Tournament tips off

By Staff
Charles Prince, Hartselle Enquirer
The NCAA basketball tournament each March has become known for close finishes and games that are decided in the final seconds of play. The term "March Madness" has been coined to describe those finishes. March Madness came to Falkville Monday night at Tom Drake gym during the opening night of the 2004 Morgan County Tournament.
The first varsity game of the tournament saw the Priceville Lady Bulldogs defeat the Danville Lady Hawks 56-53, in a game decided with four seconds to play. Then in the nightcap the Falkville Lady Blue Devils topped the West Morgan Lady Rebels 50-46. Falkville sealed the win with only seven seconds remaining.
Priceville girls 56, Danville 53
The Lady Bulldogs raced to a 9-2 lead behind the scoring of junior forward Tiffany Smith who scored five points in the opening two minutes of play. The Lady Hawks then responded with a 14-6 run to grab a 16-15 lead at the end of the first period.
The Danville surge continued in the second period of play. Brittney Walden and Jessica Hazel each scored four points in the period as the Lady Hawks opened a four-point lead at halftime 28-24.
In the second half of play the Lady Bulldogs switched to a
pressing defense and cut the lead to one 43-42 at the end of three periods of play.
Danville opened the fourth period on a 10-5 run to open the lead to five at 53-48. Three-point shots from Mallory Alred and Haley Hensley lead the run. Priceville then scored three straight points to pull within two at 53-51 with 44 seconds to play.
Following a Danville turnover, Smith drove the lane and was fouled. She sank both free throws to knot the game at 53 with 26 seconds left.
After a missed Danville shot, Priceville's Emily Jenkins drove for the basket and was fouled with only four seconds to play. With the crowd on their feet Jenkins sank both free shots to put the Lady Bulldogs up by two 55-53. Jenkins then stole the inbound pass and was fouled again. Her free throw with one second left made the final 56-53.
Priceville head coach Catrina Brown cited her team's defense with the win.
"I thought we played more aggressive on defense in the second half," Brown said.
"We have been in a lot of close games this year and I think it helped us pull this game out."
Priceville improved to 14-5 on the year and earned a semi-final match up with No.1 seed Brewer Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Danville slipped to 6-11 this season and will next see action on Tuesday when they host the Lady Bulldogs to resume regular season play.
Priceville scoring – E. Jenkins 18, T. Smith 15, J. Smith 9, K. Baker 7, R. Reed 5, C. Williams 2
Danville scoring – B. Walden 16, J. Hazel 13, H. Hensley 8, M. Alred 7, K. Sparkman 4, A. Holmes 3
Priceville 15 9 18 14 – 56
Danville 16 12 15 10 – 53
Falkville girls 50, West Morgan 46
The Lady Rebels of West Morgan appeared to be on their way to their second win of the year when they raced to a 20-8 lead with 3:34 left in the opening half. The Lady Blue Devils then mounted a furious comeback behind the scoring of senior Meagan Wiley. Wiley sank a three-pointer on to cut the lead to 20-11 and followed with eight more points before half time to put Falkville ahead 21-20. Wiley would finish the game with a career high 27 points.
The lead would grow to eight at 31-23 with 3:23 left in the third period as Katie Barnett and Jada Jones each scored three points during the period. West Morgan answered back with 3:38 remaining in the fourth period. Trailing 42-34 the Lady Rebels went on a 12-4, highlighted by four points each from Lauryn Kilgo and Kristie Dukeminer, to tie the game at 46 with 24 seconds left.
Following a time out Andrea Tucker got past the last defender and hauled in a full court pass from Wiley to score on a lay up. On the next possession Jones stole a pass in the lane with seven seconds left to seal the victory. Jones added two foul shots to make the final 50-46.
Falkville head coach Kent Tucker thought the patient of his team's offense was the difference in the game.
"We didn't force things on offense after the first period," Tucker said. "We waited for the open shot and that was the key to the game, just being patient on the offensive end."
Falkville improved to 5-11 and advanced to the semi-finals Thursday against No. 2 seed Hartselle Lady Tigers at 8 p.m.
West Morgan scoring – S. Bell 12, K. Dukeminer 11, B. Bradford 6, K. Williams 6, B. Smith 5, L. Kilgo 5, H. Kent 1
Falkville scoring – M. Wiley 27, J. Jones 11, K. Widener 4,A. Tucker 3, K. Barnett 3, K. Ward 2
West Morgan 13 7 11 11 – 46
Falkville 8 13 17 12 – 50
Earlier in the day the in girls B-Team action Falkville beat West Morgan 34-24 and Priceville beat Hartselle 36-32. In boys freshmen action Falkville whipped Danville 46-42 and Priceville edged Brewer 37-35.