BREMEN, Ala. – The Cold Springs Lady Eagles looked to add yet another area championship to their trophy case Thursday night as they faced off against the Locust Fork Hornets in the Class 2A, Area 11 title game. The Lady Eagles got off to a strong start and Locust Fork made a couple of runs to get back in the game, but Cold Springs pulled away late in the fourth quarter to take the 48-40 win and the area championship.
Ella Dickerson put in a driving layup on Cold Springs’ first possession and later added a free throw to give them an early 3-0 lead. Locust Fork hit a basket on the other end to make it a 3-2 game, but Ella Bruer buried a pair of deep treys to push the Lady Eagle lead to 9-2. The Lady Hornets scored six straight points to cut it to 9-8 with 3:15 left to go in the opening period, but Cold Springs finished the quarter strong as Maci Brown put in a trey from the right wing to make it 12-8. Ciara Calvert and Kenady Graves later followed that up with a three of their own as the Lady Eagles stretched their lead to 18-8 after one.
The Lady Hornets quickly cut into the Cold Springs’ lead to start the second period as they scored the first seven points of the quarter to make it an 18-15 game. Brown put in a floater to stop the bleeding as that made it a 20-15 game, but that ended up being their only points of the quarter as Locust Fork added a couple of late baskets to cut it to 20-19 at the half.
Brown put in a driving layup to start the second half for Cold Springs to make it a 22-19 game, but the Lady Hornets tied the game up at 22 on a basket of their own. Bruer drilled her third trey of the game to break the tie and give the Lady Eagles a 25-22 lead with a little over five minutes to go in the third. The Lady Hornets hit one of their own from deep as that gave them their first lead of the game at 27-25, but a trey by Dickerson with a little over two minutes gave Cold Springs the lead right back at 28-27. Baskets in the paint by Malaya Taylor and Dickerson made it a 32-29 game going into the final period.
Dickerson picked the perfect time to get red-hot from the three-point line as she put in a pair of treys from the right wing to stretch the Lady Eagle lead to 38-29 with 5:50 left to go in the game. Locust Fork went on another run as they scored the next six points to cut it to 38-35, but a big trey by Bruer pushed the Cold Springs lead to 41-35 with a little over three minutes to go in the contest. Later on, Brown found a cutting Dickerson for the easy layup to make it a 43-35 game, but a trey by the Lady Hornets off a Cold Springs turnover cut it to 43-40 with less than a minute to go in the game. Bruer split from the free throw line to make it a four-point game, then Dickerson put in the biggest basket of the game as she got fouled in the process. She completed her and-one opportunity to stretch the Cold Springs lead to 47-40 and Bruer put in another late free throw as the Lady Eagles defeated the Lady Hornets, 48-40, to win the area title.
Bruer, Brown, Dickerson, Calvert, and Taylor all made the All-Tournament team. Dickerson finished with 19 points for Cold Springs. Bruer added 14 points and Brown collected seven points.
Cold Springs will host a Sub-Regional game against Westminster Christian or Cornerstone Monday night at 6 p.m.
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