HANCEVILLE, Ala. – The second game of Monday night’s slate featured a duel between the Lady Eagles. Vinemont entered the game as the sixth seed looking to topple third-seeded Cold Springs. After a tight opening quarter, the Lady Eagles of Cold Springs were able to build a 30-13 lead at the half, withstood a big Vinemont run in the third quarter, and pulled away to win it 60-35.
Madysen Hacker scored back to back buckets down low to give Vinemont an early, 4-0 lead in this one but Toni West responded with back to back three-pointers on the other end to give Cold Springs a 6-4 advantage. Berkley Gable answered with a three of her own to retake a 7-6 lead for Vinemont. West buried her third trey of the opening quarter to put Cold Springs back in front 9-7 midway through the first. After Hacker split a pair of free throws to make it a 1-point game, Gable drilled another three to put Vinemont in front 11-9. West then buried her fourth three-pointer of the opening quarter to give Cold Springs a 12-11 advantage with just over two minutes remaining in the period and Lacey Rice added three more of her own to stretch the lead to four. Shay Sellers laid one in to make it a 17-11 game with just over a minute to play in the first and Rice drilled another three from the right corner to extend the lead to 20-11. Neither team was able to score again the rest of the way and Cold Springs went into the second quarter holding a nine-point lead over Vinemont.
Maggie Burks and AK Voce traded baskets early in the second to make it a 22-13 game but both teams struggled on the offensive end for most of the period. After nearly four scoreless minutes, Kyla Aaron netted a pair of shots from the free throw line to give Cold Springs a 24-13 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the half. West knocked down a deep three-pointer from the right wing to make it a 27-13 game with less than a minute to play in the second quarter and she followed it up with her sixth trey of the game to make it 30-13 in the final seconds of the half. Cold Springs went into the locker room leading Vinemont 30-13.
Burks and Rice exchanged three-pointers to make it a 33-16 game at the start of the third and Brooke Crider and McKenna Kline each nailed shots from long range for both teams as well. Hacker netted a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 36-21 with five minutes to play in the third but Madison Bruer responded with an and-one play on the other end to make it a 39-21 game. Burks buried a three from the top of the key to cut into the Cold Springs lead and Hacker converted a three-point play at the line to make it 39-28 with three minutes remaining in the period. Hacker laid another in to trim the lead to 39-30 and a Gable basket in the final seconds of the quarter made it a 39-33 game going in the fourth.
Crider knocked down another three to give Cold Springs a 42-33 lead at the start of the final period and West later added three made free throws to make it a 45-33 game with less than five minutes to play. West followed those with her seventh three-pointer of the night to extend the lead to 15 but a Hacker basket for Vinemont on the other end stopped the run and made it a 48-35 game midway through the fourth. Rice drilled a three from the right corner to build the lead back to 16 late in the game and Vinemont continued to battle but missed free throws combined with the three-point shooting of Cold Springs was too much to overcome. Cold Springs pulled way to win its opening round contest over Vinemont 60-35. Cold Springs outscored Vinemont 21-2 in the final frame.
West led Cold Springs with 24 points in the win, followed by Rice with 12 and Crider with seven. The Lady Eagles knocked down 14 three-pointers in the victory. Hacker led Vinemont with 16 points in the loss. Burks and Gable each added eight.
Cold Springs will advance to face either no. 2 West Point or no. 7 Hanceville at Tom Drake Coliseum Thursday night at 7:15.
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