HANCEVILLE, Ala. – The Good Hope Lady Raiders squared off against the Lady Broncos of Holly Pond in the JV Girls semifinals Thursday night and after three tight quarters, the top-seeded Lady Raiders pulled away from Holly Pond in the final frame to secure a 38-27 win and a spot in Saturday’s championship game.
Baskets by Lucie Adams and Lexi Marshall gave the Lady Raiders a 4-0 start over Holly Pond and Cadence Watson laid one in to put Good Hope in front 6-2 later in the period. Scores by Millie McBee and Sadie Nail tied the game at 6 with two minutes remaining in the first and Nail split a pair of free throws with 16 seconds on the clock to give the Lady Broncos a 7-6 lead going into the second quarter.
McBee exchanged baskets with Jordan Sanders to make it a 9-8 game early in the second, but Marshall knocked down a three to put the Lady Raiders back on top 11-9. Madeline Hill answered with a jumper on the other end to tie the game at 11 and Sanders exchanged buckets with Blakely Baggett to keep the score knotted at 13 midway through the second quarter. Adams drilled a three-pointer to give Good Hope a 16-13 lead with just over two minutes to play in the first half and the Lady Raiders went into the locker room holding on to a 3-point lead at the break.
Ella Gossett sank a pair of free throws and Marshall turned a steal into an easy basket to stretch Good Hope’s lead to 20-13 at the start of the third. However, McBee scored six straight points for Holly Pond on the other end to trim the lead to 22-19 later in the period. Adams stopped the run with a three-pointer on the other end to keep the Lady Raiders in front 25-21 but another basket by McBee and a three from Baggett in the final 30 seconds of the third brought Good Hope’s lead down to 25-24 at the start of the fourth.
McBee split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 25 early in the fourth quarter but Sanders knocked down a pair from the line and a three-pointer to give the Lady Raiders a 30-27 lead with five minutes remaining. Buckets from Sanders and Gossett extended the lead to 34-27 later in the fourth and baskets from Adams and Marshall put things in the final minute, wrapping up a 38-27 win for Good Hope.
Adams led the Lady Raiders with 12 points in the win, followed by Sanders with 11. McBee led all scorers with 17 points in the loss.
With the win, the Lady Raiders have punched their ticket to the JV Girls Championship game and will face Cold Springs Saturday at 2:30 p.m. for the county title.
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