By Ashley Hargrove
COXEY — Larry Greene knew his team was going to have to have one of their better efforts against Lexington if they wanted to keep their season alive.
In the past two meetings between the two this season, the Lady Golden Bears walked away with both wins. But Thursday night, members of the Tanner girls’ basketball team accepted their coaches’ challenge and helped turn their luck around with a 55-41 win in the Class 2A, Area 16 tournament.
“I’m happy for the kids,” Greene said. “They played awful hard. The second half they sold out to play defense and did a great job. I’m just proud of them and their effort.”
Trailing 22-17 at the half, Tanner opened the third quarter of play on a basket by Samara French to close the gap. The Lady Golden Bears responded with a basket of their own, but a 8-0 run by Tanner helped them regain the lead for good and take a 36-31 advantage into the final quarter of play. That was as close as Lexington would get as the Lady Rattlers pulled away in the final minutes.
“We usually get down on ourselves when we get behind, but we knew we couldn’t do that tonight,” Sierra Sales said.
Sentoyah Harper led Tanner with 15 points and eight rebounds. Sales and Lauren Harris each tossed in 12 points and grabbed six rebounds apiece.
With the win, the Lady Rattlers advance to play county foe Clements in the finals Saturday night.
Clements 54, Westminster Christian 22
Daneshia Malone and Jordan Beggs recorded 14 points each to help the Class 2A, second-ranked Lady Colts cruise to a win.
Chelsea Haggermaker contributed with nine.
West Limestone 47, Randolph 31
The Lady Wildcats got 21 points from Heidi Taylor in the Class 3A, Area 15 tournament at Madison Academy. Bugg Grizzard added nine.
West Limestone will play Madison Academy Saturday in the finals.
Ardmore 45, East Lawrence 34
Callie Bryant led all Ardmore scorers with 10 points, four assists and four steals. Callie Steadman added nine points and added seven rebounds, five assists and five steals.
With the win, the Lady Tigers advance to play Brooks in the finals Saturday.
Athens Bible 57, Woodville 42
Trailing 34-29 at the end of the third quarter, the Lady Trojans used a 28 point fourth quarter to help keep their season alive.
Amelia Harwell paced Athens Bible with 18 points. Athena Hinkle and Stephanie Mcclure each had 13.
Athens Bible plays Skyline Saturday in the finals.
