By David Knox
Sports Editor
JACKSONVILLE – The trail had to end somewhere. The Hewitt-Trussville girls basketball team and coach Tonya Hunter had hoped for one more stop on the way to the State Final 56. But Buckhorn had a little more gas in the tank.
The Lady Huskies saw their super season end in the Northeast Region final, falling to the Lady Bucks 47-41 at Jacksonville State’s Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Buckhorn (27-8) advanced to Birmingham for the 7A semis. Hewitt-Trussville ends its season 21-11.
It was the first regional final in school history for the girls basketball program, and one more win would have sent them to the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Class 7A semifinals.
“We knew what we were getting into with Buckhorn,” Hunter said. “We had played them once before (a seven-point loss in November). And I thought our game plan worked really well in the first half and in the third quarter. I honestly think we got fatigued toward the end of the game,” Hunter said. “We missed a couple of bunnies, a couple of free throws. We’ve been shooting 80 percent of our free throws and today we shot 60 percent. I told the girls, to win in the tournament you’ve got to shoot 75 percent.
“But I’m so proud of these girls. We were seeded third in our area and then won the area tournament and won in the regional semifinal. Playing on this type floor in this environment, they gave everything they had.”
It wasn’t a pretty basketball game, but it was physical and fierce. And the Lady Huskies hung tough all the way. They led 21-19 at the half. Hewitt mixed its defenses to contain 5-foot-11 senior center Kaitlyn Hadley, and held her to four first-half points and she also picked up a pair of fouls. Meanwhile, Kimberly Duffett scored six points inside for the Lady Huskies and Morgan Kirk came off the bench score nine in the half, seven of them in the second quarter when Hewitt outscored Buckhorn 15-11.
The Lady Huskies charged out of the gate in the third quarter, getting a 3-pointer from London Coleman, her first field goal of the game, and Kirk dished to a driving Duffett for another basket and a 26-19 lead, forcing Buckhorn to call for a timeout with 5:27 remaining in the third period. That seemed to settle down the veteran Lady Bucks, and they went on an 8-0 run to get the lead back with 3:22 in the quarter.
Buckhorn took a 29-28 lead into the fourth quarter. But Bailey Berry made a 3 and a 2 and Coleman added four points to tie the game at 37 with 3:47 to play.
Kirk gave Hewitt its last lead at 38-37 with 1-of-2 free throws at the 1:51 mark. A quick Buckhorn
score provided the 12th lead change of the game, and it got crazy from there.
Hewitt had three shots and got three offensive rebounds over the next 30 seconds. Gabby Hill was fouled on the last rebound, but she missed both free throws – the second sticking between the rim and backboard for a held ball. Buckhorn got possession, and whether it was the Buckhorn poise or the Hewitt fatigue, the Lady Bucks outscored the Lady Huskies 10-4 from that point on.
Berry hit a 3 on a pass from Kirk with 16 seconds left to cut it to 45-41, but the Lady Huskies couldn’t get closer.
Hewitt’s largest lead was seven, and Buckhorn’s seven-point lead with 28 seconds left was its largest.
Coleman lead the Lady Huskies with 11 points, and she also had seven rebounds to lead the team. Kirk added 10 points, six rebounds and three assists. Duffett and Berry had eight points each. Three of Duffett’s five rebounds were offensive, and five of Berry’s six boards were on the defensive end.
Hill scored two points but added six rebounds and three assists. Christina Hill added two points and Mallory Posey did not score but she had two rebounds and three blocked shots.
Cierra Taylor was injured against Huntsville on Friday and did not play. That meant the depth was hurt, especially inside, and Hunter felt like that may have contributed to the fatigue late in the game.
Sophomore guard Sarah Suttle carried the Lady Bucks in the first half with 10 of her team-high 16 points. Hadley ended with 14 points and two blocks, but the aggressive Husky girls outrebounded Buckhorn 34-30. However, Buckhorn shot 42 percent from the field to Hewitt’s 29 percent.
Suttle and MVP Hadley were joined on the all-tournament team by Berry and Coleman, Huntsville’s Kyla Whitehead and Mountain Brook’s Sara Carr also made the team.
Even with the loss, the Lady Huskies held their heads high. All team members except seniors Duffett, Hill and Taylor will be back.
“I thought it was amazing to get here,” Coleman said. “Nobody counted on us to get here. We fought to get here and we made it to the (regional) championship game.”
Before the season, Hunter said she and her team looked at the high schools trophy case for inspiration. “We said we’ve got to put some girls basketball trophies in this case.
“It’s the not one that we wanted, but we’ve got a trophy to put in there. Our three seniors have laid the foundation for the program.”