Priceville advances to 4A regional finals
HANCEVILLE – Priceville overcame a 12-point first half deficit to defeat Brooks in the Class 4A Northwest Girls Regional Semifinals Thursday at the Tom Drake Coliseum on the campus of Wallace State Community.
The win puts Priceville in a rematch with area opponent Good Hope Saturday at 12:20 p.m. for a chance to go the Final 48.
One of the reasons for the comeback was the outstanding play of Sydney McClendon who finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds. She hit a trio of 3-pointers in the second half to key the comeback.
McClendon wasn’t the only Lady Bulldog with an outstanding performance. Presley Darling added 13 points and 9 rebounds while Morgan Ponder and Molly Thompson each had 11 points. Ponder also had 6 assists and Thompson pulled down 5 rebounds.
Jordan Crow finished with 5 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds while Amber Smith chipped in 8 points and 7 rebounds.
Other scoring contributors included Katie Barker with 4 and Amanda St. John with 2.
The Lady Bulldogs didn’t start the game well, as they fell behind 14-9 by the end of the first quarter. The trouble continued as Priceville failed to score in the first 3 minutes of the second quarter and they trailed 19-9 at that point.
Brooks then got its biggest lead of the game when Whitney Bayles scored a basket off a missed free throw to give the Lady Lions a 27-15 lead. Priceville trimmed the lead to 29-22 by halftime.
Priceville turned things around in the second half as it outscored Brooks 50-32 in the final two stanzas. The Lady Bulldogs missed all 11 of its 3-point attempts in the first half but went 7-for-14 in the second half.
Priceville went on a 7-0 run to start the third quarter capped off by a Jordan Crow 3-pointer – the first of the day for her team. Brooks pushed the lead back to five points moments later, but that didn’t stop the Lady Bulldog onslaught.
The teams traded the lead back and forth for the next couple of minutes, but Ponder nailed a 3-pointer late in the period to break the tie and give Priceville a 46-43 lead.
Priceville would never trail again from that point. The Lady Bulldogs extended the lead to 9 points midway through the fourth quarter and held its biggest lead of the game when McClendon hit Priceville’s last free throw with just a few seconds left in the game.
