DANVILLE – Holly Pond closed out the first day of the ninth annual Danville Lady Hawks' Thanksgiving Classic Saturday evening victorious, turning back the Hatton Lady Hornets 42-30.
Cullman County teams went 2-1 in the first segment of the three-day holiday event. Holly Pond joins Fairview in the quarterfinal round while Good Hope is in the consolation bracket after a first-round loss to Priceville.
Both teams began the contest unable to get into an offensive flow. Holly Pond was on top 9-6 when the first period ended and managed a 16-11 advantage at the half.
Haley Higginbotham scored two field goals from inside the paint and the lead for Holly Pond jumped to 23-15 with 4:00 to play in the third.
Tess Duke got a long-range shot to go with that, the last basket for Holly Pond in the third. The Lady Broncos led 26-18 at the end of the quarter.
A steal and layup from Tankersley to begin the fourth made it 28-18 as the Lady Broncos worked on getting control of the game from offense and defense.
Higginbotham reached double figures with a layup off a great pass from Kolby Holcombe and Holly Pond led 32-18 with 6:00 to play in the game.
Horton nailed a pair from the line and the Lady Broncos doubled up the advantage on Hatton, leading 36-18 with 5:17 to go.
Coach Paige Parker-Adams used a timeout at the 3:00 mark with her team ahead 39-24, making sure they took care of the ball and executed on offense during crunch time.
The Lady Broncos were three of six at the line in the final 2:40; that was good enough to keep the lead at double digits and improve to 2-1 under the rookie coach.
Horton scored 14 for Holly Pond with 11 in the second half, Higginbotham tossed in 12, Holcombe had five, Molly Gambrill, Presley Marks and Duke scored two apiece with Taylor Tankersley netting three.
Jessie Harville led Hatton with seven points.
The Lady Broncos host county foe Fairview on Monday and then come back to Danville to meet the Lady Hawks in the quarterfinals Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Athens 82, Falkville 10
Defending tournament champion Athens was too much for Falkville to deal with. The Golden Eagles raced to a 25-5 lead in the first, led 54-8 at the half and 73-10 after the third period.
Center Alexis Woods scored 16 in the win for 3-0 Athens with Barbara Anderson pumping in nine.
Athens will play at Cullman in a regular season game Monday before returning to Danville Tuesday to battle Priceville in the first quarterfinal game at 4 p.m.
Jackson-Olin 45, Mortimer Jordan 31
A battle of a Birmingham school vs. a Jefferson County school went to the Lady Mustangs from J-O.
A 9-7 lead in the first for Jackson-Olin grew to 20-11 at the break and 32-20 after the third stanza.
Imari Hightower and Jessica Maye both scored 12 points for the Lady Mustangs, now 2-1 on the season.
Kaylan Hines was the leader for Mortimer Jordan with 12 and Alexis Goldsmith with nine.
Jackson-Olin is on to the quarterfinals Tuesday to play Brewer at 5:20 p.m.
Brewer 69, Russellville 40
Brewer was off and running with its up-tempo style, enjoying a 30-6 lead following the first on Russellville.
The Lady Patriots had a 51-15 cushion at halftime with coach Ron Smith playing his reserves for much of the second half.
Brewer led 60-32 after the third and coasted to its fourth win on the season against no losses.
Shyan Flack delivered 13 to the winning total for the Lady Patriots while McCarley Northway added 10.
Brewer and Jackson-Olin meet in the quarterfinal round Tuesday when the tournament resumes at Wayne Bowling Gymnasium.
Danville game vs. Cedar Bluff not played
Tournament host Danville was scheduled to play Cedar Bluff in the finale Saturday night, but the game was not played due to an undisclosed reason.
Danville gets an assignment in the quarterfinal vs. Holly Pond at 8 p.m. Tuesday with the consolation bracket to be revised, going from eight teams to seven.
The losers on Saturday will finish their segment of the tournament Tuesday and Wednesday inside Tom Drake Gymnasium at Falkville High School.
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