Brewer girls, Hartselle boys get wins
By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
FLORETTE - With a win over rival Hartselle on the line, Chelsey Smith delivered the game-winner Friday night.
The bucket lifted Brewer to a 47-45 victory over Hartselle, the Lady Patriots’ ninth win of the season.
Smith and Bromirski were on the right wing when Hartselle’s lone defender covered Bromirski along the far sideline.
That left Smith alone to drive the lane.
Smith finished with a team-high 16 points for the second-ranked Lady Patriots. She hit all six of her free throws.
Bromirski added 15 points after hitting five 3-pointers.
The Lady Patriots also got nine points from Courtney Oldacre off the bench.
Alex Holmes had 19 points and seven rebounds for Hartselle, who dropped to 5-4 overall with the loss.
Taylor White added 13 points after hitting three of seven 3-point attempts.
Brewer opened up a 10-point advantage in the first half, but Hartselle limited the Lady Patriots to just six points in the third quarter to climb back in the game.
Holmes cut Brewer’s advantage to 40-39 when she scored on a running jumper with 2:43 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Tigers were unable to take the lead until late in the game.
Holmes hit the front end of a one-and-one foul situation and grabbed a rebound on her miss to score on the putback with 10.7 seconds left.
But Smith took a pass from Oldacre and drove the lane for the game-winner.
Hartselle came into the game with a mixed bag of ailments, including hand injuries to Holmes and Katie Young. Also, Callie Miller played despite being sick and post player Katelyn Hill missed the game with the Lady Patriots with an injury.
Hartselle shot just 36 percent from the field in the first half against Brewer, the Class 5A state runnerup a year ago.
Hartselle 50, Brewer 44
Tres Austin hit two free throws with 25 seconds left to help Hartselle seal an emotional 50-44 victory over Brewer Friday night.
Chance Partlow hit all six of his shots from the field and all five of his free throw attempts to finish with 17 points for Hartselle.
Austin added 13 points for the Tigers after going 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
Sam Fleischman, who finished with eight points, closed out the game with a dunk at the buzzer.
Brett Lavender led Brewer with 16 points, while Brandon Murray added 15 points for the Patriots.
Brewer shot just 44 percent from the field in the game and struggled on the defensive end. Lavender recorded 10 rebounds in the game.
Hartselle led 36-35 after the third quarter despite suffering through a scoring drought early in the second half. The two teams combined for just 19 points in the third quarter.
Hartselle got off to a slow start in the game but used an 18-point second quarter to pull out to a 27-25 lead after trailing by as much as four points early in the game.
Murray scored on a driving layup with 28 seconds left in the game to trim Hartselle’s lead to 46-44.
But Austin responded with two free throws just three seconds later.
Brewer had three 3-point attempts in the closing minute, but the Patriots were unable to cut the lead any further.
