Cullman & Vinemont girls take part in playday at Wallace State:
Hoop lessons being learned by Lady Bearcats and Lady Eagles:
GDW Analysis:
HANCEVILLE: Two local basketball teams understand what the playday tour in the summer means.
One is dealing with a new coach, the other is dealing with maintaining a winning formula.
Cullman Lady Bearcats and Vinemont Lady Eagles were in the Wallace State playday series from Tom Drake Coliseum Thursday.
Cullman is seeing things in a certain perspective with Hall of Fame coach Tammy West now directing the squad.
Thirty three years of greatness and 754 victories at Cold Springs, West was hired to display her skills to a program that does have experience from playing competitive hoops that got them to the regional semifinals last season.
Gameday Weekly sums it up for Cullman with the strength of the squad being in the frontline, very experienced in seniors to be Molly Dorough and Rachel Hoffman and junior to be Molly Wilson.
These three were the bulk of the offense last season and their experience is huge while West works on getting her young backcourt into providing scoring assistance.
Kadence Hanback presents the best potential for scoring from the outside as she has done it in the past.
The point guard position is being handled by freshman to be Eva Allen and junior to be Zoe Snider who started some in the previous campaign.
Cullman defeated Clements 42 to 21 Thursday morning before a loss in the early afternoon to Minor at 35 to 31, gave them a split with West going through a process of developing a lineup that understands her philosophy.
A 17 to 2 run to start the 2nd half against Clements carried Cullman from a 20 to 16 halftime lead into controlling the game.
A percentage of it was due to Wilson, whose size was a mismatch for Clements to defend her.
Hanback tallied some three pointers for outside scoring while Dorough and Hoffman showed hustle ability on both sides of the floor.
Minor went to work in the 2nd half against Cullman of physical pressure and mistakes went on by the Lady 'Cats to give the Lady Tigers a chance to outscore them in the final half 18 to 11 and win it in the final seconds 35 to 31.
Vinemont:
Having a great season with 22 wins, an area title and a solid environment playing on campus, Vinemont wants it continue with Emily Willoughby entering her 2nd season as head coach.
Willoughby is pleased she has three starters back in PG Reagan Robinson, SG Caroline Miller and WF Vayda Yarbrough.
Brooklyn Yarbrough and Addison Holcomb have been promoted to the starting lineup as they give the group plenty of experience with its first five.
Vinemont went to battle with 4A power Deshler, especially the matchup of quality guards with Robinson facing all state standout Reese Davis from Deshler.
Davis last week announced she has changed her commitment for her future. She de-committed from Auburn and will attend Ole Miss once she graduates.
Robinson carries great honors as being the No. 1 point guard on the GDW all performance team. Robinson will be playing in the AHSAA North vs. South All Star game in Montgomery in late July.
Vinemont and Deshler swapped the lead on the scoreboard several times in the 2nd half before Deshler went on top to stay and posted a 51 to 46 victory.
Vinemont then started well in its assignment with Clements. The Lady Eagles had a 22 to 14 lead at halftime. Inconsistency stepped in for the Lady Eagles in the final half with Clements going on a 32 to 14 surge for a 46 to 36 final.
Robinson and Miller had good outings for the Lady Eagles despite not winning either encounter.
Vinemont is looking for a rare moment in its basketball history.
A 4th consecutive winning campaign is well in the grasp for Willoughby and her unit.
Having a hard working attitude and filling vacancies due to the graduation of starters Morgan Flanagan and Carley Stephens is what the team is dealing with for 2025/26.
Photo of the Vinemont Lady Eagles in a pregame talk before playing Deshler Thursday at Wallace State Community College.
GDW photo by Johnny Thornton.
