Greatness on the hardwood presented by Good Hope Lady Raiders:
Cullman County girls hoops very good in 2026 AHSAA playoffs:
GDW Analysis:
BIRMINGHAM: With Good Hope Lady Raiders the best in AHSAA 4A basketball, this caps off a great run from the Cullman County school system.
Five teams went into the postseason from the sub regional, regional, Final Four and state championship. They would combine for 13 victories out of 17 attempts.
That would come to a winning percentage of .764.
The 5 schools, Good Hope, Cold Springs, Vinemont, West Point and Holly Pond all won in the sub regional round.
Good Hope, Cold Springs and West Point took victory in the regional semis from Wallace State.
Good Hope and Cold Springs celebrated winning titles in the Northwest Regional.
Good Hope and Cold Springs advanced from the Final Four to the state title round in 4A and 2A play.
Now Good Hope is the best in 4A hoops for the 2nd time in the last three years.
In outperforming Plainview Friday at Legacy Arena, the Lady Raiders end the 2025/26 schedule with 30 wins against 6 losses.
Good Hope was the first team to win a Northwest Regional title this season to come out on top when the stakes went higher in the Final Four.
The region was 0 & 3 prior to the Lady Raiders giving everything they had to take it away from the No. 1 ranked program in Class 4A.
For the fact, Good Hope has 2 state championships in the last 3 years, reaching the 4A title game in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
They have 91 wins in this span out of 105 games.
Good Hope has come up tremendously in rising above other 4A programs like Deshler, Catholic and Plainview in their latest opportunity to add to the success with Aby putting it all together from his role and the players earning it in being a winner 30 times in the season that is now completed with happiness.
This triumph by Good Hope in the evening hours Friday slowed up momentum by programs out of Sand Mountain.
Earlier in the day, North Sand Mountain toppled the Cold Springs Lady Eagles to win the 2A crown and the Section Lions were the best in their field in prevailing over Lafayette.
This was Plainview's 4th appearance to the Final Four in the last 5 years. The Lady Bears are still seeking their first ever AHSAA championship.
For Good Hope, the time is now.
To celebrate the championship in team bonding one final time before the uniforms are put away for spring cleaning.
Good Hope's two championships from 2024 and 2026 add to greatness from local basketball as Cullman won the state title for the first time in 2022 and the Cold Springs Lady Eagles hailed as the best from Class 2A in 2019 in an OT thriller against Fyffe.
But again for the local schools to have 5 & 0 results from the sub regional, 3 & 2 in the regional semifinals, 2 & 1 in regional championship play, 2 & 0 in the Final Four and 1 & 1 on state title day March 6 of 2026, accolades are to be presented and Gameday Weekly is doing just that.
There is hope for Good Hope as many have told yours truly, a proud 1979 Good Hope Raider basketball play with a 23 & 4 record and a graduate of then the 2nd smallest school in the Cullman County system.
Photo of Good Hope PG Ella Gossett between 2 defenders from Catholic Montgomery in an AHSAA 4A semifinal game at Legacy Arena March 03.
Photo courtesy of the AHSAA.
