HOLLY POND, Ala. — The Broncos and Lady Broncos returned home after the Thanksgiving holiday to host J.B. Pennington Tuesday night and both Holly Pond squads collected wins over the Tigers. The Lady Broncos smothered J.B. Pennington to earn a 52-31 win and the Broncos pulled ahead late to edge the Tigers 64-60.
Holly Pond 52 – J.B. Pennington 31 (varsity girls)
Kamryn Tankersley knocked down a three-pointer and Ava Thomas split a pair of free throws to give the Lady Broncos an early, 4-2 lead. Maggie Nail turned a steal into an easy bucket to make it a 6-2 game and Thomas laid one in to keep Holly Pond in front 8-4 midway through the first. Ellie Burks found Emma Earl under the basket with a nice bounce pass and Earl put it in to stretch the lead to 10-6. Burks hit a jumper from the free throw line with 30 seconds remaining in the period and the Lady Broncos went into the second quarter leading 12-8.
Earl drained a three to start the second and make it a 15-10 game and after Madison Butts split a pair of free throws, Tankersley drove to the basket and scored to put Holly Pond ahead 18-10. The scoring run continued for the Lady Broncos, and with less than a minute remaining in the half, Thomas scored through a foul and added the free throw to give Holly Pond a 26-10 advantage at the break. The Lady Broncos outscored J.B. Pennington 14-2 in the second quarter.
Another basket from Nail kept Holly Pond in front 28-12 early in the third and after Thomas split a pair of free throws, Earl drained a three to make it a 32-17 game. Butts added a pair of baskets to maintain a 36-19 lead for the Lady Broncos late in the third and Earl knocked down her third three-pointer of the night just before the buzzer sounded to extend the lead to 39-24 going into the fourth quarter.
Baskets by Earl and Thomas, along with a pair of free throws from Butts, stretched the Holly Pond lead to 45-24 early in the fourth. Buckets from Millie McBee and Butts made it a 50-28 game with just over three minutes on the clock and Alyssia Mitchell scored in the final 30 seconds to wrap up a 52-31 win for the Lady Broncos.
Earl led Holly Pond with 14 points in the win, followed by Butts with 11, Thomas with nine and Nail with seven.
Holly Pond 64 – J.B. Pennington 60 (varsity boys)
Kollin Brown scored the first 10 points for Holly Pond to keep the game tied with three minutes to play in the first quarter and after the Tigers pulled ahead, Asher Thrift drilled a three-pointer to cut the lead to 15-13. Sawyer Olinger drained a pair of free throws to tie the score at 15 in the final minute of the first and with 30 seconds on the clock, he converted an and-one play at the free throw line to give the Broncos an 18-17 lead going into the second.
Six straight points from Brown stretched Holly Pond’s lead to 24-20 midway through the second quarter and Nik Goodwin scored later in the period to keep the Broncos in front 26-23. Brown got another jumper to fall that put Holly Pond ahead 28-26 but J.B. Pennington closed the half on a 5-0 run to take a 31-28 lead into the locker room at the break.
Goodwin laid one in and Olinger drilled a three to trim the lead to 38-33 early in the third and after Brown sank a pair of free throws, Thrift scored through a foul and added the free throw to cut the Tiger lead to 39-38 with five minutes to play in the third. Brown scored in transition to make it a 41-40 game with three minutes remaining in the period and his next basket held the lead to 44-42. Jackson Wilkins scored to tie things up at 44 late in the third but one more Tigers basket put the Broncos behind 46-44 going into the final frame.
Shots continued to fall for Kollin Brown as he put the next eight points on the board for Holly Pond and helped the Broncos pull ahead 52-48. Boston Gibbs scored inside to make it a 54-48 game and Brown netted a pair of free throws to keep Holly Pond in front 56-50 midway through the fourth. Goodwin drained a jumper to add to the Bronco lead and Olinger split a pair of free throws to make it 59-55 with just over two minutes to play and another Goodwin bucket gave Holly Pond a 61-56 lead with one minute on the clock. With a little over 30 seconds remaining, the Tigers hit a three to trim the lead to 61-60 but Olinger responded with a pair of free throws on the other end to make it a 63-60 game. J.B. Pennington got one more good look at a game-tying three-pointer but couldn’t get it to go and Brown sank a free throw with three seconds on the clock to cap a 64-60 win for Holly Pond.
Brown led all scorers with 37 points in the win. Olinger added 11 and Goodwin finished with eight.
The Broncos and Lady Broncos will be back home Friday night to host Good Hope.
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