| Caleb Suggs

Caleb Suggs

Hartselle Enquirer

Due to the weather, the rematch between the Hartselle Lady Tigers and the West Morgan Lady Rebels was rescheduled a day early, but that didn’t calm any of the intensity between the two. The last time these two teams met was in the championship of the Morgan County tournament. In that game Hartselle freshmen Mariah Taylor turned in the biggest game of her young career when she knocked in over 30 points to help lead the Tigers to a mostly lopsided victory. However, this time the Rebels were hoping for a different outcome.

Early on, both teams struggled to gain any momentum as plenty of missed shots spelled trouble for both teams. Hannah Flack, Lindsey Goodwin and Annie Homan would get things going for Rebels as they knocked in enough shots to give themselves a 12-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Hartselle would get back in the game in the second quarter. Mariah Taylor would knock in back to back three pointers to tie the game at 13. Flack would answer that with 4 points of her own to give the Rebels a 17-13 lead. West Morgan would close what was a very low scoring second quarter with a 17-15 lead.

As the second half started, Hartselle would look to take control of the game. Kayla Key would tie the game at 17 all and Anna Stinson would back that up with a three pointer to take the lead 20-17. Three free throws by Katie Amos would tie the game back up at 20-20. Five more points by Taylor along with scores from Kayla Key and Maggie Anderson with the Tigers an offensive edge but the Rebels would continue to cut their lead down time and time again. Hartselle held a 32-31 edge with just seconds left in the third but a costly foul would give the Rebels 3 foul shots and a 34-32 lead before the quarter officially ended.

Taylor would start the third quarter off with a three-point play to give the Tigers the lead back 35-34. The two teams would continue to go back and forth for the rest of the quarter. Hannah Flack would close the quarter with 6 points to help give West Morgan a 47-46 lead with .49 seconds left. Katie Amos would add another basket to make the score 49-46. Hartselle would have one more chance to tie the game up but the shot would fall short and the Rebels would take the win 49-46.

Player of the game: Hannah Flack. In an intense scrap of a game, Flack delivered a gritty performance. Her physical play inside along with her scores at key times helped West Morgan land this win.