HANCEVILLE — Curry High School’s nickname might be the Yellow Jackets, but on Monday, it was West Limestone that were more deserving of that moniker.

Wildcats players swarmed around Curry all night, forcing 20 turnovers in a 51-26 victory in the Class 4A Northwest Regional tournament semifinal at Wallace State.

“I thought if we could get (Curry) playing fast, then we had the advantage,” West Limestone coach Justin Taylor said. “I thought we could play 10 guys in this game and get (Curry) a little tired. They just weren’t comfortable playing that fast.”

West Limestone (19-13) collected 12 steals and held Curry (19-10) to just seven made baskets in 34 attempts, which completely offset a game in which the Wildcats weren’t shooting the ball well either.

West shot just 6 of 30 in the first half and finished the game 2 of 25 from 3-point range. However, Taylor preaches defense just for situations like that. When the shots aren’t falling offensively, the game can still be won on the defensive end.

“If you want to win this time of year, got to be able to defend, rebound and score at the basket.,” Taylor said. “Because you’re going to have 2-25 nights shooting.”

West Limestone held a 19-12 halftime lead despite making just 1 of 16 3-pointers in the first half, but changed their offensive strategy at halftime to get more drives to the basket.

It paid off, as West players, especially Christian Clemmons, were able to get around their defenders and get to the basket for layups.

“We thought we were cute in the first half, and we just weren’t very good,” Taylor said. “We were just passing it around until somebody decided to jack (a shot) up. We didn’t take good shots. In the second half, did take good shots. We were able to get to the basket, and even the 3-pointers we took in the second half were good shots, they just didn’t go in.”

Clemmons scored 14 of his game-high 16 points in the second half, most of which game on drives to the basket.

“I was able to get by my man every time, and just got to the goal and scored,” Clemmons said. “I’d rather take a layup than an open three.”

“Since when?” Taylor asked jokingly in response. “Tonight, at least,” Clemmons said with a smile.

Curry cut West Limestone’s lead to 23-17 early in the third quarter, but the Wildcats outscored the Yellow Jackets 11-4 the remainder of the quarter to take a 34-21 lead heading into the fourth. West them completely dominated the final period, outscoring Curry 17-5 to pull away for the 25-point win.

Braden Tuten added 12 points for West Limestone, while River Helms and Jackson Morgan each scored eight.

West Limestone will play Brooks in the regional final at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday. The two Class 4A, Area 15 rivals have already played three times this season. They split the two regular-season matchups before Brooks defeated West 57-49 in double overtime in the area tournament final.

It promises to be a defensive slugfest, as the Lions advanced to the regional final after defeating St. John Paul II 51-31 in the semifinal.

“Two of first three games we played, 45 points would’ve won it,” Taylor said of the matchup with Brooks. “Points will be at a premium Wednesday night. Man, they guard so well, and we guard OK.”

West will be looking to keep an improbable postseason run going. The Wildcats were left for dead after being down 50-31 to Deshler after three quarters in the sub-regional game before coming back to win 62-60 on a Clemmons shot at the buzzer.

“We were sitting on the bench between third and fourth quarters (in the sub-regional),” Tuten, one of five Wildcats seniors, said. “Chayse (Carter) was sitting beside me and told me ‘This isn’t your last game.’ I told him ‘This is going to be one good story.’ So far, it has been, but we want to keep going and get to Birmingham (for the state tournament).”