ADDISON, Ala. — The Addison Lady Bulldogs hosted the Sumiton Christian Lady Eagles for the championship of Area 13 Thursday night and Addison was able to overcome a scrappy Sumiton Christian team and finally come away with a 38-32 victory. Addison will advance to host Hubbertville while Sumiton Christian will travel to Marion County to play a very strong Lady Raider team.
The first period started out slow for both teams and it was a precursor of things to come for the entire game. Either both teams were uptight or were just plain off in their playing rhythm as neither team could hit a shot to save their life. Sumiton Christian came out in a pressing defense which is not the norm for them and let’s be honest, the Lady Dawgs didn’t handle it all that well. Addison won the period 7-4 with Gracie “Bug” Manley scoring 4 points and “Magic” Molly Gilbreath hitting a trey. Addison point guard Hadley “Shooter” Butler led the team with 5 rebounds. Sumiton Christian Center Emma Potts was almost unstoppable on this evening. Potts had 2 points but had 7 boards in the first period. Lady Eagle Addison Hogland had the other two points for Sumiton Christian.
If you hoped that the girls on both teams would settle down your hopes would have been dashed. Both teams had numerous bad passes, sloppy ball handling and were taking wild shots. Even if the girls were close enough for a layup the ball would roll off the rim. It was just a downright ugly offensive game in the first half. Manley had 2 points and 4 rebounds in the period while Gilbreath led the team with 5. Sumiton Christian had one bucket the entire period and that was a three pointer by Annalace Rice. Addison led 14-7 at the half.
The second half started off with Sumiton Christian and Addison seemingly settling down. Both teams played a little bit better but both offenses still struggled. Addison won the period 15-12 to take a 29-19 lead into the fourth period. The biggest news during the quarter was that Sumiton Christian’s main player, Emma Potts, picked up three quick fouls within a span of 3 minutes giving her four for the game. This took Miss Potts off the court during a time when the Lady Eagles had cut the Bulldog lead down to four. At the time of her fouth foul, Potts had a game high 15 rebounds. Potts also had 6 points in the period while three other Lady Eagles put in a bucket a piece. Addison was led by Manley who carried the Lady Dawgs in the period with 10 of Addison’s 15 points. Gilbreath added the other 5.
The final frame was exciting for both teams. The Lady Eagles came out with a 5-0 run to cut the lead back to 29-24. Potts had three points while Addison Hogland hit a layup for her two points. Addison was able to stop the Eagle momentum and increase their lead to 33-28 with only 3:32 to go in the game. Gilbreath nailed a three-pointer and Butler sank two free throws. After two empty possessions by both teams, Potts then responded with about an eight foot baby hook shot that hit nothing but net to cut the lead to 33-30 with only 1:04 to go in the game. Addison’s Katie Barrett hit a free throw to give the hometown Dawgs a 34-30 lead with only 55 seconds to go. The Lady Eagles wouldn’t go away as Potts had a put back to cut the lead to 34-32 with only 33 seconds left. This is where Addison’s guards, Butler and Gilbreath knocked down four free throws to give the final score of 38-32. The Addison Lady Bulldogs defense stepped up when they had too and even though they didn’t play that well on this evening they still got the win.
Addison Head Coach Bailey Boland,
“I think we all know we didn’t play that well tonight, but my girls still dug down deep and were able to come up with some key stops when they needed too. I believe it shows the character of a team when you don’t play well but you don’t give up and keep on fighting and come away with a victory. Sumiton Christian is a much-improved team and number 3 (Emma Potts) was a handful all night. She really played well. I thought that Coach (Andy) Rice really had a good game plan tonight for Sumiton Christian and they defended us as well as anyone has all year. We get to move on and host a game Monday night. We need to put this game behind us and move on because from this point on it is win or go home.”
Sumiton Christian Head Coach Andy Rice,
“I thought that my girls played really hard tonight. I believe that we played our best defense we have played all year. We changed up and pressed them tonight and we hadn’t ‘done that in our earlier meetings this year. I have an extremely young team; I mean we have only senior, and I believe that our future is bright. My goal this year was to realistically finish second to Addison. They had a veteran good team coming back and were the obvious favorites in our area. We have made the state playoffs and we are excited about that. We are probably going to travel to Marion County on Monday, so we are going to have our hands full again.”
Unofficial stats
Addison was led by Gilbreath with 18 points, 2 assists and 1 steal. Manley had 16 points, 8 boards, 1 assist and 2 steals. Butler had 3 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. Barrett had 1 point, 2 boards and 3 steals. Lydia “Barbie” Ergle had 8 rebounds and 1 assist. Brilyn Dover had 4 rebounds. Lauryn “Beemer” Cunningham had 2 boards.
Sumiton Christian was led by Potts who had 15 points and 20 rebounds. Hogland had 10 points and 5 boards. Annalace Rice had 5 points and 2 boards. Calli Corley had 2 points and 2 rebounds. Ali Kelly had 2 boards.
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