Belgreen, Red Bay girls advance
Belgreen’s Alivia Holcomb, left, Kristi O’Dell, center, and Bridget Thompson, right, attempt to steal the ball from a Covenant Christian player Thursday. Belgreen won 47-45 to advance to the Northwest Regional Tournament next week. | Scot Beard/FCT
With her team clinging to a three-point lead with less than a minute to play, Belgreen varsity girls coach Shauna Humphries was eager to see the finals seconds tick off the clock.
For Humphries and her team that final minute took an eternity.
“That was the best noise in my life when that buzzer went off,” Humphries said.
The Lady Bulldogs had every reason to be nervous during their sub-regional playoff game against Covenant Christian — it was the same team that stunned Belgreen in the sub-regionals last season.
This year the Lady Bulldogs would have no part in another upset, and though it was not pretty, they scratched their way to a 47-45 victory against the Lady Eagles and clinched a trip to the Northwest Regional Tournament at Wallace State Community College.
“I just wanted to go to Hanceville. I wanted revenge for last year,” said senior Alivia Holcomb. “We got to go when we were in the 10th grade and we wanted to experience that one more time.”
Early in the game it looked as though the Lady Bulldogs would pull away for an easy win. They were without one of their leading scorers — Katelin Barber had a stomach virus — for most of the game and the loss of her offensive production almost caught up with them.
Belgreen never led by more than seven points and each time they tried to pull away Covenant Christian would rally to tie or take the lead.
The Lady Eagles held a three-point lead midway through the fourth quarter before Kristi O’Dell score for Belgreen to cut the deficit to 44-43. Lydia DeVaney then stole the ball on the inbound attempt and added a score to give Belgreen the lead for good.
O’Dell cushioned the lead with a lay-up in the final minute. Covenant had a couple of opportunities to tie the game, but could only come up with one free throw down the stretch.
The final seconds were tough on the seniors who wanted the final home game of their careers to be a victory.
“I was so nervous,” Holcomb said. “We didn’t let our nerves get the best of us. We pushed on through and came out on top.”
Holcomb led the Lady Bulldogs with 11 points while O’Dell added 10 points. Also scoring for Belgreen were Erica Smith (9), Bridget Thompson (8), DeVaney (6) and Barber (3).
With the win the Lady Bulldogs advance to the Northwest Regional Tournament and will play Berry at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Red Bay 54, American Christian 32
The Lady Tigers had another impressive defensive performance Thursday night in the sub-regional round of the playoffs, beating American Christian to Advance to the Northwest Regional Tournament.
Red Bay’s defense, which held both opponents in the area tournament below 30 points, looked like it might falter against the Lady Patriots. American Christian scored 14 points in the first quarter.
“I tell the girls things don’t always go right on offense, but defense is nothing but effort and hustle,” Red Bay coach Donnie Roberts said. “You can do that every night, and, so far, we have.”
Red Bay limited American Christian to three points in the second quarter and 15 points in the second half.
While the defense locked down the Lady Patriots, the offense also put on a show. Red Bay had a 16-0 run in the second quarter and an 11-0 run in the second half to pull away for a comfortable victory.
Whitney Sharp led the Lady Tigers with 11 points while Lexy Lindsey added 10 points. Also scoring for Red Bay were Morgan McKinney (9), Hannah Sharp (8), Lauren Pacetti (4), Leah Fuller (4), Jade Ezzell (3), Casey Sparks (3) and MaRanda Burgett (2).
With the win the Lady Tigers advance to the Northwest Regional Tournament at Wallace State Community College and will play Lexington at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
