By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
On a team filled with talented players, Brewer senior Morgan Crawley stood out this season.
Especially during the Lady Patriots’ season-ending loss to LeFlore in the Class 5A state championship game where she helped Brewer trim a 15-point deficit with 15 points in the fourth quarter.
Brewer didn’t pull off the comeback win in the final, but Brewer head girls basketball coach Ricky Allen knows that the outcome could have been much worse without Crawley’s fourth-quarter run.
Crawley averaged just over 12 points per game this season to help lead the Lady Patriots to the Class 5A state championship game, the school’s first-ever appearance in the Final Four.
But the senior really stepped up her game in the postseason, averaging almost 18 points per game down the stretch.
Crawley will play college basketball next season at the University of Alabama at Huntsville.
An all-state player this year, now Crawley can add Hartselle Enquirer Player of the Year to her long list of high school accomplishments.
Allen, in his 24th season with the Lady Patriots’ program, was named the coach of the year.
Crawley was joined on the Hartselle Enquirer 2009 All-Area team by teammate Emily Dabbs. A junior guard, Dabbs averaged 13.1 points per game for Brewer.
Also earning first team honors was Priceville’s Keila Hamlin and Melissa Johnson, Hartselle forward Alex Holmes, and Danville’s Ashley Nance.
Hamlin, who surpassed the 1,000-point mark at Priceville this season, averaged 13.4 points per game for the Lady Bulldogs as a senior.
Johnson, a junior, finished with averages of 11.4 points and nine rebounds per game.
Priceville reached the Northwest Regional championship game this season.
Nance led the Lady Hawks with 14.1 points and 12 rebounds per game. She had 18 double-doubles as a sophomore.
Topping the all-area second team was Hartselle juniors Katie Young and Taylor White, Priceville’s Presley Darling, Danville’s Kayloni Cross and Brewer post player Kendra Jones.