Danville’s girls basketball team celebrate after shaking hands with Cordova following the Lady Hawks’ 58-42 win. | Clif Knight

HANCEVILLE – Danville’s Lady Hawks (22-10) zipped through the opening round of the Northwest Regional Basketball Tournament at Wallace State Community College with a 58-42 win over Cordova Saturday afternoon.

They move on to the Class 4A regional final where they will face Deshler, the winner over West Limestone, in a 9 a.m. game Wednesday.

The Lady Hawks trailed 2-0 and 5-4 early in the first quarter after missing their first four shots but pulled ahead 11-6 after one quarter. They were in control with a 28-16 halftime lead and had the contest commanded a 41-26 advantage going into the final period, at one point in the final period they led by as many as 28 points.

With Sydni Shelton and Charlee Anderson sitting on the bench with two fouls in the first period, Coach Paul Wilson called on reserves Sheila Cordova and Callie Ryan to step up and fill the gaps.

Both performed with the skill of veterans. Cordova nailed 8 points and had a rebound while Ryan scored 5 points and pulled down 9 rebounds.

“When I got back in, we were ahead and they were tired,” said Shelton. “We spread the floor on them and that made it possible for us to get easy lay-ups.”

“I knew I had to step up my game when I went in after Sydni got into foul trouble,” Cordova added. “I just tried to be aggressive and find ways to help the team.”

Cordova’s Lady Blue Devils went on a 6-0 run early in the third quarter and pulled to within a point of tying the game.

However, both Shelton and Anderson re-entered the game after a timeout, and it was all Lady Hawks after that.

Danville reserves took over midway in the fourth quarter after the starters had piled up a 28-point lead.

“I have to give credit to Sheila and Callie for taking up the slack when we got in foul trouble in the first half,” said Danville head coach Paul Wilson. “Fortunately, the offensive end of the court opened up some for us in the second half when some of their players had to leave with foul, and we were able to make shots and put the game out of reach.”

Wilson said Deshler would be a big challenge for the Lady Hawks in the regional final.

“I consider them to be the strongest, most physical team in Class 4A,” he said. “They also are a very good shooting team. We have to go back home and work hard to prepare for them.”

The leading scorers for Danville were Cordova with 12 points, Gracie George with 10, Ryan with 9 and Shelton and Tabetha Hutto each with 7. Ryan was credited with 11 rebounds while Cordova had 10.

As a team, Danville outscored Cordova in free throws 21-13 and led in rebounding 36-26.

Alexis Cooper led Cordova with 17 points.