GDW Analysis:
HANCEVILLE: It will be some time before the aches of a heartbreaking loss for the West Point Lady Warriors will be forgotten.
A FG by Arab with 3 seconds left keeps their season going in edging the Lady Warriors 51 to 50 Thursday in the NW Regional at Wallace State.
Three seconds is the difference from 4 teams out of the Cullman County schools system to be playing in the Elite Eight.
Cold Springs, Good Hope and Holly Pond reached that plateau in a semifinal victory in their respective class from this regional.
West Point gave it such an effort, especially after falling behind double figures in the first half.
Foul problems and 33 percent from the line in the 4th served to be too much of an obstacle for the Lady Warriors to get back to the Coliseum and play on Presidents' Day.
Our four teams have made this a great season in Cullman County schools basketball.
All who reached the regional earned recognition of being ranked in the state poll in their respective class.
Cold Springs held the highest position, 2nd in Class 2A. Good Hope was rated 4th in 4A, Holly Pond 8th in 3A and West Point No. 5 among the 5A schools.
Talk about parity, Cold Springs has 19 victories, Good Hope 23, Holly Pond 21 and West Point 23.
A win by Cold Springs in the 2A with Decatur Heritage presents us four schools to have at least 20 victories in one season.
All four earned an area championship with Holly Pond having a great honor to win 3A, Area 11 at Vinemont and hand the Lady Eagles their only home loss of the year.
The foursome used home court to be a winner in the sub regional with West Point crushing Ardmore 77 to 33, Cold Springs 70 to 42 over Lexington, Good Hope whipping Wilson 71 to 41 and Holly Pond knocking off Colbert County 54 to 39.
Following these squads throughout the season and see them step onto center stage at Wallace State, a great hoops season it has been.
Last year, West Point made it to the Sweet 16, Cold Springs the Final Four and Good Hope all the way in taking home the 4A state championship.
West Point has earned 47 victories the past two years, 6 total with John Welborn at the controls.
This is Holly Pond's first time to see the Elite Eight round with three year coach Mary Hartline.
Cold Springs is delighted to be back in the Northwest Regional. The Lady Eagles stood out with back to back championships in the 2023 and 2024 Central Regional in Birmingham.
Losing does leave pain as it does time for the wound to heal.
In basketball terms, the game with Arab was a great one for it went down to the wire with two teams very much on an even keel.
Gameday Weekly salutes a fine season for West Point with it now, unfortunately over.
Now it's the next step for Cold Springs, Good Hope and Holly Pond to carry it through Wallace State and to Legacy Arena for the Final Four in Birmingham the following week.
Good luck Lady Eagles, Lady Raiders and Lady Broncos.
Photo of the West Point bench celebrating a play during Thursday's Northwest Regional semifinal against Arab at Wallace State.
Photo courtesy of Cullman Daily.
