Tanner's Kirstin Brown was a first-team all-state selection for the second consecutive season.

HANCEVILLE — By halftime, it was obvious which team had not been to the Northwest Regional since 2002 and which team had won three out of the last six.

Tanner, the defending Northwest Regional 2A Girls Champions, jumped out to a 36-18 lead and cruised to a 63-31 victory over Winston County Thursday in the regional semifinals at Tom Drake Coliseum.

“We’ve got off to a slow start. We weren’t hitting any shots. We were a little tight for some reason,” said Tanner head coach Larry Greene. “We started off better in the second half. We’ll have to come much more prepared and ready to play Monday than we were today.”

Tanner advanced to its fifth regional finals appearance in the last six years and will play the winner of Cold Springs and Red Bay at 3 p.m. Monday at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville.

Tanner’s two most experienced players — Kirstin Brown and Jessika Milton — combined for 41 points to outscore Winston County by themselves. The senior duo were playing in their sixth straight Northwest Regional Tournament.

“The more times you’ve been here, the more experience you gain,” said Greene. “But it comes down to athletes and how they respond to other teams. You have to respect the other team. Even at the regional, you can overlook teams and think you’ll have an easy path. You can have a world of experience and be here a lot of times, but if you don’t perform at this level, it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been here.”

Brown scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while Milton had 14 points, four blocks and three assists. It was nothing new for Brown, who averages 20.2 points and 12.1 rebounds this season.

“You just have to keep playing and never let up,” said Brown. “I don’t really keep up with it, but coach gives us a stat sheets every now and then.”

Despite a gameplan centered around stopping her, Brown scored 12 points in the first half as Tanner outscored the Yellow Jackets 21-9 in the second period to pull ahead. The third-ranked Rattlers limited Winston County to 13 points in the second half, resting their starters in the fourth quarter.

“No. 40 (Brown) is just a really strong athlete and she just kind of outmanned us in the post,” said Winston County coach Becky Cobb. “We got her in foul trouble and we thought it would give us a leg up. We wanted to take it to the basket every time. Our post player is very strong. That was our goal was to take it to her and hope she fouled us.”

See our online coverage at www.enewscourier.com for coverage Thursday night’s 2A boys semifinal between Tanner and Sulligent.