VINEMONT, Ala. – The Class 3A, Area 11 tournament continued Friday night at Vinemont as the Holly Pond Lady Broncos faced off against the Locust Fork Lady Hornets, and the Lady Eagles took on the Hanceville Lady Bulldogs with a spot in the area championship game on the line in both contests. In the first game, Holly Pond held a double-digit lead at the half, and they kept Locust Fork at arm’s length for the rest of the contest and ended up knocking off the Lady Hornets 52-39 to move on to the championship game. The second game saw Vinemont quickly get out to a double-digit lead and kept it for the duration of the contest, and would roll past Hanceville 71-39 to clinch a spot in the area championship game.
Holly Pond 52 – Locust Fork 39 (Varsity Girls Semifinal)
Milly Huddleston got the scoring started for Holly Pond with a three from the left wing, but Locust Fork got fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws to tie the game up at three early in the game. Behind Sadie Nail and Ava Thomas, the Lady Broncos reeled off 10 straight points to take a 13-3 lead with 3:24 remaining in the opening quarter. A late run by the Lady Hornets cut it to 13-9, but Madison Butts hit a late basket to give Holly Pond a 15-9 lead going into the second.
Butts drained a three from the left wing to put the Lady Broncos ahead, 18-9, early in the second period. Later in the second, Thomas nailed a pair of short jumpers to widen Holly Pond’s lead to 22-11. A shot down low by Locust Fork made it a 22-13 game, but behind Maggie and Sadie Nail, the Lady Broncos finished the first half strong. Maggie Nail hit a three from the top of the key, and Sadie Nail scored the final five points of the first half to give Holly Pond a commanding 30-13 lead at the half. The Lady Bronco defense held the Lady Hornets to just four made field goals in the first half.
A driving layup by Maggie Nail made it a 32-15 game early in the third. Sadie Nail knocked down a pair of free throws and later added a basket down low off a great pass by Butts to give Holly Pond a 36-20 lead. Another late run by the Lady Hornets cut it to 38-26 going into the final period.
Locust Fork drove to the lane and laid it in to make it a 38-28 game early in the fourth. Holly Pond, though, answered with a trey from the right corner by Sadie Nail and later on in the quarter, a three from the left wing by Butts to put the Lady Broncos ahead, 44-29. A three-point play by the Lady Hornets cut it to 46-34 with 5:40 remaining in the contest. After a pair of free throws by Thomas made it 48-34, Locust Fork countered with a pair of free throws on the other side and a trey to trim it to just nine at 48-39. Butts, though, made sure that the Lady Hornets didn’t get any closer after that, nailing four free throws to put the finishing touches on a 52-39 win for Holly Pond, as they will move on to the area championship game.
Sadie Nail finished with a game-high 18 points for the Lady Broncos. Thomas and Butts each added 12 points, and Maggie Nail ended up with seven points.
Vinemont 71 – Hanceville 39 (Varsity Girls Semifinal)
A rebound and putback by Addison Holcomb gave Vinemont an early 3-0 lead. Alex Twitty nailed a long jumper from just inside the three-point line to cut it to 3-2, but Caroline Miller got fouled while attempting a three-pointer and ended up hitting all three to put the Lady Eagles ahead, 6-2. Miller later added a basket down low to make it 8-2. Kerrigon Moore hit a pair of free throws to cut it to 8-4. Treys by Arleigh Thomason and Reagan Robinson helped fuel a 15-0 Vinemont run, as they scored 14 of their 15 points to stretch their lead to 23-4. The Lady Eagles would take a commanding 23-6 lead into the second quarter.
Hanceville slowly started to chip their way back into the game to start out the second. Moore hit a basket down low, Twitty collected a rebound and putback, and Mattie Keith drained a three from the right wing, and all of a sudden, Vinemont’s lead was cut to 23-13. Robinson stopped the bleeding with a floater from the right side, and Miller buried a three from the right wing to give the Lady Eagles a 28-13 lead. Another rebound and putback by Twitty and a trey from Kynzlee Farr made it a 28-18 game. Vinemont, though, finished the first half strong. Holcombe drained a three from the left wing, Vayda Yarbrough added a pair of free throws, and Robinson scored the final five points of the first half, including a long jumper from just inside the three-point line before the buzzer, to widen the Lady Eagle lead to 38-19 at the half.
Hanceville cut it to 38-22 early in the third on a three from Farr, but five straight points by Holcomb put Vinemont ahead, 43-22. That would be the start of what ended up being another long run by the Lady Eagles, as the trio of Thomason, Miller and Yarbrough scored their next 12 points to give them a 55-24 lead. Twitty and Moore scored seven straight points for the Lady Bulldogs, including a three-point play by Moore to make it a 55-31 game. Robinson’s short jumper gave the Lady Eagles a 57-31 lead going into the final period.
Robinson’s strong game continued, as she scored the first five points of the fourth for Vinemont, swelling their lead to 62-35. Haley Millwood (three), Bryleigh Basinger (short jumper), and Jadyn Knott (free throw) got into the scoring column for the Lady Eagles, ending the 71-34 Hanceville to clinch the second and final spot in the area championship game.
Robinson finished with a game-high 26 points for Vinemont. Miller added 13 points. Holcomb put in 10 points. Thomason ended up with nine points, and Yarbrough posted seven points. For Hanceville, Moore finished with 18 points. Farr ended up with nine points, and Twitty added eight points.
Vinemont will face off against Holly Pond in a rematch of last year’s area championship game next Monday at 6 p.m.
