CCS gets one upset and a near upset on Hanceville's homecoming:
Cullman Christian Lady Lions have won 5 of their last 7 games:
AHSAA Girls Basketball at Lane Horton Gym:
Cullman Christian 9 13 16 13 - 51 (10 & 9)
Hanceville 5 16 7 16 - 44 (7 & 17)
CCS: Piper Coots 14, Zoe Powell 11, Lila Sellers 10, Rylee Stubbs 4, Gracie Stidham 8, Hayden Smith 2.
HV: Kerrigon Moore 18, Mattie Keith 14, Kynzlee Farr 9, Piper Butts 3.
GDW Analysis:
Two situations happened for Cullman Christian School to beat a team from the Cullman County system for the first time ever.
Getting the lead immediately served huge for the Lady Lions when Hanceville fought back and trimmed the margin to one point by halftime.
Another was the Lady Lions taking advantage of Hanceville not a full strength for its homecoming game.
Forward Alex Twitty, who is a double digit scorer, missed due to an undisclosed illness she sustained after she delivered 20 points for the Lady Bulldogs Tuesday in a 49 to 18 victory against Corner.
Hanceville displayed the scoring of Moore in the post who had 8 FGs and made a pair from the FT line and 4 treys from the wing by Keith.
Cullman Christian went from leading 22 to 21 at the half to 38 to 29 after the 3rd on a 16 to 7 run.
A FG by Stidham in the 4th enabled Heith Yearwood's Lady Lions to 42 to 28 and a couple of moments later, Sellers landed a three from the right wing with the score now 47 to 32.
Hanceville did get a late surge on the board by a 12 to 4 margin, but ran out of time with the Lady Lions earning their 10th win of the season and 5th in their last 7 games.
AHSAA Basketball at Lane Horton Gym:
Cullman Christian 13 11 4 5 - 33 (2 & 17)
Hanceville 10 19 24 14 - 67 (7 & 17)
HV: Drake Bentley 18, Shawn Pilman 16, Sam Abney 9, Aj Carnathan 9, King Brown 4.
CCS: Cooper Williams 27, Andrew Coffey 4, Andrew Green 2.
GDW Analysis:
Cullman Christian stunned Hanceville by playing even with the Bulldogs for most of the 1st half Friday evening.
Leading 13 to 10 after the 1st, the Lions got scoring from Williams who carried the team on his shoulders with 23 points by intermission.
CCS went up 18 to 10 before Hanceville would utilize scoring from close range and on the perimeter, ending the period with a 19 to 6 run and taking a 28 to 24 lead to the locker room.
Stephen Chandler's Bulldogs went on a shooting assault in the 3rd by a 24 to 4 margin with a series of FGs coming from 3 point range.
That allowed the Bulldogs to take control and turn a tight homecoming contest for one half into a dominant 2nd half display by a 38 to 9 advantage.
A highlight for the Bulldogs came in the final minute on a slam by Pilman to conclude his evening with 16 points and not being contained in the post by the CCS defenders.
Williams managed just 4 points in the 2nd half as a percentage of his attempts failed to connect. Being left handed worked for Williams with Hanceville not able to keep him from attacking from the foul line all the way to the basket.
Photo of Cullman Christian guard Zoe Powell moving past Hanceville defender Mattie Keith (24) Friday evening in an AHSAA basketball game at Lane Horton Gymnasium.
Photo courtesy of Martha Needham.
