Prep girls basketball: Cold Springs suffers first loss to Lauderdale County

West Point, Addison win in Walker County

By Justin Graves

ROGERSVILLE — When the final buzzer sounded at Lauderdale County High Friday night, the facial expressions on the Cold Springs High bench said it all.

With a look of exhaustion on their faces, the disappointment felt by the Cold Springs girls basketball team was apparent as the Lady Eagles walked off the court after a 68-55 loss to Lauderdale County in the semifinals of the Northwest Alabama Christmas Classic.

For Cold Springs (19-1), the loss to Lauderdale County was the first blemish on what had been a perfect season. But that wasn’t the only reason the players where overcome with disgust. It also had something to do with the manner in which the game was lost.

After watching her team race out to an imposing 27-4 lead early in the second period, Cold Springs coach Tammy West witnessed one of the most impressive comebacks of the season. Unfortunately for West, it wasn’t her team that was shooting the lights out.

Behind the outside shooting of Kiarra Young and Erica Phillips, Lauderdale County trimmed the lead to 10 by halftime. And in the second half, the Lady Tigers held the No. 1-ranked team in Class 2A to only four field goals — with three coming in the final period.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that,” Lauderdale County coach Brant Llewellyn said. “I know we’ve never had a team come back from 20 points down and still win the game. That was pretty much amazing.”

With both teams playing for the third straight day, it was Cold Springs that appeared to be the most fatigued. But part of that can be attributed to Lauderdale County’s stifling full-court pressure.

Lauderdale County turned up the pressure in the second half, constantly using half-court traps to force Cold Springs into turnovers. The constant pressure eventually wore Cold Springs down physically in the second half, and that’s when shots stopped falling for the Lady Eagles. At one point, Cold Springs missed four-consecutive lay-ups. During that stretch, Young and Phillips led the Lady Tigers on a 19-5 run.

High-percentage field goals weren’t the only shots not falling for Cold Springs. The Lady Eagles also struggled from the free-throw line, only making 12-of-23 shots from the charity stripe.

Palee Myrex made the only field goal for Cold Springs in the third period, while three lay-ups from Georgia Myrex were the only field goals the Lady Eagles made in the final period.

“I don’t know what happened,” West said. “This one hurts. Last night’s (win over previously undefeated Richland, Tenn.) was emotionally draining, and I think that was part of the problem tonight. They were wore out and I feel like I let them down because I couldn’t do anything about it.

“When you lose a game it hurts. But it’s like I just told the girls, the best way to get past a loss is to come back out and play again. That’s what we’re going to try and do against another tough team in Sheffield.”

Young led Lauderdale County with 32 points and six 3-pointers, while Phillips nailed five treys in the second half.

Georgia Myrex led Cold Springs with 21 points, while Jessi Harbison scored nine points — with seven coming in the first period. Paige Parker and Palee Myrex added eight points each for the Lady Eagles.

Cold Springs will play Sheffield today at 4:30 p.m. in a consolation game. Lauderdale County hosts Wayne County, Tenn. in the tournament championship tonight at 7:30 p.m.

In other action, Cullman fell to Loretto, Tenn. 46-32.

West Point 60,

Chilton County 32

The Lady Warriors jumped out to a 24-3 lead in the first quarter and did not look back as they picked up their first win in the Walker Tournament.

Sabrina Blackwood led West Point with 30 points. The Lady Warriors will play today at 4:30 p.m. against Danville.

Addison 39, Curry 29

For the second time in less than two weeks, Addison’s girls overcame a low-scoring first half to pick up a win over the Lady Yellow Jackets.

Curry had a 14-13 lead at halftime before the Lady Bulldogs (8-3) took over in the final two quarters.

Jessy Willingham had 13 points and eight rebounds to lead Addison, while Kayla Carden had nine points and four rebounds. Haley Wiggins finished with five each in points and rebounds.

Addison will play Paxon, Fla. today at 4:30 p.m.

Corner 53,

Good Hope 50

The Lady Raiders jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter and led 18-6to end the first period of play.

But, Corner battled back on a 14-2 run to pull within a single point in the second quarter.

Good Hope was able to pick up its intensity and scored the final six points of the half and led 27-20, and even had a 9-point lead going into the final frame of the game.

Jessica Raper led the Lady Raiders with 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Both Raper and Katie Junkin found themselves in foul trouble in the third quarter and saw limited play in the second half.

Junkin fouled out in her second straight game with just over four minutes left to play. Raper ended the game with four fouls. Junkin had seven points before fouling out.

Samantha Duke followed Raper in scoring for Good Hope with 13 points. Duke also had seven rebounds and two steals, Nina Mills added nine points, Erica Speegle four points, Breana Posey two and Brandi Hudson one.

Oneonta 53,

Good Hope 49, OT

From Thursday, key players fouling out and a conditioning disadvantage led to the Lady Raiders’ loss.

“Conditioning could have hurt us tonight,” said Good Hope coach Michael Oldacre. “We have not played in a while and that could have hurt us down the stretch.

“We did not play very well. We got out-hustled and out-played by Oneonta, that is all there is to it.”

Jessica Raper finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots for a double-double, Erica Speegle and Brandi Hudson each pulled down two rebounds and Katie Junkin added four each in points and boards.

Nina Mills contributed the Lady Raider cause with 10 points and five each in steals and rebounds, Breana Posey added nine points, six boards and three steals, Katherine Scott had seven each in points and rebounds and Samantha Duke had four points and seven boards.

JUCO Women

Wallace State 89, Lackwanna College 64

The Lady Lions improved their record to 13-1 with the win over their foes from Pennsylvania in the Holiday Inn-West Palm Beach Classic.

Jessica Young had a double-double to lead Wallace with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Courtnei Bowens came close with 13 points and eight rebounds. Andrea Crawford hit four of six 3-pointers for a 13-point night, while Courtney Scott finished with 11.

“This is a good thing for us to come down to this tournament,” said Wallace head coach Larry Slater. “We don’t get many chances to be playing basketball this time of year, so hopefully we’ll be playing well when we get back to Alabama.”

The Lady Lions have only one loss after Bishop State had to forfeit its win over Wallace because of an ineligible player.