HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Thursday night’s first Cullman County Tournament matchup was a JV Girls semifinal battle between the Lady Broncos of Holly Pond and the top-seeded Good Hope Lady Raiders. The Lady Broncos got off to a fast start and the Lady Raiders didn’t get their first points on the board until the four-minute mark of the second quarter. The Lady Raiders began to close the gap later in the third but Holly Pond made the shots it needed to down the stretch to hold on and topple Good Hope 35-26.
Phoebe Jones knocked down a pair of three-pointers early in the first quarter to put the Lady Broncos in front 6-0 but those were the only points either team could put on the board in the opening period and the Holly Pond went into the second leading 6-0.
Phoebe Jones hit another jumper early in the second to extend the lead to 8-0 and a three from Alyssia Mitchell made it an 11-0 game. Abbey Jones added a three of her own to stretch the lead to 14-0 before Arriana Rossie drilled a three to end the scoring drought for Good Hope and make it 14-3 midway through the period. Rossie drained another jump shot to trim the lead to 14-5 but a Presli Carr basket and a pair of Kaylee Rohrscheib free throws made it 18-5 with less than three minutes to play in the half. Mitchell and Rossie traded baskets to keep the score at 20-7 and after Carr split a pair of free throws, Rossie scored in the final minute of the second quarter to cut the lead to 21-9 going into the halftime break.
The Lady Raiders were able to chip away in the third quarter. A pair of Cadence Watson free throws and a three-pointer by Macey Denton cut the lead to 21-15 but Abbey Jones responded with a three on the other end to stretch the lead back out to 24-15 midway through the period. Rylee Fox scored with 30 seconds remaining in the third to trim the lead to 26-18 but Rohrscheib netted a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the quarter to put Holly Pond up by 10 going into the fourth.
Abbey Jones laid one in to make it a 30-18 game early in the fourth quarter and Mitchell buried a three to make it 33-20 later in the period. Lexi Marshall knocked down a three for Good Hope to make it 34-24 with two minutes to play but the Lady Raiders weren’t able to close the gap in the final minutes and the Lady Broncos held on to win it 35-26.
Phoebe and Abbey Jones each posted nine points for Holly Pond in the win. Mitchell added eight, Carr finished with five and Rohrscheib scored four. Rossie led Good Hope with nine points in the loss.
The Lady Broncos will now prepare to take on Fairview in the JV Girls County Championship Game Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
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