HOLLY POND, Ala. — Holly Pond returned home to Felton Easterwood Gymnasium to host its county rivals from Hanceville Tuesday night and both county squads split their varsity matchups. The Lady Broncos handled Hanceville 48-24 and in the boys’ game, the Bulldogs pulled away in the second half to pick up a 60-43 road win over the Broncos.
Holly Pond 48 – Hanceville 24 (varsity girls)
Aaliyah Twitty scored the game’s first basket and split a pair of free throws to give the Lady Bulldogs an early, 3-0 lead but baskets by Ava Thomas and Maggie Nail on the other end put the Lady Broncos in front 4-3. Two more buckets from Nail and Thomas added to the Holly Pond lead and Kerrigan Moore laid one in for Hanceville, Thomas’ third basket of the opening period gave the Lady Broncos a 10-5 lead going into the second.
Madison Butts and Piper Butts exchanged three-pointers to make it a 13-8 game early in the second quarter and after Thomas split a pair of free throws, Nail scored five straight to stretch Holly Pond’s lead to 19-8. Kate Sterling hit a pair of free throws and Mattie Keith knocked down a three on the other end to cut the lead down to 21-13 and Aaliyah Twitty added a free throw to make it 21-14. However, Thomas netted a pair of free throws and Lauryn Hoffman drilled a three in the final minute of the period to give the Lady Broncos a 26-14 advantage at the halftime break.
Nail knocked down a three early in the third and baskets by Butts and Thomas extended Holly Pond’s lead to 33-15 midway through the quarter. Moore scored inside and Sierra Brockman laid one in to trim the lead to 34-19 later in the period but Maycie Black scored just before the end of the third to put the Lady Broncos in front 36-19 going into the fourth.
Free throws from Thomas and Butts stretched the lead to 39-19 at the start of the fourth quarter and baskets by Earl and Tankersley made it a 43-19 game. Alex Twitty scored for Hanceville in the final two minutes but another basket and two more free throws from Thomas wrapped up a 48-24 win for the Lady Broncos.
Thomas led Holly Pond with 17 points in the win, followed by Nail with 12. Moore led the Lady Bulldogs with seven points in the loss.
Hanceville 60 – Holly Pond 43 (varsity boys)
A Kollin Brown jumper gave the Broncos an early, 4-3 lead but baskets by Braxton Broad and JT Davis put the Bulldogs back in front 7-4. Sawyer Olinger laid one in to trim the Hanceville lead to 11-9 later in the first and Jake Cornelius and Carson Ryan both exchanged three-pointers to make it a 15-12 game with one minute remaining in the first quarter. Eli Clements turned a steal into an easy basket with 30 seconds to play in the period and Hanceville went into the second quarter leading 17-12.
Baskets by Broad and Konnor Helms stretched the lead to 21-13 early in the second and Peyton Twilley and Noah Jones each scored later in the period to make it a 27-15 game. Drake Bentley Laid one in and Clements split a pair of free throws to make it 30-17 and Noah Douglas drained a three just before the end of the second quarter to put Hanceville on top 35-20 at the halftime break.
Back to back buckets from Cade Allbright trimmed the lead to 35-24 at the the start of the third quarter but the Bulldogs responded with a 7-0 run to build the lead back up to 42-24. Ryan and Jones exchanged three-pointers to make it a 45-27 game and after Brown sank a pair of free throws, Fox Westall buried a three to cut the lead to 47-32. However, Hanceville outscored the Broncos 6-2 the rest of the way to take a 53-34 lead into the final frame.
Helms knocked down a three to stretch the lead to 56-34 at the start of the fourth but Brown scored the next five Holly Pond points to trim the lead to 57-40. Ryan laid one in, and Boston Gibbs split a pair of free throws to chip away at the deficit, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Bulldog lead and Hanceville held on to collect a 60-43 win over the Broncos.
Douglas led the Bulldogs with nine points in the win, followed by Broad and Garrett with eight. Brown led the way for Holly Pond with 14 points in the loss.
Hanceville will return home Friday night to host Cordova and the Broncos will be back in action after the Christmas break.
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