HANCEVILLE, Ala. – The Good Hope Lady Raiders are back at the Northwest Regional once again and in their opening matchup Saturday, they faced the team that ended their postseason run one year ago. Good Hope and the defending state champion Lady Pirates of Rogers clashed Saturday afternoon in the Northwest Regional semifinals and the Lady Raiders bounced back from last year’s loss with a 48-42 victory this time around, putting them in the Elite 8 for the second straight season. Good Hope Head Coach Justin Aby knows that Class 4A has a strong showing at this year’s Northwest Regional and he’s happy to have the defending champs out of the way.
“I was just pleased with how our girls stepped up to the challenge,” Aby said. “Last year they were the team that kept us from going to the Final 4 so it was great to be on the other end of it this time. Everybody coming into the tournament had Deshler at 1 and us at 2 but I’ve been here saying Rogers is the defending state champs. They’ve been there, they’ve done that and they’re an awesome team, so we haven’t even talked about anybody else but Rogers this week.”
Good Hope led the game from the opening tip, but Rogers was able to rally and make it a one-possession game early in the fourth quarter. Ivey Maddox and Heather Tetro said they and their teammates leaned on one another down the stretch to maintain their composure and finish strong.
“We just had to keep our composure,” Maddox said. “We get rattled sometimes and sometimes we can do dumb stuff and throw up dumb shots, but I think today we really stayed calm and just let each other know that we got this and we’re going to do this.”
“We just had to stick together and play as a team and we let each other know that in the huddles and on the court,” Tetro said. “We just had to stay focused. It’s nerve-wracking when they’re cutting down a lead like that, but we just let each know that we had to stay calm and that we had the game in our control.”
Baskets by Ivey Maddox and Heather Tetro gave the Lady Raiders a quick, 4-0 lead and after splitting a pair of free throws, Rudi Derrick drained a three-pointer to make it an 8-2 game early in the first. Kyndall Seal scored inside to make it 10-5 midway through the period and Heather Tetro drilled another three to extend the lead to 13-5. Derrick knocked down a jumper to give Good Hope a 15-5 lead with less than three minutes remaining in the first and Heather Tetro sank another trey in the final moments of the quarter to put the Lady Raiders in front 18-11 going into the second.
Another basket from Maddox and a pair of free throws by Bailey Tetro made it a 22-12 game early in the second quarter and Heather Tetro took over after that. After netting her third three-pointer of the afternoon to make it 25-12, she was fouled on her next trey and hit the free throw to complete a 4-point play and give the Lady Raiders a 29-14 lead late in the period. Neither team could get another shot to fall in the second quarter and Good Hope went into the halftime break leading Rogers 29-14.
A Bailey Tetro bucket put the Lady Raiders ahead 32-19 early in the third quarter but points were tough to come by for the remainder of the period. Maddox scored inside to keep Good Hope in front 34-24 with one minute to play in the third and the Lady Raiders maintained that lead going into the fourth.
Bailey Tetro converted and and-one play early in the final period to keep Good Hope on top 37-27, but the Lady Pirates put together a run of their own and cut the lead to down to 37-34 with around five minutes on the clock. Maddox then converted another 3-point play at the line to make it a 40-34 game and the Lady Raiders did all of their damage on foul shots after that. Bailey Tetro knocked down four of six free throws in the final four minutes and Maddox and Seal helped add to the lead with foul shots as well. Eventually, time ran out for Rogers and Good Hope was able to hold on and knock off the defending champs 48-42.
Heather Tetro led the way for the Lady Raiders with 16 points in the win. Bailey Tetro finished with 12, Maddox posted 11 and Derrick added six. With the win, Good Hope has secured a spot in the Northwest Regional Finals, and they’ll play either Deshler or Hamilton Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. with a trip to Birmingham on the line.
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