By Staff
Scot Beard
BELGREEN – The Vina varsity girls basketball team made some strong runs in the first half to keep pace with Speake during the Class 1A, Area 15 tournament, but the Lady Bobcats used some impressive runs of their own to advance to the semifinals with a 81-44 victory.
Speake opened the game on a 10-0 run before the Lady Red Devils cut the deficit to four points as Claudia Townsend and Emily Davidson found their rhythm on offense.
Speake extended its lead to 20-13 after the first quarter and quickly went up by 14 points before Vina began to rally again, scoring the next seven points of the game.
The Lady Bobcats went on another run to close the half and push their lead to 44-20 at halftime.
Speake continued its streak after the break to take a 57-20 lead before Davidson broke Vina's scoring drought with a 3-pointer, but the offense continued to struggle as it only added three more points in the quarter.
The Lady Red Devils were able to put points on the board in the final period and outscored the Lady Bobcats 18-16, but by then the game was out of reach.
Davidson led the Lady Red Devils with 20 points while Jesse Norwood added 12 and Townsend scored 10. Karmon Solomon rounded out the scoring for Vina with two points.
With the win Speake advances to the semifinals where it will play second-seed Tharptown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Belgreen High School.
Phillips defeated Mount Hope 60-40 in the other opening round game and will play No. 1-seed Belgreen at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Phil Campbell 60,
Cherokee 44
The Phil Campbell varsity girls basketball team kept its record perfect against Cherokee this season by defeating the Lady Indians 60-44 to advance to the semifinals of the Class 2A, Area 14 Tournament.
Jessica Taylor and Ciara Harville each recorded a double-double for the Lady Bobcats. Taylor had 19 points and 27 rebounds while Harville scored 21 and pulled down 16 rebounds.
Also scoring for the Lady Bobcats were Whitley Yocum (12), Caden Pruitt (4), Taylor Scott (2) and Lindsey Jackson (2).
With the win the Lady Bobcats advance to the semifinals where they will play the host of the tournament, No. 1-seeded Red Bay, Thursday at 6 p.m.