By Russell Frye

For the Enquirer

The first Morgan County Tournament girls semi-final was a match-up between the Class 6A #3 Hartselle Lady Tigers and

the Class 5A #10 Brewer Lady Patriots.

The Lady Patriots were playing their second game of the tournament, after defeating the Danville Lady Hawks on

Monday night. Tonight’s game was Hartselle’s first game of the tournament.

An eighth grader, Hope West, led the Lady Patriots to their biggest win of the season so far in upsetting the top-seeded

Hartselle Lady Tigers. “She is not afraid to play,” Coach Jeff Andrews said of West.

The Lady Patriots jumped out to an 11-9 lead following the first quarter thanks in part to a 7-0 run during the first

quarter. However, Hartselle came back with a 5-0 run of their own while holding Brewer scoreless over the final three

minutes of the first. The Lady Tigers’ Moriah Taylor, a Georgia State signee, scored all nine Hartselle points.

The second quarter began with both teams not scoring for the first four minutes. The Lady Tigers drought ended with a

Chloe Holladay basket followed by a Lillyanna Cartee basket to give Hartselle a 13-11. The Cartee bucket was the Lady

Tigers final points of the quarter as they went scoreless for the final three minutes of the half. Brewer then went on a 12-0 to close out the half. The Lady Patriots got three-pointers from West and Jacie Andrews to spark the run. Brewer held a 23-13 lead going into the break.

Hartselle came out of the locker room and scored five points in the first minute and a half to cut the lead to 23-18 and

forced Coach Andrews to call a quick timeout. The Lady Patriots finally got on the board at the 5:30 mark of the third

with a Leisha Steger basket. After both teams traded and the Lady Patriots holding a slim five-point lead, they went on

another 7-0 run to extend their lead to 12, 35-23 right before the end of the third quarter.

The Lady Tigers started the fourth quarter being the most aggressive team on the floor. Their pressure defense forced

Brewer into multiple turnovers that led to a 9-2 run. The Lady Tigers cut the Lady Patriots lead to 37-33 with a little over

six minutes to go. Over the next five minutes, Hartselle was able to outscore Brewer to cut the lead to 46-44 with a

minute to go.

Hartselle got a Cartee basket with twenty seconds to go to complete the Lady Tiger comeback to tie the game at 46.

With the game tied and less than 4 seconds on the clock, West drove down the left side of the lane and hit a lay-up to

give Brewer the lead and the win.

“Tonight’s win was a product of how hard our team worked the previous two days during practice,” Andrews said.

The Lady Patriots had three players score in double-figures. They were led by West’s 15 points and four steals. Steger

added 12 points while McCarley Northway had 11 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.

The Lady Tigers were led by Taylor’s 17 points, five rebounds, and six assists.

Brewer improved to 18-7 on the season while Hartselle fell to 21-4. The Lady Patriots advance to Saturday night’s tournament finals an awaits the winner of the Priceville-Falkville semi-final

game tonight.