GDW Analysis:
FAIRVIEW: Thursday's games in the Cullman County Middle School basketball tournament featured one to be decided in overtime, two others to be double digit victories and an upset as well in the semifinal round from Joe Shults Gymnasium.
Cold Springs Lady Eagles escaped a strong showing by Holly Pond, getting by the Lady Broncos 32 to 29 in overtime. The Lady Eagles are the No. 1 seed.
No. 2 seed Fairview Lady Aggies outscored No. 3 Good Hope 11 to 0 in the 2nd period. That was propel the Lady Aggies to a 33 to 14 semifinal verdict.
Top seed West Point Warriors was sharp enough to eliminate the Fairview Aggies 43 to 25 in the first semifinal.
The finale would be an upset with No. 3 Cold Springs Eagles ending a great season by No. 2 Good Hope Raiders in a 34 to 26 final score.
The semifinal winners will return on Saturday for the championship affair.
Cold Springs vs. Fairview (G) 12:00 p.m.
West Point vs. Cold Springs 1:30 p.m.
OT victory for the Lady Eagles:
Through the third period, top seed Cold Springs was down to No. 4 Holly Pond 19 to 15.
The Lady Eagles managed to outscore the Lady Broncos 11 to 7 and send the game into OT.
Cold Springs got a FG and FT from Joli Williams in the OT, a FT by Lorelei Bruer and a FG by Kallaway McKinnon to gain the advantage and improve to 17 & 3 on the season.
Jiselle Creel and Williams scored 9, Haley Anderson had 7 and McKinnon scored 4.
Kynleigh Wood led Holly Pond with 8, Lilly Allbright 7 and Nadia Gibbs tossed in 6.
Fairview triumphs over Good Hope:
Leading 9 to 4 following the 1st, Fairview Lady Aggies had an 11 to 0 run in the 2nd to create breathing room and lead Good Hope at the break 20 to 4.
Emma Bryan accounted for 12 to guide the Fairview attack. Kenzington Daniel had 8, Arleigh Harris tossed in 6. Fairview is now 17 & 5 for the season.
Good Hope completes a good season at 14 & 7.
West Point Warriors move to 18 & 2 with win:
West Point went from a 9 to 2 lead in the first to 24 to 11 at halftime enroute to its 43 to 25 defeat of Fairview.
Colton Kimbril led a balanced group by scoring 8 as did Leelan Ortiz. Tyce Thompson chipped in with 7, Gauge Riggs and Tripp Dingler tallied 6 apiece.
Aiden Jones was tops for Fairview in the semifinals with 10 points.
Cold Springs Eagles scores upset of the night:
Second seed Good Hope went ahead 11 to 4 after the opening period.
But the Raider offense would experience frustration the rest of the game in which they made a combined number of 3 FGs between the 2nd and 3rd period.
Cold Springs took advantage and went on a 15 to 5 surge in the 2nd, earning a 19 to 16 halftime lead.
What served as a huge status for the Eagles in the 4th was 8 of 12 from the FT line with Emmett Franks going 4 of 6 in the stanza and Brandon Chasteen making 3 of 4.
Good Hope is known to being a good 3 point shooting team. On this night, the Raiders made one in the 2nd half, that coming late in the game by Cullen Phillips. He would tally 3 for the evening and finish with 9 for the Raiders as the season ended at 12 & 5 for them.
Chasteen, a shooting guard, delivered 12 to the winners' total with 9 coming from Brooks Belcher and 8 by Franks.
The Eagles take a 13 & 5 overall record into the title match with West Point.
Photo of Cold Springs' Kallaway McKinnon (20) shooting a jumper in the county MS quarterfinals December 16 vs. Vinemont. Her teammate is # 2 Jiselle Creel.
Photo courtesy of Martha Needham.
