HARTSELLE – For four quarters, area rivals Hartselle and Cullman battled back and forth. But, it took an extra eight minutes to determine a winner. The Lady Bearcats (12-8, 1-0) was able to outscore the Lady Tigers (12-10, 1-1) in the second overtime to come away with a win.

Hartselle had to come from behind starting early in the game as Cullman built a 15-9 lead after the first quarter. The Lady Tigers rallied in the second by outscoring the Lady Bearcats 14-5 to take a 23-20 lead at halftime.

The third quarter belonged to Cullman as they held the Lady Tigers to seven points. They scored 16 to take a 36-30 lead to the fourth quarter.

The Lady Bearcats continued to build on their lead as extended it to 41-32 a couple of minutes into the fourth quarter. The next four minutes belonged to Hartselle as they went on a 12-2 run to take a 44-43 lead with 1:35 left.

Cullman would take the lead back with a 6-0 run that gave them a 49-44 lead. The run included the Lady Bearcats going 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

The Lady Tigers had one more run in them to get back in the game. They hit two free throws to cut the lead to 49-46 with just under a minute to go. Following a Cullman turnover with 42 seconds remaining, Hartselle had a chance to tie the game.

The Lady Tigers worked the ball around to Kaitlyn Hogan on the sideline in front of the Hartselle bench. She calmly knocked down a three-point shot with 29.2 seconds left. The shot tied the game at 49-49. The shot was made possible by her sister Carrington who made the pass.

Cullman had one final shot, but it was blocked by Lillyanna Cartee with 2 seconds left in the fourth.

Cullman salvaged a varsity split, picking up a double-overtime win on the road.

The first overtime saw Hartselle take a 54-51 lead with less than 10 seconds to go. Following a Cullman timeout with 6.4 seconds remaining, the Lady Bearcats needed to drive the entire length of the floor to have a chance to tie.

Cullman’s Anna Katherine Eastman had the final shot and she drained a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 54-54.

The Lady Bearcats would score the first four points of the second overtime to take a 58-54 lead.

Hartselle’s Alyssa McMinemon scored with 1.6 seconds left and she was fouled on the play. She knocked down the free throw to make the score 58-57. Cullman was able to run the remaining time off the clock to hold on for the win.  

Hartselle was led by Masyn Marchbanks and K. Hogan, who each had 11 points, and Hailey Holshouser added 10.

Cullman was led by Jaden Winfrey and Eastman, who each scored 18 points.

UP NEXT: Hartselle travels to Athens on Tuesday night for a matchup with the #2 ranked Lady Golden Eagles.