Hartselle fights off Decatur
By Staff
Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
DECATUR — Hartselle overcame some road blues to turn back a late challenge from Decatur Saturday night.
The Lady Tigers shook off 31 turnovers and a seven-minute scoring drought to open the second half to beat the Lady Raiders 49-46.
Hartselle hit 22 of 29 free throw attempts in the win.
Hartselle improved to 3-0 with the victory over the rival Lady Raiders. The Lady Tigers will play in the Russellville Thanksgiving Tournament this weekend.
Anna Reeves hit three 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 15 points for the Lady Tigers, while teammate Alex Holmes had a double-double performance with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the win at Decatur’s Earl Morris Gymnasium.
Decatur’s Britney McCloud led all scorers with 20 points and five rebounds. Whitney Fletcher added 10 points and four rebounds in the season-opener for the Lady Raiders.
Hartselle, playing its third game in just a week, found itself in some foul difficulties in the second quarter when Jessi Smith - a starter on the Lady Tigers’ final four team a year ago – went to the bench after picking up her third foul of the night with 1:22 left in the first half.
But Hartselle kept its lead to eight point before the half by hitting eight of 10 free throws in the second quarter. Reeves hit four free throws, while Lauren Dye and Heather Speegle both added two free throws to help the Lady Tigers hold off the charging Lady Raiders.
Hartselle struggled in the second half to continue its offensive run. The Lady Tigers had just five points in the third quarter, with all of the offensive production coming in a span of just over a minute.
Decatur rallied in the third quarter with a 10-0 run that lasted for the first seven minutes of the second half. The Lady Raiders’ Fletcher finished the flurry with six points as Decatur turned a six-point deficit into a 33-7 margin with 127 remaining in the quarter.
The lead was Decatur’s largest lead of the game.
After going almost seven minutes into the half without a point, Anna Reeves hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:09 remaining in the third quarter to get Hartselle back to within three points at 33-30.
Kimmie Minor hit a bucket with 18 seconds left in the third to trim the lead to just one point.
Decatur missed the front ends of two straight one-and-ones, giving Hartselle the opportunity to tie the game with two free throws from Dye.
Alex Holmes added a pair of free throws and a bucket to put the Lady Tigers back in front 38-34 with 6:06 remaining in the game.
Decatur’s Lindsey Hankins answered with a 3-pointer and Fletcher added another bucket to put the Lady Raiders back in the lead.
After another lead change, Hartselle went in front for good with a 3-pointer from Reeves and two free throws from both Holmes and Reeves.
Decatur had the chance to retake the lead when Hartselle missed two free throws with just 24.4 seconds left in the game, but the Lady Tigers grabbed the rebound after the second miss and finished up with a pair of free throws from Jessi Smith to run the margin to 49-46 at the end.
Hartselle was 12 of 14 from the free throw line over the final eight minutes to pick off the road win over the Lady Raiders.
