Hartselle junior Anna Mathis. | Caleb Suggs

Caleb Suggs

Hartselle Enquirer

It took overtime for the Hartselle Lady Tigers to defeat the Austin Lady Black Bears the last time the two teams met as Hartselle ousted Austin 62-60. With that win, the Tigers erased a bad 0-2 start to the season to win five straight and move to 5-2. However, since that win the Tigers have hit a rough patch as they have gone 3-4 in their past seven games. The Tigers hoped to get back on track with another win over the Black Bears.

A back and forth first quarter led to the Tigers being ahead just 17-15. The Black Bears tied the game at 17 and then Sophie Page added a free throw to give Austin the lead 18-17. Hartselle took the lead back 20-18 behind a three-point play from Moriah Taylor and then Lindsay Berry added a three point shot to put the Tigers up 23-20. Allie Mayfield later added a free throw and Maggie Anderson nailed a three pointer to put the Tigers up 27-20. Bri Hodges and India Lynch tried to bring the Tigers back in but Hartselle kept the lead at halftime 29-25.

Hartselle started the second half on an 8-2 run fueled by three point shots from Taylor and Berry along with free throws from Anna Mathis. Austin managed to cut the lead to 37-32 but the tigers extended it back with three point shots from Anderson, Mathis and a basket from Madison Lawler after she stole an inbounds pass. Taylor added another three point shot to make the score 48-33 and then Lawler added one final three point shot at the buzzer as she took the shot off an inbounds pass with seven seconds left. Hartselle led at the end of the third quarter 51-33.

Austin tried their best to climb back into the game in the fourth as they started the quarter on a 5-0 run. However, the Tigers finished off the Black Bears and went on to win 62-47. With the win, the tigers moved to 9-6 on the season but more importantly, they are now 4-0 in area play. Moriah Taylor and Lindsay Berry led the Tigers in this game with 17 and 16 points respectively. Anna Mathis was the other player in double figures as she had 13 points. Madison Lawler finished with nine points and Maggie Anderson had six.