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February 22, 2012

NORTHWEST REGIONAL (CLASS 2A): Mars Hill knocks out Cold Springs girls

By Ashley Graves The Cullman Times

HANCEVILLE —

Tammy West couldn’t quite put her finger on what kept her team from giving their best effort Wednesday.

Whatever it was, it left the Cold Springs coach still pondering about it moments after the Eagles’ 52-39 loss to Mars Hill in the Class 2A girls semifinals of the Northwest Regional Tournament.

“When you get to a game like this, you’ve got to have everybody’s best effort, and I don’t think we got that out of everybody tonight,” West said. “I don’t know if its inexperience in some parts or what. I’ve seen games against county rivals where we’ve played more aggressive and harder, and I don’t know if it’s just because we’re familiar with them.

“We’ve played some really good teams and had a better effort than we had tonight. I just feel we could have played a lot harder.”

Turnovers seemed to plague the Eagles throughout the game, as the Panthers forced 22 — a team high for Cold Springs this season. The previous high was against Cullman at the end of January.

“We had way too many turnovers,” West said. “A lot of them were forced and a lot of them were unforced, but that goes back to Mars Hill. We were playing a good team.”

The Panthers led 9-5 after one and 23-15 at the half after a shot at the buzzer by Carly Harrison. Mars Hill carried the eight-point cushion throughout much of the third before extending its lead to 11 on another buzzer beater by Morgan Leavitt to end the quarter.

As play continued, the deficit proved to be too much for Cold Springs to overcome as Mars Hill led by as many as 21 in the fourth quarter.

“There were a lot of loose balls we didn’t get and a lot of saved balls we didn’t go after,” West said. “There were a lot of offensive rebounds we didn’t try to get either, but that’s how it goes. Again, we were playing a good team.”

Stiff defensive pressure by Mars Hill limited the Eagles performance from behind the arc. They were 0-for-6 in the first half from the 3-point line and finished the game 4-of-17.

“I told them before the ballgame we weren’t going to win this game from the 3-point line,” West said.

Abby Myrex closed out her career in an Eagles’ uniform, scoring 10 points to lead the team offensively. Caitlyn Hall contributed eight points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

Mars Hill was led by Ann Marie Mitchell with 14 points.

Ashley Graves can be reached by phone at 734-2131, ext. 225 or by email at agraves@cullmantimes.com

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