HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Cold Springs and Hanceville faced off in the first varsity matchup of this year’s county tournament Monday night and the Lady Eagles secured a spot in the semifinals with a dominant performance. Cold Springs went into the locker room at halftime leading 32-18 and cruised past the Lady Bulldogs in the second half to wrap up a 65-27 win.
Aaliyah Twitty split a pair of free throws to give the Lady Bulldogs a 1-0 start but back to back three-pointers by Maci Brown on the other end put Cold Springs in front 6-1. Baskets by Ciara Calvert and Malaya Taylor stretched the lead to 10-1 before Alex Twitty knocked down a three to cut the lead to six. Calvert exchanged three-pointers with Piper Butts to make it a 13-7 game later in the period and after another basket by Taylor, Ella Bruer drained a three to keep the Lady Eagles in front 18-7. Calvert laid one in to make it 20-7 but Mattie Keith scored a pair of baskets for Hanceville in the final seconds of the first to trim the lead to 20-11 going into the second.
Bruer’s next three-pointer put Cold Springs ahead 23-11 early in the second quarter and after Aaliyah Twitty hit a pair of free throws, Kate Sterling exchanged baskets with Taylor to make it a 25-15 game. Bruer buried another three to stretch the lead to 28-15 and Taylor laid one in to give the Lady Eagles a 15-point lead midway through the second. Aaliyah Twitty hit three of her next four free throws to trim the lead to 12 but Taylor got one more shot to fall before the end of the period to put Cold Springs in front 32-18 at the halftime break.
A pair of Ella Dickerson baskets gave the Lady Eagles a 36-18 lead early in the third quarter and three-pointers by Bruer and Brown made it a 42-21 game. Dickerson knocked down another three to make it 45-21 and Taylor laid one in to extend the lead to 47-21. Paizley Whitlow drilled a three later in the period to put Cold Springs ahead 52-27 and Dickerson added a free throw in the final minute of the third to give the Lady Eagles an imposing, 53-27 advantage going into the fourth.
Taylor scored the first six points of the final frame to build the Cold Springs lead up to 59-27. Bruer’s fifth three-pointer of the night made it a 62-27 game and she buried another three in the final 30 seconds of the game to cap a dominant, 65-27 win over Hanceville.
Taylor and Bruer each finished with 18 points in the win and Dickerson added 10. Aaliyah Twitty led the Lady Bulldogs with 10 points in the loss.
The Lady Eagles will be back on the court Thursday night to take on either West Point or Fairview in the semifinals.
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