Belgreen wins area title

By Staff
Mike Self, Franklin County Times
FLORENCE – Belgreen's new basketball gym won't officially open until next season, but it never hurts to get a head start on decorating.
"We just really wanted this, you know. We wanted to get that first banner to hang in the new gym," senior forward Mary Billingham said on Saturday after the Lady Bulldogs claimed the Class 1A, Area 16 championship by dominating the fourth quarter in a 42-29 win over Shoals Christian.
Belgreen (12-11) beat Shoals for the first time in three tries this season and earned the right to host a sub-regional game. The Lady Bulldogs will face Area 15 runner-up R.A. Hubbard on Thursday at 7 p.m., with a berth in the Northwest Regional Tournament at stake.
"I don't know a whole lot about R.A. Hubbard," Belgreen coach Shauna Humphries said. "But I know we wanted to be playing at home and facing the No. 2 team from that area instead of the No. 1 team [Hazlewood]."
The Lady Bulldogs were trailing 23-17 and were badly in need of an offensive spark on Saturday when junior guard Kellie Oliver nailed a three-pointer from the left wing in the final seconds of the third quarter.
Oliver's trey set the stage for the pivotal fourth quarter, in which Belgreen out-scored Shoals Christian 22-6 to pull away for the win.
"Apparently, we just weren't clicking on offense at first," Humphries said. "Kellie's shot really seemed to get us going. It got our momentum going in the right direction, and we just took off from there."
Billingham pinpointed Oliver's three as the turning point for the Lady Bulldogs.
"When Kellie hit that shot, it really sparked us," she said.
If Oliver's shot provided the spark, then the inspired play of Amber Smith fanned the flame into an inferno. The freshman forward led Belgreen's fourth-quarter charge by scoring 10 points, chasing down offensive rebounds, diving on loose balls and sinking clutch free throws.
"Amber is like a breath of fresh air to us," said Billingham, who matched her younger teammate with 11 points on the night. "She's just a freshman, but she's got a lot of talent."
Smith made three free throws early in the fourth quarter to tie the game 23-23, and Belgreen took its first lead of the night on a jumper by Deborah Billingham with 7:15 remaining.
Noel Byrd scored to tie the game for Shoals Christian, but Smith answered with a three-point play to put the Lady Bulldogs in front to stay.
Mary Billingham nailed a jumper and two free throws as Belgreen began to take control, and Smith then forced a turnover and drained an 18-footer from the corner to make it 34-27 with 5:10 remaining.
"Amber just has so much hustle in her," Humphries said. "When she's on the floor, it seems like the whole team gets picked up. She's a very aggressive player."
Belgreen sealed the win at the free throw line, making 14-of-21 free throws in the fourth quarter. Shoals Christian was just 2-for-10 from the line in the final quarter and 4-for-16 on the night.
"We looked back at the stats from the first two times they beat us, and they shot 72 free throws," Humphries said. "They were really aggressive in taking the ball to the hole, and we kept putting them on the foul line. Tonight, we wanted to get them in foul trouble. We wanted to be the ones getting to the line a lot."
The Lady Bulldogs also made a change on defense, starting the game in a 1-3-1 zone after having played man-to-man in the first two meetings with Shoals.
The Lady Flame responded by making five three-pointers in the first quarter, including four by Maggie Grace.
"We played them man the first two games, and we decided to switch things up and play zone tonight," Humphries said. "Apparently, that wasn't the right thing to do. They had a couple of girls who stepped up and shot the ball better than they did the first two times we played them. We realized pretty quickly that we were going to have to get out of that zone."
Humphries called timeout after Grace hit her fourth three of the opening quarter to give Shoals Christian a 17-9 lead, and Belgreen went back to a man-to-man. The switch was effective, to say the least.
Shoals Christian managed just two free throws in the second quarter and went a total of 11 minutes without a field goal. After scoring 17 points in the first quarter, they managed just 12 points over the final three quarters combined.
"We went back to our man-to-man, and we did a better job of switching on screens and not letting them have open shots," Billingham said. "I think we rattled them a little."
Still, the Lady Bulldogs managed only four points themselves in the second quarter and trailed 19-13 at the half.
"At halftime, we pretty much just talked about offense and rebounding," Humphries said. "Defensively, we were on our game tonight after we went back to man-to-man. But I knew if we didn't start rebounding we weren't going to win the game."
The Lady Bulldogs answered the call, and now they're one step away from going to Hanceville for the first time since making back-to-back trips to the state finals in 2002-03.
"We made it to the sub-region when I was in tenth grade, and we lost to Mars Hill," Billingham said. "It's exciting to have another chance, especially for our seniors. Hopefully we can put a few more banners up there."
Humphries said her team is peaking at the right time.
"It's been a rough year in some ways, but I think our girls are coming together at the right time," she said. "We're looking forward to seeing how far we can go."
Deborah Billingham added seven points for Belgreen on Saturday, and Amy Smith had five.
Grace led Shoals Christian with 12 points, and McKenzie Bishop added nine.