Priceville’s Lady Bulldogs broke a 49-49 tie in the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run to put away Danville’s Lady Hawks 62-54 Friday night.

The last four points of that run came a pair of lay-ups by sophomore Emilee Cunningham, who turned in her best performance of the season. She finished with 16 points and 20 rebounds in the win.

Lady Bulldog coach Terrie Nelson said her team is finally starting to play under control and execute.

“We’re finally playing our tempo and not letting the other team dictate the way we play,” Nelson said. “Emilee played a great game tonight and really helped us get this win. It was big for us.”

After the Priceville spurt, Danville’s Haley Rae Garnett cut the lead to 59-54 on 3-pointer and then the Lady Hawks stole the inbounds pass with more than a minute to play.

However, that possession was macrocosm of Danville’s troubles in the second half. The Lady Hawks missed several shots around the basket before Priceville came away with the rebound.

Danville coach Paul Wilson said that despite great effort, his team just couldn’t execute.

“I felt like at times our effort got in the way of our execution,” Wilson said. “We just didn’t put the ball in the basket.”

The Lady Hawks shot 26 percent from the field, but Priceville had seven players score at least five points in the game.

Following Cunningham was senior Molly Thompson with 12 points and 14 rebounds, Peyton Parker with 10 points and 5 assists, Amanda St. John with 7, Jada Beverly with 6, McKenzie Parker with 6 and Katie Barker with 5.

Danville was led by Celese Sharbutt with 17 points and 4 steals followed by Sydni Shelton with 12 points and 6 rebounds, Haley Rae Garnett with 12 points and 3 assists, Hannah McClug with 6 points and 5 steals and Jesse Oliver with 4 points and 12 rebounds.

The game was close throughout the entire game, but two key moments helped the Lady Bulldogs turn the momentum in their favor.

At the end of the first half, Priceville decided to commit its last foul before the bonus to reset the defense. After the foul was called, a Danville player lost her composure and picked up a technical foul.

Peyton Parker made the free throws and Thompson hit a shot to give Priceville a 23-22 lead at halftime.

At the end of the third quarter, Cunningham missed the free throw on an 3-point play opportunity, but no one reacted to the missed shot. Priceville picked up the loose ball and put up at least three shots in the last 15 seconds, the last of which dropped in for Cunningham to give Priceville a 43-41 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“We actually had a couple of putbacks off of missed free throws,” Nelson said. “That really gave us confidence that we could pull it off.”

“(The technical) was a four-point swing,” Wilson said. “Instead of us being up three at halftime, we went in down one… Nobody reacted to the missed free throw, not even them, but they picked it and got the basket. Those plays really changed the game for us.”

Both teams are competing in the Morgan County Tournament this week. Priceville plays Hartselle on Monday while Danville will play the winner of West Morgan-Falkville on Friday.

Boys: Priceville 53, Danville 21

Matt Teague was 7-for-8 from downtown to lead the Priceville Bulldogs over Danville.

He finished with 21 points to lead all scorers. John Hawkins collected 13 points followed by Michael Varner with 4, Harold Blades with 4, Chris McNutt with 3, Hayden Prentice with 3, Derrick Couch with 2, Tyler Hinkle with 2 and Chance Ellsworth with 1.

Danville was led by Kyle Alexander with 6 followed by Trey Jones with 5, Dakota Kirby with 3, Michael Davis with 3, Slater Robinson with 2 and Riley Self with 1.

The Hawks held Danville to one field goal in the first half to lead 33-3. The lead grew to as much as 51-7 before Danville made a run late in the fourth quarter.