Belgreen tops THS for area title

By Staff
THARPTOWN – For the second year in a row the Tharptown varsity girls team met Belgreen in the finals of the Class 1A, Area 15 Tournament.
For the second year in a row Belgreen pulled out the victory late.
The Lady Bulldogs held a slim 48-45 lead when Katelin Barber stole the ball and drew a foul.
The foul sent Tharptown's Chelsea McCluskey out of the game with her fifth foul and Barber converted both free throws to extend Belgreen's lead to five points.
Tharptown would not score again.
The Lady Wildcats led 13-9 at the end of the first quarter, but Belgreen outscored Tharptown 20-10 in the second quarter to take a 29-23 lead into halftime.
The Lady Wildcats rallied to tie the score briefly, but Belgreen answered with a 7-0 run to take control of the game.
Barber led the Lady Bulldogs with 14 points while Amber Smith scored nine.
Also scoring for Belgreen were Lydia DeVaney (8), Loren McVicker (7), Anna DeVaney (6), Katy Britton (4), Kristi O'Dell (4) and Brooke Davis (2).
McCluskey led the Lady Wildcats with 14 points while Kendra Baker and Breadon Sellers scored 11 points each.
Also scoring for Tharptown were Kamri Sears (6) and Heather Hatton (3).
With the win Belgreen improves to 22-4 and captures its fourth consecutive area title. The Lady Bulldogs will host Covenant Christian in the sub-regional round of the playoffs at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Belgreen defeated Covenant Christian 71-33 in November.
Tharptown falls to 12-12 and will travel to R.A. Hubbard for the sub-regional round of the playoffs. The time and date have not been set because the R.A. Hubbard boys team has not completed its area tournament.
If the R.A. Hubbard boys win, the girls game against Tharptown will be Friday night.
If the R.A. Hubbard boys lose, the girls game will be played at 7 p.m. Thursday night.