Good Hope's Tanner Malin (5) drives past Fairview's Austin Jackson (12) in the Raiders' 57-51 win over the Aggies Thursday night. (Martha Needham for The Cullman Tribune)
FAIRVIEW – The Good Hope Raiders hit the road Thursday night and made their way over to Fairview for a pair of hoops showdowns. The Lady Aggies handled Good Hope 61-24 and the Raiders returned the favor by knocking off Fairview 57-51.
(10-7) Fairview 61 – (2-11) Good Hope 24 (varsity girls)
Some 3-point shooting and suffocating defense from the Lady Aggies set the tone early in the night’s first matchup. Fairview jumped out to an 11-2 start and led 21-8 at the end of the opening frame. The Lady Raiders were able to hold Fairview in check in the second quarter and chip away at the lead, making it 27-16 with the Lady Aggies in front at halftime.
The second half was even more one-sided than the first. Turnovers from Good Hope and a dominant performance on the glass from Fairview allowed the Lady Aggies to take a commanding 44-20 lead into the fourth quarter. Shots continued to fall for Fairview and struggles at the free-throw line didn’t make things any easier for the Lady Raiders. The Lady Aggies pulled away to win it 61-24 after outscoring Good Hope 34-8 in the second half.
Molly McKelvy was a problem from 3-point range all night for the Lady Raiders. She led Fairview with 17 points, followed by Payton Golden who finished with 10. Abby Neighbors led the way for Good Hope with 6 points. The Lady Aggies will be back in action when they host Oneonta Jan. 8 and the Lady Raiders will look to bounce back with a win against Holly Pond on Jan. 10.
(13-3) Good Hope 57 – (4-11) Fairview 51 (varsity boys)
Not unlike the Lady Aggies in the game before them, the Raiders jumped out to an early lead in this one. Good Hope scored the first nine points of the game to get ahead early and led things 19-8 at the end of the first quarter.
The Aggies responded in the second quarter by cranking things up on the defensive end and cutting into the Raider lead. By halftime, Good Hope led just 35-28 after a solid quarter from Fairview that kept the Aggies in the game. The Raiders led it the whole way but the Aggies refused to go away.
A 3-pointer from Austin Jackson cut the Good Hope lead to 44-39 late in the third quarter and Fairview trailed just 48-41 going into the final frame. The Aggies continued to hang around and back-to-back threes from Jackson and Luke Yarbrough made it a 53-47 game midway through the fourth quarter. Sawyer Daniel put one in with less than two minutes to play that cut the lead 55-51 but that was as close as Fairview could get. The Raiders were able to come up with a couple of big defensive stops and held on to win it 57-51.
Good Hope’s Cole Maddox led all scorers with 25 points and was followed by Fairview’s Dow Nichols who posted 14 of his own. Drew Maddox also finished in double figures, putting up 11 points in the win.
Good Hope will look to keep things rolling when they face Decatur Heritage Saturday morning in the Jack’s New Year’s Rumble at Wallace State and Fairview will try to get back in the win column when it hosts Oneonta Jan. 8.
Other Thursday night scores:
Vinemont 70 – Falkville 42 (varsity boys)
Bessemer City 77 – Cullman 67 (varsity boys)
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