FLORENCE – It was the girls who took to the floor first Tuesday night as Cold Springs faced Mars Hill in sub-regional tournament action.
Cold Springs 52, Mars Hill 58 (Girls)
Bailey West quickly got Cold Springs on the board with a lightning quick three that ignited the crowd. Emme Willoughby followed with a 2-point bucket giving the Lady Eagles a quick 5-1 lead. Two forced turnovers later, Willoughby hit a deep three pushing the lead to 8-1 and forcing a Lady Panther timeout. Mars Hill found their offense out of the timeout, pulling to within three. However, Willoughby hit a clutch jumper as the buzzer sounded to give Cold Springs a five-point advantage after one.
The Lady Panthers quickly cut the lead to three once more to open the quarter, but West hit another deep three and Willoughby added a jumper to push the lead back to eight. Mars Hill came right back and showed why they are area champs, giving Cold Springs all they could handle in the last four minutes of the quarter, pulling even and taking the lead as the quarter ended. At the midway point, Mars Hill led 25-23.
The Lady Panthers opened the third on an 11-2 run to up the lead to nine just three minutes into the quarter, leading to a Cold Springs timeout. Out of the break, Prisca McAnnally drilled a pair of 3-point baskets to pull Cold Springs right back in the game. The scoring went back and forth for the remainder of the quarter, but in the last second of the third, Mars Hill buried a three to extend the lead to seven with one quarter left to play.
Down but not out, Cold Springs fought through questionable calls and no calls to pull to within six with 2:34 left to play. However, the tide of the game changed when Camryn Crider was elbowed in the face, yet, somehow, she was called for the foul. Mars Hill hit the free throws and effectively put the game away, punching their ticket to Wallace.
Cold Springs 91, Mars Hill 94
Triston Chambers got the action going early for Cold Springs, scoring five points to lead the Eagles to an 8-0 run just 1:30 into the game. Chambers continued to run hot, nailing another pair of threes before a Mars Hill timeout. Despite the hot start from Cold Springs, Mars Hill clawed their way back into the game and found themselves up by two, 20-18, at the end of one.
The Panthers continued to put pressure on Cold Springs, extending their lead to nine early in the quarter. Cold Springs fought back to pull to within two, and just like the girls’ game, they had to fight through some very questionable calling. Mars Hill led 36-34 heading to the half.
Cold Springs started the third with a flurry of offense, doubling up Mars Hill 10-5 to take the lead. The Panthers were not done, however, as they came back on the Eagles and took the lead back, 54-52, with the fourth quarter still to play.
The action was nonstop in the fourth, but Cold Springs just could not get over the hump and get closer than two points, until the final two minutes that is. Chambers put the Eagles on his back when he hit a 2-point basket followed by three consecutive 3-pointers, all the while having to foul. Cold Springs clawed back to tie the game and forced overtime in a thrilling game.
The overtime period was the Chambers show. He scored 10 in the overtime and 21 of the last 25 Cold Springs points, but unfortunately it was not enough, as the Eagles fell 94-91 to Mars Hill.
