FAIRVIEW – After defeating the Fairview Lady Aggies at Cold Springs in their first meeting, the Lady Eagles looked to not only stay undefeated, but win at a very tough place. Elizabeth Hill and Emme Willoughby combined for 40 points and No. 4 Cold Springs had a double-digit lead going into the final quarter. They held off a furious rally by a talented Aggie squad to win, 56-50, and stay undefeated at 10-0.
The first quarter saw the lead change hands several times, as each team looked to get that early advantage. Fairview finished the quarter strong when Abby Schnittker hit a layup just before the buzzer sounded to give them an 11-10 lead.
The second quarter saw Cold Springs take a 12-11 lead when Willoughby grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back in. But Fairview grabbed the lead right back on a Jada Golden three. They took a 16-13 lead on a Schnittker layup. But Camryn Crider, Hill and Willoughby sparked a quarter-ending 11-3 run with three straight 3-pointers and a layup to give the Lady Eagles a 24-19 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, Cold Springs looked to stretch their lead after a Rachael Yearwood layup cut the lead to three. Mission accomplished as three straight Eagle possessions turned into three straight threes as part of a 9-3 run to stretch the lead to 33-24. A Schnittker three cut the lead to 33-27, but Sadie Terry pushed the lead to 34-27 after hitting 1 of 2 at the free-throw line. Hill and Willoughby scored the final four points of the quarter to extend the lead to 38-27 after three.
Fairview tried to rally in the final quarter and they got off to a quick start as layups by Golden, Schnittker and Taylor Yeager, the last two coming off Eagle turnovers, cut the lead to 38-33, but Willoughby stopped the rally with an old-fashioned 3-point play to move the lead back up to 41-33. Every time Fairview looked to rally, Willoughby and Hill put a stop to it. The Lady Aggies did cut a double-digit lead to 50-47, but Hill and Willoughby hit clutch free throws to help preserve the win.
Hill led the Lady Eagles with 21 points. Willoughby finished with 19 and Crider ended up with six. They will travel to Falkville on Friday.
"Elizabeth Hill has really helped us out." Cold Springs coach Tammy West said. "She's very coachable. She's been solid for us this season. Emme Willoughby's a very solid player. She never makes mistakes. We missed free throws that kept them in the game, but we hit just enough at the end to win. This was a very big win for us."
Golden and Yeager each finished with 13 for Fairview, and Schnittker had 12. They fall to 10-3 on the season. They will travel to West Point on Friday.
Cold Springs 39, Fairview 35 (Boys)
Trailing by eight on the road against Fairview, Cold Springs rallied to take home a huge win.
It took almost two minutes for the first points of the game to be scored by either team, with the honor going to Cold Springs' Hunter McClendon, then Tyler Ball put up the first points for Fairview. The Eagles took a 10-4 lead, but the Aggies scored the final five points of the quarter, the last coming on a three by Samuel Elrod to cut the lead to 10-9.
The second quarter saw both teams struggle with turnovers to start out, but Fisher Willoughby helped the Eagles get out of their funk with five quick points sandwiched around a Jacob Hill layup to extend the lead to 15-11. Following a Fairview travel, each team traded baskets on their next two possessions, and Bryson Fletcher hit a layup with a little more than four seconds remaining in the first half to make the score, 20-17, which would be the score at the half.
The third quarter belonged to Fairview as they outscored the Eagles, 13-2, to take a 30-22 lead going into the final quarter. Cold Springs went on a run to start the fourth quarter. Eli Hamby started it out with two free throws, then Jesse Lee hit a three off an Aggie turnover to cut the lead to 30-27. Grant Howard extended the lead back to five with a jumper from the free-throw line, but Lee came right back with another three to make it a 2-point game with 4:13 remaining.
Two more Hamby free throws tied the game at 32 with 3:53 remaining and Lee gave the Eagles the lead with two more from the line. Lee pushed the lead to five with a layup, then Klayton Knop put back a miss to cut the lead to 37-34 with 10.8 seconds remaining, but Willoughby clinched the game by hitting two free throws to help his team take home a hard-fought win on the road.
Lee finished with 12 to lead the Eagles, 10 coming in the final period. Blake Wood had 10, and Hamby finished with eight. The Eagles improve to 5-4 on the season and will travel to Falkville on Friday night.
"The third quarter was really bad for us, but the defense really stepped up in the fourth quarter," Cold Springs coach Tim Willoughby said. "Jesse Lee really stepped up big for us in the fourth quarter. It's really tough to win games on the road, but we were able to pull it out."
The Aggies' leading scorer was Fletcher, who ended up with 11. Eight other players scored at least two points. Fairview falls to 5-7 overall.
"We made a lot of costly mistakes in the fourth quarter, and they converted those into easy layups," Fairview coach Eddie Groves said. "We need to look at the positives and eliminate the negatives. We play at West Point Friday night. We need to handle the pressure up there and see if we can get out of there with a win."
Copyright 2016 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
