Lady Raiders rally
- Updated: December 26, 2019
Girls roundup: Pleasant Valley uses big second half to rally past North Sand Mountain; Anniston wins tourney opener
Thursday’s girls scores
BallNPrep Tournament, Park Crossing
Anniston 73, Lee-Huntsville 44
Battle of the States, Tallassee, Ga.
Lumpkin County (Ga.) vs. Murphy (N.C.)
Walhalla (S.C.) vs. Union County (Ga.)
Hokes Bluff 53, Hayesville (N.C.) 46
Polk County (Tenn.) vs. Towns County (Ga.)
Glencoe Holiday Shootout
Pell City 50, DAR 35
Fort Payne 53, Sardis 24
Cedar Bluff 52, Holly Pond 34
Glencoe 70, Alexandria 60
JCA Holiday Classic
Ragland def. Gaylesville
Jacksonville Christian 62, Victory Christian 18
Sylvania Girls Holiday Tournament
Pleasant Valley 53, North Sand Mountain 44
Sylvania def. Crossville
By East Alabama Sports Today
SYLVANIA – Brad Hood called it one of his “favorite” halves of basketball of all time.
Hood’s Pleasant Valley girls team rallied from an early 15-point deficit with a combination of the defense that started bringing it back late in the first half and some sharp outside shooting to beat North Sand Mountain 53-44 in the opening round of the Sylvania Girls Christmas Tournament.
The Lady Raiders (8-6) will play host Sylvania in Friday’s championship game.
PV gave up 20 points in the first quarter and trailed 22-5 early in the second before starting to claw back. The Lady Raiders got the deficit to 11 by halftime, then outscored the Lady Bison 40-20 in the second.
The Lady Raiders hit five 3-pointers in the second half. Marlie Wright hit three of them (and four in the game) and Gracie Hood hit two in the fourth quarter. Emma Hood scored all 10 of her points in the second half and Karmyn Sparks had eight of her team-high 14 in the final two quarters.
“It was one of my favorite halves of basketball,” Hood said. “The defensive intensity was unreal. It was defensive basketball like I’ve never had in a girls team before. We needed it.”
In the first half, North Sand Mountain packed in a zone and the Lady Raiders were hesitant to attack. After the way PV started coming back, the Lady Bison started doubling down on Hood and Sparks in the second half and it opened up outside shots that Gracie Hood and Wright started knocking down.
“I knew we had a shot when the other team was up 11, but they were walking in the locker room with their heads down,” Brad Hood said. “Defensively we wore them down.”
Pleasant Valley 53, North Sand Mountain 44
PLEASANT VALLEY – Rylee Haynes 3 1-2 7, Marlie Wright 4 0-0 12, Gracie Hood 3 1-2 9, Emma Hood 3 4-8 10, Macey Roper 0 1-3 1, Karmyn Sparks 7 0-0 14. Totals 20 7-17 53.
NORTH SAND MOUNTAIN – Victoria Hassell 3 2-4 9, Nada Poore 1 0-0 3, Madison Croft 0 0-1 0, Jasmine Higdon 2 0-3 4, Jessi Weldon 5 3-4 13, Kolbie Bobo 2 2-2 6, Candace Rimas 1 0-0 3, Alexis Hartline 0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Davis 2 1-2 6. Totals 16 8-16 44.
Pleasant Valley 5 8 18 22 – 53
N. Sand Mountain 20 4 7 13 – 44
3-point goals: PV 6 (Wright 4, G. Hood 2); NSM 4 (Hassell, Poore, Rimas, Davis). Total fouls: PV 17, NSM 14. Officials: Armstrong, Cornelius, Scott.
BallNPrep Tournament
Anniston 73, Lee-Huntsville 44: Kiana Montgomery led three Anniston scorers in double figures with 24 points and had nine rebounds, five blocked shots and two assists as the Lady Bulldogs (9-2) won their tournament opener at Park Crossing.
They play Duluth (Ga.) Friday.
Allasha Dudley had 18 points and eight assists for Anniston. Airriana Cooley added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists. Asia Barclay had nine points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. And Shiwana Jackson had six points, four rebounds and four steals.
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