HANCEVILLE – Another year of the Alabama High School Athletic Association Northwest Regional Basketball Tournament is now in the record books.
Traditions continued with teams that normally take home regional titles, doing so. Lauderdale County's Lady Tigers did just that, winning their fifth straight 3A crown, shooting down county rival Lexington 62-35 Wednesday morning at Tom Drake Coliseum.
The last day of the tournament featured Lauderdale County girls, Madison Academy, Wenonah girls and Deshler girls adding to the championship hardware from days gone by in this sports spectacular.
Madison Academy ended Sheffield's 17-game winning streak by a 73-65 decision, winning the 3A regional for the fourth consecutive season.
The Wenonah Lady Dragons rallied from a five-point halftime deficit in defeating Birmingham city foe Ramsay 67-59. They have been the best in the 5A region for the last three years.
Deshler's Lady Tigers toppled West Limestone 65-26 in the 4A final, putting on a 43-11 scoring blitz in the second half after it was only a 22-15 margin at halftime.
Ramsay didn't win the 5A girls, but the Rams stood their ground in their title bout with city rival Parker, getting a 49-32 triumph.
In the finale of the tournament, No. 2 ranked Cordova was down for much of the game to upstart Haleyville. In the fourth period, the Blue Devils caught life with a 24-11 run and avoided an upset by the final score of 54-45.
The Northwest Regional has been held at Wallace State Community College for 23 years now. It was something different that no Cullman County team qualified for the regional for the first time. Ten schools gave it a shot, but did not prevail in the sub-regional, the ticket that sends teams to Hanceville for the Northwest Regional in stage three of the AHSAA basketball playoffs.
Lauderdale County's run to another regional title has been a challenge for the Lady Tigers this year. Two valuable members of the program, senior guard Ivy Wallen and sophomore Allie Craig Cruce, fought through injury and the Lady Tigers lost twice in the regular season to No. 1 Madison Academy, who competes with them in 3A, Area 15.
Wallen is one of the fame triplets who has never lost a regional tournament game since coming to Wallace when they were freshmen in 2013. Her two sisters are Emma and Ella, all three have signed a scholarship to play at the University of North Alabama next season.
Cruce won her second straight regional MVP award, scoring 17 in the win against Lexington. Lexington gained plenty of attention by upsetting Madison Academy in the semifinal round 62-59 in overtime with sophomore Kinsley Hanback scoring 27 in that contest. She had 16 in the finals on Wednesday.
Deshler's Lady Tigers had the best record of all teams, adding two wins to their total, and now go to Birmingham with 34 wins against one loss. They have won 24 in a row and had the best single-game performance with 90 points on Monday in their semifinal rout of East Lawrence.
A sophomore claimed her second straight MVP award for Deshler. Karleigh Sledge tossed in 15 during the title game and wound up with 36 points in two contests, averaging 18 points for the regional.
One of the top male prospects in the state worked his way to the MVP award once more. Madison Academy senior Josh Langford, who has committed to Michigan State University, produced 16 points to help the Mustangs slow up Sheffield.
The success of Cordova was carried by a pair of brothers. Senior Mykelti Chatman was named the 4A MVP with his younger brother, sophomore Issac Chatman, getting a spot on the All-Tournament team.
Crowds averaged around 3,000 or so every day. The crowd was very vocal for the finale with Cordova and Haleyville as Haleyville brought its pep band to add to an astounding atmosphere.
The Northwest Regional winners will see champions from each class of the South Regional next week in the Final Four at the Legacy Arena inside the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.
A majority of the teams that won the Northwest Regional in their respective classes have a good opportunity to take home the grand prize when the tournament concludes at the end of next week.
