CULLMAN, Ala. – Friday was loaded with summer basketball at Cullman High School and West Point, Cold Springs and the Lady Bearcats were all there to compete. The Lady Eagles played split a pair of tight games against Elkmont and Brewer while the Lady Warriors picked up wins over both Randolph and Thompson. Cullman hit the floor later in the evening for a pair of matchups against Haleyville and Briarwood Christian and split its games as well.
Elkmont 32 – Cold Springs 30 (varsity girls)
Quick baskets by Ciara Calvert and Ella Dickerson gave Cold Springs an early 4-0 lead, but Elkmont scored the next seven points and that gave them a 7-4 lead. A basket down low by the Lady Eagles’ Malaya Taylor made it a one-point game, but another 7-0 run by the Lady Devils pushed the Cold Springs deficit to 14-6. The Lady Eagles ended their long scoring drought with 1:09 remaining in the first half on a layup by Starla Chenell and Cold Springs found themselves down 16-8 at the half.
Elkmont scored a quick basket just 13 seconds into the second half to increase their lead to 18-8, but the Lady Eagles went on a run to get back in the game as Ella Bruer scored off a Red Devil turnover; Taylor and Dickerson also added a basket down low as well to make it a 18-14 game. After Elkmont pushed their lead back to eight at 22-14, Bruer drilled back-to-back shots from deep to make it a two-point game. Dickerson, Taylor, and Bruer each added a basket down low during their 10-0 run and that gave Cold Springs a 26-22 lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the game.
Elkmont answered right back with an 8-0 run and the Lady Eagles quickly found themselves down 30-26. But huge layups by Taylor and Bruer tied the game up at 30. The Lady Devils scored with 34 seconds left and Cold Springs looked to tie the game up, but their shot was off, and the Lady Eagles dropped their first game of the day, 32-30, to Elkmont.
Bruer finished with 12 points for Cold Springs. Taylor added eight points. Dickerson ended up with six points, while Calvert and Chenell each chipped in with two points.
West Point 63 – Randolph 32 (varsity girls)
West Point’s Ryleigh Jones got her team on the scoreboard first with a layup, then Braelee Quinn hit one of her own to give the Lady Warriors a 4-0 lead. Randolph made it a 6-5 game after drilling a three, but Quinn drilled back-to-back shots from deep to help push West Point’s lead to 12-5. The Lady Warriors went on a 10-2 run behind a pair of treys from Summer Mendoza and a pair of baskets down low from Laklin Shadix that gave West Point a 22-7 lead. Jaylen Faulkner and Mendoza each added a layup to put West Point on top 26-12 at the half.
Quinn continued her red-hot shooting from deep as she hit a pair from long range to start out the second half to give the Lady Warriors a 32-14 lead. West Point quickly put the game away as they went on a 14-3 run behind seven points from Jones, five from Quinn and two from Mendoza. Then later on, the Lady Warriors went on a 9-0 run as Quinn hit yet another shot from deep, Jaylen Faulkner hit a basket down low and Liberty Shadix added back-to-back layups as well to give them a 55-19 lead. The Lady Warriors ended up rolling past the Lady Raiders, 63-32.
Quinn led the way for West Point with 24 points as she drilled six threes during the contest. Mendoza added 10 points. Jones ended up with nine points and Jaelyn Faulkner finished with six points.
Cold Springs 30 – Brewer 27 (varsity girls)
Brewer jumped out to a 6-0 lead over the Lady Eagles in their second game of the day but three-pointers from Ella Bruer and Ella Dickerson tied the game at 6 early in the opening half. Another three from the Lady Patriots put them back in front 9-6 but Starla Chenell responded with a three-pointer of her own to tie things back up at 9 with less than 10 minutes to play in the half.
After falling behind 11-9, Malaya Taylor scored inside to tie the game at 11 and Bruer later drilled another three to keep the score tied at 14 with just over five minutes remaining in the first half. However, the Lady Patriots ended the half on a 5-0 run to take a 19-14 advantage into the break.
Bruer laid one in to cut the lead to 19-16 early in the second half and Mia Light drilled a three-pointer to make it a 19-19 game. Bruer scored to keep the game tied at 21 with just under 13 minutes left to play and she later drained a deep three to keep the score knotted at 24 with nine minutes remaining. Taylor scored to give Cold Springs a 26-24 lead with just over two minutes on the clock, but Brewer knocked down a three to pull ahead 27-26 with less than a minute to play. The Lady Eagles answered with a Dickerson basket to take a 28-27 lead in the final minute, and she added two more points in the final seconds to secure a 30-27 win for Cold Springs.
Bruer led the Lady Eagles with 13 points in the win, followed by Dickerson with seven, Taylor with four and Light and Chenell with three.
West Point 32 – Thompson 31 (varsity girls)
After handling Randolph in their first game of the day, the Lady Warriors had a tougher time getting points on the board against Thompson. Baskets from Ryleigh Jones and Summer Mendoza put West Point in front 4-3 early and five straight points from Laklin Shadix stretched the lead to 9-3 with just a few minutes gone in the opening half. Thompson responded, and went on a run to cut the lead to 9-8 and eventually pulled ahead to take a 14-9 lead with just over seven minutes to play in the half.
Mendoza drilled a three to cut the lead to 14-12 and after a bucket from Thompson on the other end, Braelee Quinn scored inside to keep West Point within two. Hallie Wheeler drove to the basket for a three-point play that gave the Lady Warriors a 17-16 lead and Mendoza added another basket just before the buzzer to tie the score at 19 going into the halftime break.
Back to back baskets from Quinn and a score by Laklin Shadix put West Point on top 25-21 early in the second half and Quinn knocked down a three-pointer to make it a 28-21 game. Two more buckets from Liberty and Laklin Shadix extended the lead to 32-25 with around six minutes to play and the Lady Warriors held off a late run from Thompson to win it 32-31 and collect their second win of the day.
Quinn and Laklin Shadix posted nine points in the win for West Point. Mendoza finished with seven, Wheeler scored three and Jones and Liberty Shadix each added two.
Cullman 48 – Haleyville 42 (OT) (varsity girls)
Regan Quattlebaum hit the first basket of the game for Cullman a little over a minute into the first half. Haleyville then scored eight in a row to make it 8-2, then later on, the Lady Bearcats went on a run of their own as Ava McSwain finished off the 9-2 run with a three to give them an 11-10 lead with 6:17 remaining in the first half. Jaden Winfrey added back-to-back layups to help stretch the Cullman lead to 15-12 and the Lady Bearcats went into the half up 15-14.
Ella Collum hit a free throw to start out the second half for Cullman and under the rules for the summer league, if you hit the free throw, you will get two points instead of one. That helped give the Lady Bearcats a 17-14 lead; it went back-and-forth for a few possessions between both teams before Winfrey drilled a three and Maci Brown hit a layup and that gave Cullman a 26-24 lead with 12:06 remaining in the game.
There were several ties and lead changes for several possessions as neither team had a lead larger than three. After Winfrey tied the game at 32 on a layup, the Lady Lions broke the tie with five straight points and that gave them a 37-32 lead. The Lady Bearcats countered with a 7-0 run as McSwain hit a free throw, then Winfrey got fouled after hitting the layup, which automatically counts as a three-point play, and she later added a free throw of her own to give Cullman a 39-37 lead.
After Haleyville tied the game up at 39, McSwain hit a huge three from the left corner to give the Lady Bearcats a three-point lead, but the Lady Lions hit one of their own from deep to send the game into overtime. It was all Cullman in overtime as McSwain hit a layup and Winfrey and Brown each hit a free throw as the Lady Bearcats ended up taking game one, 48-42.
Winfrey led the way for Cullman with 20 points. McSwain added 12 points, while Collum ended up with eight points.
Briarwood Christian 47 – Cullman 42 (varsity girls)
Winfrey got the first basket of the game for Cullman less than a minute into the first half. After Briarwood made it 4-2 early in the first half, the Lady Bearcats went on a 12-0 run as Quattlebaum and Winfrey scored all 12 points as that gave them a 14-4 lead. But it was the Lady Lions that would end up finishing the half out strong as they went on a 17-4 run and the Lady Bearcats would go into the half down, 21-18.
Briarwood stretched their lead out to seven to start out the second half. Cullman cut it to five twice, but Briarwood always had an answer. After Collum hit a free throw to make it a 27-22 game, the Lady Lions scored six in a row to stretch the Lady Bearcat deficit to 11 at 33-22. But Cullman charged their way back into the game behind some stifling defense and some huge baskets. Ally Sharpe, Winfrey and Quattlebaum each hit huge layups to make it a 33-28 game.
Briarwood made it a seven-point game on a layup, but Cullman went on another run behind Winfrey and Quattlebaum once again as they scored all eight points as that gave them a 36-35 lead with 6:41 remaining in the game. Briarwood countered with eight straight points of their own as they got the lead right back at 43-36. Free throws by Quattlebaum and Sharpe cut the Lady Bearcat deficit to three at 43-40. Quattlebaum later made it 45-42 with 4 seconds left in the contest, but the Lady Lions sealed the 47-42 win with a free throw. Winfrey finished with 18 points for Cullman.
Quattlebaum added 16 points. Sharpe ended up with six points, while Collum chipped in with two points.
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