and Good Hope moved in front by getting free throws down the stretch from Micah Oldacre and Kaylee Maddox and two important field goals by Kelly Pickett.
Pickett, the eighth grader who starts at point guard, scored 11, leading the team to victory for the second straight night. She has delivered 26 points in two county tournament games thus far. Maddox had four and ripped down nine rebounds with Oldacre hitting for five on five of seven from the line.
The Lady Raiders are now 13-11 on the season and avenge an early season 44-38 loss to the Lady Aggies.
Abbi Taylor and Abby Schnittker had five points each to guide Fairview who fell to 17-6 and lost to a county opponent for the first time in 10 games.
Cold Springs got outscored 16-0 late in the second quarter to Holly Pond and went into the locker room, down 30-20 at the break. The Lady Broncos scored on their first possession of the third quarter and seemed to have the game in hand, leading 32-20.
But the Lady Eagles would use scoring from Kaleigh Merring and Rilee White, who are not called on that often to produce points. The two tallied 11 together and helped the Lady Eagles rally. They were down 36-31 after the third period and closed the game on a 13-4 run.
Cold Springs shot 75 percent from the line in the second half (12-16) and was 19 of 24 for the evening. Bailey West would go six for six, Camryn Crider six for eight, White five for seven to key the solid shooting from the stripe.
Crider finished with 11 points, West 10 for the Lady Eagles who moved to 15-10 on the season.
Holly Pond fell to 15-9 as Taylor Tankersley hit 14, Ruth Horton nine and Melissa Clingman and Haley Higginbotham seven each.
Fairview 35, Good Hope 24 (JV girls)
Jordan Moore scored 14 points, hitting four treys and got support from Peyton Golden with nine and Katie Ball seven as the No. 1 seed Lady Aggies led Good Hope 11-1 after the first 19-7 at the half and 26-17 going into the final period.
Leyton Seal tossed in 10 for the 5th seed Lady Raiders, who upset Holly Pond to get to the semifinal round. Erika Woodall added seven, Amber Sterling four and Makailey Speegle three.
