Veterans Day Tip Off Classic Girls report:

Holly Pond, West Point do well in Classic, Cullman suffers close loss:

GDW Analysis:
HANCEVILLE: Holly Pond Lady Broncos began the Veterans' Day Tip Off Classic Monday morning from Wallace State with a work like performance, romping over Appalachian 73 to 25.
West Point's Lady Warriors pulled off an incredible comeback against a solid Plainview Lady Bears' squad 71 to 68.
Cullman's Lady Bearcats could not protect a 10 point lead in the 4th, falling to Pelham 45 to 41.
Hartselle's Lady Tigers came to Tom Drake Coliseum and utilized its talented roster by whipping Springville 65 to 34.
Nice start on the hardwood for Holly Pond:
Holly Pond and Appalachian opened the 2024 Classic with an 8:00 a.m. tipoff.
Holly Pond had five to score in the 1st, taking a 14 to 5 lead on the opponent from Blount County.
A strong duo in the backcourt was the spark for the Lady Broncos in winning their opener for Mary Hartline.
Sophomore PG Madison Butts celebrated her 16th birthday with a game high 21 points. Butts did not score in the opening period, then got into a shooting stroke with 8 FGs in the final 24:00.
Butts tallied 5 treys and was selected the player of the game.
Eighth grader Millie McBee collected 18, scoring 11 during a 33 to 9 surge by the Lady Broncos in the 3rd.
Alana Phillips and Ava Thomas hit for 10, Maggie Nail tallied 9, Sadie Nail 5 and Blakely Baggett 2.
Holly Pond's 33 point scoring in the 3rd was the best by all participants for one period Monday. They took a 65 to 19 lead into the 4th.
A tremendous comeback by West Point:
West Point and Plainview was anticipated to be a battle of two talented programs in a hotly contested encounter from Drake Coliseum.
Plainview led 21 to 13 following the 1st then West Point slowed down the Lady Bears' attack and had a 17 to 7 advantage in the 2nd, getting a 30 to 28 lead by halftime.
Plainview regrouped thanks to sophomore shooting guard Sawyer Kate Hulgan scoring 9 in the third, igniting her team by a 21 to 10 spurt and a 49 to 40 lead with one period to play.
The 4th was full of drama with West Point going on a 31 point assault by converting 17 of 22 attempts from the FT line as Plainview had three players to be disqualified by fouling out in the period.
West Point trailed 58 to 55 with less than 2:00 to go. The Lady Warriors took the lead on free throws by Camryn Faulkner and would have a 10 to 0 run in moving the advantage to 65 to 58 with a minute remaining.
Good foul shooting by Faulkner and Laklin Shadix in the 4th allowed John Welborn's Lady Warriors to go 2 & 0 with their 2nd game they had played in 3 days.
Faulkner was 5 of 6 in the 4th from the line while Shadix hit 5 of 7.
Shadix led the Lady Warriors with 18, Jaelyn Faulkner scored 14, Camryn Faulkner 11, Patton Fell 10 in a great job off the bench. Kealie Harbison netted 9, Caitlee Simmons tossed in 6.
Camryn Faulkner's effort enabled her to be named the player of the game.
Hulgan was a standout for Plainview with 33 points on 12 FGs, 3 treys and 6 FTs.
Both teams combined for 50 points in the final 8:00 and combined for 30 visits to the foul line in that span.
The two saw each other Saturday play in the Fairview Tip Off Classic with West Point beating Susan Moore 70 to 31 and Plainview defeating Muscle Shoals 82 to 52.
Cullman's potential victory goes awry:
Center Molly Wilson was having a good Veterans' Day Classic with Cullman going up 37 to 27 when the sophomore hit a FG in the 4th period.
Unfortunately, the scoring went awry the rest of the contest with Pelham closing out on an 18 to 4 run with guard Tianna King delivering 10 points in the period, scoring on a 3 point play with 46 seconds left to put the Lady Panthers ahead to stay.
King finished with 20 and was named the player of the game.
Wilson got 17 for the Lady 'Cats with Rachel Hoffman having 9, Molly Dorough 8 and Cadence Hanback 4.
One problem for Jessica McBrayer's Lady 'Cats was poor FT shooting. Cullman was 2 of 6 in the first half and 1 of 6 during the 2nd half for a total of 3 makes out of 9 tries.
Cullman fell to 1 & 2 on the season.
Veteran Hartselle team performs well:
Hartselle will be looked at as a solid contender in Class 6A in the North part of the state.
The Lady Tigers return all starters from the 2023/24 squad. Center Mary Frances Itsede was superior in the paint netting 20 points on 10 shots to be selected the player of the game.
Forward Hannah Burks pumped in 13, PG Anna Hampton Burroughs scored 9 and Elsie Boyd contributed 12.
The Lady Tigers scored 22 in the first and 22 in the 2nd for a 44 to 21 halftime cushion on Springville.
Sophomore guard Georgia Chancellor showed a good touch for Springville, leading the Lady Tigers with 12 points on 4 made treys.

Photo of Holly Pond's Maggie Nail going between two Appalachian defenders in the Veterans' Day Classic Monday from Wallace State.
Photo courtesy of Martha Needham.