CULLMAN COUNTY TOURNAMENT: (1) West Point cruises past (4) Cold Springs 47-24 to advance to JV Girls finals

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West Point’s Kaylee Faulkner (4) posted 13 points in the Lady Warriors’ 47-24 win over Cold Springs Thursday. (Nick Griffin for The Cullman Tribune)

HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Thursday night from the 2020 Cullman County Basketball Tournament was packed with girls’ matchups, starting with the top-seeded West Point Lady Warriors taking on the fourth-seeded Cold Springs Lady Eagles in the JV Girls semifinals. West Point jumped out to a fast start against the Lady Eagles and Cold Springs was never able to keep pace, falling to the Lady Warriors 47-24

A Braelee Quinn basket gave the Lady Warriors a 5-0 lead early in the first quarter and Summer Mendoza laid another one in the make it 7-0. Mia Light knocked down a three-pointer to cut the lead to 7-4 midway through the opening quarter, but Nikki Tyree answered with back to back buckets on the other end to stretch the lead back to seven. A steal and basket from Kaylee Faulkner made it a 15-4 game with a minute to play in the first and Faulkner stayed hot with a three from the left corner that put West Point in front by 14 at the end of the first.

Faulkner turned two more steals into four more points at the start of the second period to give the Lady Warriors a 22-4 lead. Another three-pointer from Light trimmed the lead to 13 with just over two minutes remaining in the half but a jumper from Faulkner on the other end put West Point back in front 25-10. A three from Tyree made it 28-10 with under a minute to play in the second and Cold Springs went into the half trailing the Lady Warriors by 18.

Kylee Quinn scored down low to make it 30-10 early in the third quarter and Braelee Quinn followed her with a basket that made it 33-10 midway through the period. Bethany Minck took a steal the other way for two points and extended the lead to 25. A free throw from Ella Bruer trimmed the lead to 35-13 with less than a minute to play in the third but after Braelee Quinn knocked down another three and Brooklyn Wells and hit a jumper from the right side, West Point led the way 40-15 going into the final frame.

Another steal and basket for Faulkner added to the lead early in the fourth and Alexis Kimbril buried a three from the right corner to make it a 45-15 game with five minutes to play. The Lady Warriors maintained a 47-18 advantage with under two minutes remaining and despite back to back threes from Bruer that chipped away in the final minute, West Point held on to win it 47-24.

Faulkner led the way for the Lady Warriors with 13 points in the win, followed by Tyree and Braelee Quinn with nine and Kylee Quinn with five. Bruer led the Lady Eagles with 14 in the loss. Light added six and Malaya Taylor finished with four.

(1) West Point will play either (2) Good Hope or (3) Holly Pond in Saturday’s JV Girls title game at 2:30 p.m.

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