Athens' Nahyriah Timmons guards a Muscle Shoals player as she brings the ball up the court in Thursday night's Class 6A, Area 15 tournament championship game. Timmons scored 16 points, but the Golden Eagles lost 53-44.

Nothing seemed to go right for Athens in Thursday night’s Class 6A, Area 15 tournament final against Muscle Shoals. The shots weren’t falling, their normally suffocating defense wasn’t working, and they even picked up a technical foul for playing a brief time with six players on the court due to substitution confusion.

It all added up to a 53-44 loss to the Trojans that will force the Golden Eagles to travel to play Area 14 champion Cullman in Monday night’s subregional game.

“I did a poor job tonight coaching,” Athens coach Eddie Muphree said. “Our girls didn’t quit. They gave great effort, and I believe they’ll bounce back, but we’ve dug ourselves a hole now, and we’ve got to try to get out of it.”

Athens defeated Muscle Shoals twice in the regular season, including a 35-22 victory the last time the two teams played. But Thursday’s area final was very different. Athens took an early 6-2 lead, but Muscle Shoals went on a 10-0 run to take a lead it would not relinquish the remainder of the game.

The Trojans led 28-21 at halftime, scoring more points in the first half of Thursday’s game than they scored the entire game last time the two teams met.

A big difference in the game was Muscle Shoals standout Sara Puckett. The highly-recruited Puckett scored a total of 11 points in the two regular season meetings. She scored more than that in the first half of Thursday’s game and wound up scoring a game-high 20 points.

Muscle Shoals also hit five 3-pointers in the game, as opposed to only one in the last meeting.

“They had some other girls hit some shots,” Murphree said. “And it got us off to a bad start, and we just couldn’t recover.”

Puckett’s defensive presence inside forced Athens into taking outside shots. The Golden Eagles did hit seven 3-pointers in the game, but that was only a fraction of what they attempted. Athens had barely any points in the paint and attempted only eight free throws, making four.

“We probably did (shoot too many 3-pointers),” Murphree said. “But Puckett’s down there, and she’s so big, it kind of alters your shots and you’re kind of limited on what you can take.”

Athens closed to within five points midway through the third quarter, but Muscle Shoals answered with a 12-1 run over the next five minutes to take a 46-30 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Nahriyah Timmons was the best player of the night for Athens. The junior guard scored 16 points and had eight steals as she did her best to keep the Golden Eagles in the game. Caroline Bachus chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds.

Athens will face a tough test in its subregional game. The Golden Eagles faced Cullman twice in the regular season, winning 78-62 at home and losing 61-54 on the road.

“At least (Thursday’s game) isn’t it for us,” Murphree said. “But it had better be a wake-up call, because if you lose Monday, you’re done.”