Priceville girls fall to Good Hope
A small but tenacious team with a dead eye for perimeter shots and free throws stole the show in the final game of the Class 3A, Area 13 girl’s basketball tournament at Priceville High School Gym Saturday night as Good Hope (27-4) pulled off 74-65 win over Priceville (19-10) to advance to the sub-regional round as area champions.
The win gives the Lady Raiders home field advantage against the runner-up in Area 11 while the Lady Bulldogs go on the road to take on the winner of the same area.
Ingredients for an area title shootout were in place well before the two teams met on Saturday. Each team won on its home court during the regular season and both were tied with 5-1 records in area standings. A flip of the coin was used to decide which team would host the area tournament and luck fell in Priceville’s favor.
Adding to the dramatic finish was the performance of Nina Mills, the smallest player on the court. The 5-3 Good Hope point guard swished the nets for 41 points, with 7 of them coming on free throws in the last minute of the game.
The Lady Raiders led 7-5 after one quarter, 24-21 at halftime and 44-36 after three quarters. They also jumped out to a 14-point lead at the 5:21 mark in the final period before Priceville mounted a strong comeback and pulled to within two points, 63-65, with 1:14 left.
During the 3:07 run, Sydney McLendon scored 5 points, Presley Darling, 3, Morgan Ponder, 2 and Amber Smith 2.
Mills iced the game for the Raiders by hitting on 7 of 8 of eight shots from the foul line in the last minute of the contest.
“We didn’t rebound very well and we made some forced shots at the end that hurt us,” said Catrina Mason, Priceville head coach. “We also dug ourselves a hole early in the game and then got behind by 14 in the fourth quarter. It’s awfully hard to overcome a deficit like that against good team. However, my girls never quit. They played hard and gave it everything they had all the way to the end.”
There may still be a battle to fight between them before the season is over.
“We’ll see them again in the regional finals,” Mason predicted.
Leading scorers for Priceville were McLendon with 25 points. Molly Thompson with 21, and Morgan Ponder and Amber Smith with 20 each.
Following Mills’ 41 points for Good Hope were Kayla Tillman, 11, and Darcie Wilson and Kayla Elrod, 8 each.
Priceville players named to the all-tournament team were Darling, Thompson, McLendon, Ponder and Smith.
East Lawrence 57,
Priceville 52
Priceville’s Bulldogs were eliminated by East Lawrence, 57-52, in the opening game of the Class 4A Area 13 Basketball Tournament at Fairview High School on Friday night.
Matthew Teague paced the Bulldogs in scoring with 15 points. Simon Meier added 11 points.
Priceville’s Sydney McLendon makes a move to the basket around a Good Hope player in Friday’s 4A Area 15 championship game.
