GOOD HOPE – One upset, one near upset and two dominant performances highlighted the opening round play in the Cullman County Middle School Girls’ Basketball Tournament Monday night.
Tournament host Good Hope provided the stunner when the No. 6 seed Lady Raiders eliminated No. 3 seed Hanceville 47-29. A 17-1 run in the second quarter turned the game to Good Hope's advantage for the rest of the evening.
Top seed Cold Springs romped over eighth seed Vinemont 42-12, fourth seed Parkside doubled up fifth seed Holly Pond 26-13 and second seed West Point broke open a close first half by taking care of seventh seed Fairview 47-21.
This sets up the semifinal round Thursday on the Good Hope High School campus with Cold Springs and Parkside playing at 4 p.m. followed by Good Hope and West Point meeting at 5 p.m. The winners advance to the title game that will be Saturday at 3 p.m.
Good Hope 47, Hanceville 29:
Down 9-8 after the first period, Good Hope got control of the game with a field goal from Renee McLeod early in the second and was never behind after that. The Lady Raiders tallied 17 consecutive points, holding Hanceville to a free throw from Dynasia Simmons with 40 seconds left until halftime.
Good Hope went to the locker room with a comfortable 25-10 advantage.
Hanceville could not stop the Good Hope attack in the second half as they continued to build the lead. The largest advantage for the Lady Raiders was 44-17 with 4:34 to play in the contest on a steal and layup by Meagan Runge.
Runge led the upset with 16 points, followed by Ruby Lucas at 12, Desire Odachowski at 11 with three baskets from 3-point range; McLeod, Mallory Hammock and Morgan Hammock at two and one from Alexus Buckelew.
Simmons paced Hanceville with 14 points, Zoe Joles scored nine, Malorie Morgan, Katelynn Hurst and Victoria Stanley tossed in two each.
Cold Springs 42, Vinemont 12:
This game belonged to Cold Springs after the first 6:00 with a 14-1 lead and a 30-4 advantage at halftime. Half of the scoring by the Lady Eagles came from downtown with five treys made by intermission.
It was 37-11 after the third quarter as Kyla Aaron directed a balanced Cold Springs attack with nine, Lacey Rice and Brooklyn Crider eight each, Madison Bruer seven, Haley Williams three and Morgan Chasteen two.
Vinemont got eight points from Madysen Hacker, two from Alexis Holmes and Paige Holcomb.
Parkside 26, Holly Pond 13:
It was a slow start by both sides with neither able to get any points in the first period until less than 90 seconds was showing on the clock. Holly Pond scored first for a 2-0 lead, then Parkside closed out with a 6-0 run to end the first period and a 6-2 advantage.
A 9-0 run sent the Lady Panthers to the half with a 15-2 cushion. Holly Pond tried to come back in the third, closing to 19-9, but could never shake off the huge deficit and was eliminated in the quarterfinal round.
Molly McKelvy scored nine for Parkside with Jacy Gorham and Morgan Lindsey adding five each, Cassidy Thompkins three and Kaitlyn Benson and Makalya Latham two each.
For Holly Pond, Rebecca Bell and Kaylee Stallings tossed in four each, Kennedy Twilley three and Abigail Kusz two.
West Point 47, Fairview 21:
Overcoming a 9-5 deficit following the opening stanza, West Point went ahead with an 11-5 advantage in the second period and was up at the break 16-14.
The game became a West Point domination in the second half with 16 unanswered points, featuring scoring by Braelee Quinn, Sidney Smith and Lessie Allison to give the No. 2 seed a 36-18 lead when time ran out in the third.
Smith was tops for West Point with 14, Allison netted 10, Quinn scored nine, Kali Brown and Destiny Sellers four each, Ryleigh Jones, Ava Jo Rushing and Summer Mendoza two each.
Molly Freeman's eight led Fairview with Cassidy Hutchison scoring six, Kyleigh Aleman-Limon three and Desiree Speegle and Claudia Landers two each.
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