HANCEVILLE, Ala. – The Cold Springs Lady Eagles dominated Lexington in the Sub-Regional to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16 and their postseason run continued with a matchup against Sulligent at the Northwest Regional Tuesday afternoon. Cold Springs couldn’t have gotten off to a better start in the opening period, but the Lady Eagles had to fend off a huge rally from Sulligent in the second half to advance to the Northwest Regional Finals.
Cold Springs Head Coach Tammy West was proud of the mental toughness her team showed as Sulligent chipped away at the lead in the second half. The Eagles smothered Sulligent on the defensive end and were able to make the plays they needed to down the stretch to hold off the Blue Devils and punch their ticket to the Elite Eight.
“It was definitely a team effort on defense. Every time the ball was on the floor there were blue jerseys on the floor,” West said. “I was very proud that they held their composure because we haven’t had a lot of games like that this year. Being a young team like we are, I was kind of worried about how we would respond. I know that Sulligent has a lot of seniors, so I was super proud of them for continuing to do what we had done the whole game. They kept their composure, and we hit our free throws at the end and got the rebounds when we needed them and the stops when we needed them. I’m very proud of these girls.”
Cold Springs got out to a quick start to the game. A quick basket by Ella Dickerson put the Lady Eagles on the scoreboard first. Hollyn Bruer drilled a trey from the right wing to give the Lady Eagles an early 5-0 lead with less than five minutes to go in the opening period. Macie Huffstutler found Dickerson for a basket down low to make it 7-0 and then Kenady Graves laid one in to extend the lead to 9-0 late in the first quarter. Paizley Whitlow buried a three from the left wing, then Huffstutler scored off a Sulligent turnover to make it a 14-0 game. Dickerson added another basket in the paint, then Whitlow hit her second three of the quarter from the left wing to stretch Cold Springs’ lead to 20-0 going into the second quarter.
Whitlow’s three from the left corner put the Lady Eagles ahead 23-2. The Lady Blue Devils hit a trio of late baskets to cut it to 23-8. Dickerson hit a basket just before the buzzer to put Cold Springs ahead 25-8 at the half.
Bruer found Whitlow for a basket down low, then Graves laid it in to give the Lady Eagles a 29-8 lead early in the third quarter. Sulligent scored the next eight points to trim the deficit to 29-16. Graves scored through a foul and completed the three-point play at the free-throw line to increase Cold Springs’s lead to 32-16 almost midway through the third quarter. Huffstutler hit a late basket to give the Lady Eagles a 34-19 lead, and they would take a 34-21 lead into the final period.
A 7-2 run from the Lady Blue Devils made it a 36-28 game. Both teams traded baskets to keep it at an eight-point game at 38-30. After Graves laid it in, Sulligent scored the next five points, including a three-point play, to cut it to 40-36 with a little over three minutes to go in the contest. The Lady Blue Devils trimmed it to 40-38 with a little over two minutes to play in the game. Graves, Whitlow and Bruer each hit a pair of free throws to help seal a 46-38 win for Cold Springs and secure a spot in the Elite Eight.
Graves led Cold Springs with 14 points in the win. Whitlow added 13 points and Dickerson finished with 10 points and five rebounds.
Graves, Dickerson and Whitlow credited the team’s effort on the defensive end and Coach West’s words at halftime for being able to pull out the Sweet 16 victory.
Kenady Graves,
“Coach West told us at halftime that they were going to eventually start scoring so we just had to keep things up on defense. Coach West told us we had to be dogs on defense and that’s what we tried to do for the entire game.”
Ella Dickerson,
“We just told ourselves that we can’t run out of gas and Coach West told us at halftime that if we could just hold on and play 16 minutes of solid defense that we would win the ball game and that’s what we did. We struggled scoring in the second and third quarter, but we held on the defensive end and played with grit and we know that’s what it was going to take to win the game.”
Paizley Whitlow,
“We played really hard, played together and played lights out on defense. That just shows how well we can play together.”
Cold Springs will be back on the court on Monday at 9 a.m. to face either Belgreen or Decatur Heritage.
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