By Staff
Staff Reports, Hartselle Enquirer
The Priceville Lady Bulldogs' dream of reaching the Final Four ended when the Gaston Lady Bulldogs won the Northeast Regional title, 60-48.
Priceville dug itself a hole due to 31 percent shooting in the first half of play, but would make a late run to make things interesting. Gaston led by 20 points, 54-34 with six minutes to play, when Priceville's Emily Jenkins sank a three-pointer to start a 14-0 run to cut the margin to six points.
Gaston responded with six-for-six free throw shooting in the final minute to seal the win.
All-Tournament MVP Jazmine Martin paced Gaston with 19 points, followed by Morgan Bogle with 16 and Melissa Gibbs with 13.
Jenkins led Priceville with 16 points, while Kristy Barker added 12, Jessi Smith had eight and Tiffany Smith had six points and eight rebounds.
Jenkins and Jessi Smith had six rebounds each and Barker grabbed four boards.
Jenkins and Tiffany Smith were named to the All-Tournament team.
Priceville finished their season with a 25-5 mark.
Priceville 85,
Ranburne 63
The Priceville Lady Bulldogs made history as they advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in the school's history.
Priceville crushed Ranburne, 85-63, to advance to the 2A girls' final of the Northeast Regional at Jacksonville State.
Priceville built a 10-point lead after one period, a 20-point lead by halftime and were never challenged. Eleven of the 12 Lady Bulldogs played at least one full period as the Priceville depth proved too much for the Ranburne squad.
Tiffany Smith scored 24 points in only 21 minutes of play to pace the winners. Smith shot nine-of-13 from field, while she also added six rebounds, four steals and two assists.
Meanwhile freshman Jessi Smith had 14 and Emily Jenkins 12 points. Kristy Barker had nine, Jessica Kennedy eight, Adrianna Delatorre had six, Stephanie Hardiman four, while Kathryn Kirby, Sumer Boyd and Tiffany Bracken had two points each.
Jenkins and Brackens grabbed six rebounds each, while Jenkins collected six steals and Jessi Smith had four more thefts.
Delatorre and Kennedy dished out four assists a piece.
The Priceville defense collected 17 steals and forced 22 turnovers while holding Ranburne to only 39 percent shooting from the field.
Priceville converted on 56 percent of the Lady Bulldogs shots, including five-of-nine from behind the three-point line.
The win upped the Lady Bulldogs record to 25-4.
Editor's note: Due to an early deadline, the score of the Danville vs. Sumter County state semi-final basketball game was not available at press time. Look in next week's edition of the Enquirer for a full recap.