Left to right: Good Hope's Cole Maddox, Fairview's Payton Golden, Hanceville's Zeke McDonald and West Point's Olivia Ball (Martha Needham and Nick Griffin for The Cullman Tribune)
CULLMAN – This year’s Cullman County Basketball Tournament is fast approaching, and all seven teams are gearing up for a big week on the hardwood. The tournament will get underway Saturday, Jan. 19 and will run all the way through Saturday, Jan. 26. All games will be played in Tom Drake Coliseum on the campus of Wallace State Community College.
In the varsity division, the Good Hope Raiders and West Point Lady Warriors secured top seeds in the regular season and will enjoy a bye in the opening round. The Lady Warriors also claimed the top seed in the junior varsity division along with Fairview, and in the ninth-grade boys’ bracket, West Point will enter as the no. 1 seed. With most of the 21 upcoming matchups still undetermined, all we can talk about for now is round one, starting Saturday.
The first games of the week will be showdowns in the junior varsity bracket, starting Saturday afternoon with game one of the junior varsity girls’ bracket, (4) Good Hope and (5) Holly Pond. The Lady Raiders edged out the Lady Broncos 34-32 in their last meeting so their matchup on Saturday should be interesting as well. After that game, the junior varsity boys will kick things off with (4) Cold Springs taking on (5) Vinemont. The Eagles are entering the matchup as the higher seed but haven’t seen Vinemont since November when they won 34-23. Both teams have played a lot of basketball since that game so this pairing should be fun to watch.
Two more junior varsity boys’ games will follow. (3) West Point will take on (6) Holly Pond and (2) Good Hope v. (7) Hanceville will cap off Saturday night. The Warriors will enter their matchups as the favorite after knocking off the Broncos 59-35 earlier this season, and the Bulldogs will have a big challenge in front of them when they take on the Raiders.
Monday, Jan. 21 will feature another junior varsity boys clash when (1) Fairview faces the winner of the Cold Springs and Vinemont showdown from Saturday. Monday will also kick off the varsity matchups, starting with (2) Fairview v. (7) Vinemont. The Lady Aggies blew past the Lady Eagles 60-16 in their last matchup so they will certainly be the favorite in the rematch. The varsity boys’ bracket will get underway after them, with (4) Fairview facing off against (5) Holly Pond. The Aggies just won their last meeting with the Broncos Tuesday night 91-79 but were also defeated by Holly Pond in the annual Thanksgiving Tournament 59-38, so this is a matchup that could easily go either way.
Tuesday night has another pair of varsity games set. In the girls’ bracket, (3) Hanceville will square off against (6) Good Hope and on the boys’ side, (3) West Point will take on (6) Cold Springs. The Lady Bulldogs got by the Lady Raiders 60-41 in their last meeting and will try to make it two in a row when they play on Tuesday. The Warriors will enter as the favorite in their game against the Eagles after defeating them 55-51 in their last meeting, but don’t be surprised if this one goes down to the wire.
Wednesday will see the ninth-grade squads finally hit the floor and they’ll get things started with (1) West Point v. (4) Vinemont. The Warriors defeated the Eagles twice earlier this season by a combined score of 88-23 so they will certainly be the favorites on Wednesday. (2) Fairview will take on (3) Good Hope after that and with similar seeds and records going in, this matchup could definitely tip to either side. Two more varsity games will follow, starting with (4) Cold Springs v. (5) Holly Pond. Despite entering the tournament neck and neck in terms of seeding, the Lady Eagles are 2-0 against the Lady Broncos this season, and if they can stay hot from behind the 3-point line, it’ll be tough for Holly Pond to keep pace. (2) Hanceville will face (7) Vinemont in the night cap and the Bulldogs will be fresh off of their convincing 80-41 win over the Eagles this past Tuesday night.
The last of our determined matchups will play on Thursday and Friday before the championship games slated for Saturday. On Thursday, (1) West Point will take on the winner of Good Hope and Holly Pond game from Saturday in the junior varsity girls’ bracket, and following them in the varsity girls’ bracket, the top-seeded Lady Warriors will play the winner of Wednesday’s contest between Cold Springs and Holly Pond. Friday will start with a junior varsity girls’ showdown between (2) Cold Springs and (3) Fairview and will be followed by (1) Good Hope facing the winner of Monday’s Fairview and Holly Pond matchup in the varsity boys’ division.
After all that, this year’s champions will be determined on Saturday, Jan. 26 starting with the ninth-grade boys title game at 1 p.m.
2019 Cullman County Basketball Tournament Schedule:
Wallace State Community College (Admission is $6 per day)
Saturday, Jan. 19
JV Girls' Game 1 – (4) Good Hope v. (5) Holly Pond – 2 p.m.
JV Boys' Game 1 – (4) Cold Springs v. (5) Vinemont – 3:15 p.m.
JV Boys' Game 2 – (3) West Point v. (6) Holly Pond – 4:30 p.m.
JV Boys' Game 3 – (2) Good Hope v. (7) Hanceville – 5:45 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 21
JV Boys' Game 4 – (1) Fairview v. winner of game 1 – 5:30 p.m.
Varsity Girls' Game 1 – (2) Fairview v. (7) Vinemont – 6:45 p.m.
Varsity Boys' Game 1 – (4) Fairview v. (5) Holly Pond – 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 22
JV Boys' Game 5 – winner of game 2 v. winner of game 3 – 5 p.m.
Varsity Girls' Game 2 – (3) Hanceville v. (6) Good Hope – 6:15 p.m.
Varsity Boys' Game 2 – (3) West Point v. (6) Cold Springs – 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 23
Ninth Grade Boys' Game 1 – (1) West Point v. (4) Vinemont – 4 p.m.
Ninth Grade Boys' Game 2 – (2) Fairview v. (3) Good Hope – 5 p.m.
Varsity Girls' Game 3 – (4) Cold Springs v. (5) Holly Pond – 6:15 p.m.
Varsity Boys' Game 3 – (2) Hanceville v. (7) Vinemont – 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 24
JV Girls' Game 2 – (1) West Point v. winner of game 1 – 5 p.m.
Varsity Girls' Game 4 – (1) West Point v. winner of game 3 – 6:15 p.m.
Varsity Girls' Game 5 – winner of game 1 v. winner of game 2 – 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 25
JV Girls' Game 3 – (2) Cold Springs v. (3) Fairview – 5 p.m.
Varsity Boys' Game 4 – (1) Good Hope v. winner of game 1 – 6:15 p.m.
Varsity Boys' Game 5 – winner of game 2 v. winner of game 3 – 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 26
Ninth-Grade Championship Game – winner of game 1 v. winner of game 2 – 1 p.m.
JV Girls' Championship Game – winner of game 2 v. winner of game 3 – 2:30 p.m.
JV Boys' Championship Game – winner of game 4 v. winner of game 5 – 4 p.m.
Varsity Girls' Championship Game – winner of game 4 v. winner of game 5 – 5:30 p.m.
Varsity Boys' Championship Game – winner of game 4 v. winner of game 5 – 7 p.m.
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