ADDISON, Ala. – The Addison Lady Bulldogs were back home to host the Sub-Regional round Monday night and they collected a 47-35 win over Aliceville to punch their ticket to this year’s Northwest Regional at Wallace State for the first time in 15 years.
Baskets were hard to come by in the opening period for both teams. Aliceville scored on a pair of baskets in the paint to grab an early 4-0 lead. Addison went scoreless for the first three-plus minutes of the first quarter before Molly Gilbreath knocked down a short jumper to put the Lady Bulldogs on the scoreboard. A pair of Lady Yellow Jackets pushed their lead to 6-2, but a Gilbreath free throw cut it to 6-3. Aliceville put in another basket late in the first period as the Lady Bulldogs trailed, 8-3, going into the second quarter.
The second quarter was a different story for Addison as a Gilbreath three from the top of the key made it an 8-6 game early in the second period. A Gilbreath steal led to an Anna Grace Luker layup to tie the game up at eight. The Lady Yellow Jackets broke the tie with a layup, but it was all Lady Bulldogs after that to end the first half. Gracie Manley scored in the paint to tie the game up at 10, then she added a pair of free throws and another basket in the paint to give Addison a 14-10 lead. Gilbreath put in her second trey of the first half with less than 20 seconds remaining in the first half and the Lady Bulldogs’ defense stifled Aliceville in the second period, holding them to just one made basket. Addison took a 17-10 lead into the locker room.
Gilbreath continued her red-hot shooting in the second half as her third one of the night pushed Addison’s lead to 20-10, but the Lady Yellow Jackets scored the next five points to cut it to 20-15 with less than four minutes remaining in the third period. Gilbreath put in yet another trey to make it 23-15, then Hadley Butler found the stroke from long-range as she drilled back-to-back threes to help increase Addison’s lead to 29-17. Bracie Rodgers knocked down a pair of free throws to end the third period as the Lady Bulldogs took a 31-17 lead into the final period.
Manley knocked down a three to start out the final period for Addison as that made it 34-17. An Aliceville made basket cut it to 34-19, but Manley couldn’t be stopped down low as she added a pair of baskets in the paint to push the Lady Bulldog lead to 38-22. She later added a pair of free throws to make it 40-22. The Lady Yellow Jackets cut the Addison lead to 40-26 after a layup, but the Lady Bulldogs wouldn’t let them cut the deficit to single digits the rest of the way. Free throws by Butler and Rodgers put the score at 47-32 and the Addison Lady Bulldogs ended up defeating the Aliceville Yellow Jackets, 47-35, to advance to Regionals for the first time in 15 years.
Coach Bailey Boland couldn’t be prouder of her team right now after their big win on Monday night.
“I am super proud of them. This is the first time in 15 years that an Addison girls’ basketball team has made it to Wallace, so I think that’s huge for the girls.” Boland said. “That’s huge for our program. I couldn’t be prouder of them. We started out a little slow, but we picked it up and we kind of gained some momentum going into the second half. We hit some big shots, but I’m super proud of them. We had some girls step up and make some big plays, so I was proud of everybody today.”
Boland was really happy about Gilbreath’s and Manley’s performance on Monday night and this win will help her team build some momentum going into Regionals at Wallace.
“Molly’s shooting the ball really well right now,” Boland said. “I told her the other day at practice, that every time you shoot the ball, it’s going to go in. I have a lot of confidence in her and I think she has a lot of confidence in herself right now because she’s shooting the ball lights out right now. Gracie’s steady. We can rely on her and go to her a pretty good bit, but she’s a scrappy player. She earns her points on offensive rebounds and she played that way tonight. She wasn’t feeling as well tonight either. She hadn’t been feeling good today, so I felt that was huge for her to still play the way she did tonight. It’s a good feeling. I’m just happy for the girls because I feel like they’ve earned it. They’ve worked hard this year. I hope that we can continue to play well down the stretch. I feel like this win gives us momentum going into regional play at Wallace. I think it helps us to just have some momentum and we need that right now.”
Gilbreath and Manley each finished with 15 points for Addison (21-9). Butler added eight points. Rodgers ended up with seven and Luker added two. The Lady Bulldogs will take on Hatton Friday at 3 p.m. or 6 p.m. in the Northwest Regional at Wallace State.
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