The Lady Aggies are headed to the Sweet 16. / Sammy Confer
FAIRVIEW – Several local teams were in sub-regional action Monday night, looking to advance to the Sweet 16 at Wallace and keep their seasons alive.
Fairview 75, Mae Jemison 66 (Girls)
It was a close first half between Fairview and Mae Jemison, and the Lady Aggies held 16-11 and 30-29 leads in the half.
After Mae Jemison tied the game at 40 on a Tati-onna Battle trey, the Lady Aggies pounded the ball down low to Abbi Taylor and Valentina Klocker, scoring six straight points. Taylor Yeager added a trey and a pair of free throws to help Fairview finish strong on an 11-2 run to increase its lead to 51-42 after three.
Another Taylor layup made it 53-42 to start off the final quarter. But seven straight points by Mae Jemison cut it to 53-49, forcing a Lady Aggie timeout. Fairview responded quickly with a layup by Abby Schnittker, then Payton Golden forced a turnover and she laid it up and in to make it 57-49 for her team. The Lady Aggies increased their lead to 61-51 on a Klocker layup and a pair from the line by Schnittker.
Mae Jemison cut it to 61-56 on a layup by Tederia Ashley, but Fairview made sure that's the closest they got, finishing the game hitting 10-of-12 from the charity stripe to move on to the Sweet 16 at Wallace for the fourth straight season. The Lady Aggies will play next Monday.
Taylor finished with a game-high 23 points for the Lady Aggies. Yeager ended up with 19 points. Klocker, Schnittker and Golden all had 10 points and McKinna Yearwood added three as Fairview improves to 23-7 overall.
"I expected this to be a tough game from the start," Fairview coach Mary Lauren Hartline said. "We just stuck with our game plan and that helped us pull away in the third period. We got some big steals and we hit some big free throws. I'm really proud of my team right now. Seeing this team have experience after playing at Wallace last season in the Sweet 16, I knew we would have a great chance to win. The seniors have worked really hard to get to this point; I'm so proud of them."
OTHER SCORES
Cold Springs 53, Tanner 48 (Girls)
The Lady Eagles are heading back to the Sweet 16 at Wallace for the third time in four seasons after taking down Tanner to get win no. 20 on the season. They improve to 20-12 overall and will take on Lamar County on Thursday at 3 p.m. as they look to keep their season alive.
Center Point 61, Cullman 55 (Girls)
The Lady Bearcats looked to take that next big step against Center Point with a trip to Jacksonville State on the line, but Cullman fell just six points short, finishing with a 18-13 record. The team keeps improving in Josh Hembree's second season coaching win-wise, going from 15 to 18 this season. The Lady Bearcats will lose three seniors in Anna Evans, Kennedy Wren and Alex Barker, but led by A.K. Eastman, Hannah Hoffman and others, Hembree’s team will have a talented squad looking to keep improving next season.
Good Hope 54, Wilson 50 (Girls)
Last year, Good Hope advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the 2013-2014 season on a huge layup by Leyton Seal to beat Winfield, 40-38. This season, the Lady Raiders have now made it back-to-back seasons making it to Wallace after Seal nailed a pair from the line to help cement a 54-50 win over Wilson to improve to 11-19 overall. They will play Danville on Saturday at 9 a.m. as they look to keep their Cinderella story going.
West Morgan 46, Hanceville 43 (Girls)
The Lady Bulldogs came to play, traveling to West Morgan, but they fell short by just three points at the end, finishing with a 19-10 overall record, their best record under fourth-year head coach Christina Watson. Hanceville will lose just one senior, Karmen Johnson, but will bring back four starters and will look to take that next big step next season.
Phillips 75, Meek 32 (Girls)
The Lady Tigers looked for a huge upset on the road, but they fell by a huge margin. Meek ends its season with a 16-13 record and will lose four seniors to graduation. The Lady Tigers will look to continue to improve with a young and talented squad in 2018-2019.
Lee-Huntsville 65, West Point 51 (Girls)
The Lady Warriors looked to pull off an upset of the no. 10 Lady Generals on the road and advance to the Sweet 16 at Wallace, but they wound up on the losing end of the score. West Point will end its season with a very respectable 22-10 record in coach Richie Penn's first season as head coach, and there are no seniors on this year's team. The Lady Warriors are looking for bigger and brighter things next season under coach Penn.
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