Emilee Cunningham has the ball ripped away from her by Oneonta’s Grace Coefield and Anna Blackwood. | Todd Barker

HANCEVILLE – Priceville’s dream season ended one game short of Birmingham, as defending 4A champions No. 1 Oneonta defeated the Lady Bulldogs 72-45 Saturday at the Wallace State’s Tom Drake Coliseum.

In the early going, things were going the way Priceville coach Terrie Nelson wanted.

That all changed in the third quarter.

“We played the way we wanted to in the first half,” Nelson said. “We put pressure on the ball. We were driving the ball and taking it to the basket. We got to the one-and-one early and we were down six at the half.

“In the second half, second-chance opportunities really hurt us – not blocking out and giving them extra chances at a shot,” Nelson said.

The Lady Redskins turned the six-point halftime advantage into a 21-point lead at the end of the third quarter.

Oneonta coach Amber Deline said they had extra motivation for the win.

“I was alerted this morning that a bunch of tweets said that we weren’t going to the winners today,” she said. “That fueled the fire for us. That was exactly what we needed. You have to be careful what you put on social media. You gotta teach your team what to tweet and not to tweet.”

Destiney Elliott took over the game in the third quarter, scoring 13 of her 31 points in the stanza. She scored the last five points of the quarter by scoring a lay-up, stealing the inbounds pass and hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Redskins a 56-35 advantage.

Elliott also had 15 rebounds and six steals in the win. Abby Blackwood added 24 points.

Jada Beverly led Priceville with 11 points while McKenzie Parker had 10 points. Emilee Cunningham and Alex Moore added seven points each followed by Ashlee Quinn with six points and seven rebounds, Peyton Parker with three points and five assists and Brianna Gwin with one.

But Nelson said she’s proud of her team’s effort this season.

“They’ve stepped up all year – going 27-5, won their opening tournament, won their Christmas tournament,” Nelson said. “We have five seniors that have just worked their entire life and given to this sport and love the game.”