By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
SPRINGVILLE – On Tuesday night, the Moody Blue Devils brought their ladies to Springville for an area game between these two rivals and this game was exactly what rivalries are supposed to be. Lots of back and forth, hard work, sportsmanship and an ending that would bring every fan in the gym to their feet.
“Gutsy. It was real gutsy,” said Moody coach Becca Davis of her team’s showing on the night.
Springville coach Warren House said, “We played really hard and Moody played really hard.”
The Lady Tigers took command in the first quarter, outscoring Moody 11-8. Farrah Hawkins owned the period with 9 of the 11 total points for Springville. Moody’s Emma Kyle, Tarryn Woodall, Tori Pyles and Serenity Rutledge would each have 2 points for the Lady Blue Devils.
Moody would close the gap in the second, winning the quarter 12-10. Pyles would catch fire as she scored 9 of the 12 points for Moody. Audrey Talton would lead Springville with 5 points, helping her team to a one-point lead heading into the locker room at 21-20.
The Lady Devils would continue to swing the momentum their way in the third quarter, scoring 13 points to Springville’s 9. Hawkins would once again lead her Tigers, this time with 6 points. Pyles would continue her outstanding night with 9 points in the period. Heading into the fourth quarter, Moody would have the lead 33-30.
The fourth quarter would continue the dog fight between these two teams as Springville would do everything they had to do to stay in the game. With 25 seconds left in the game, the game was tied at 42. Hawkins would hit a clutch layup to put her team up 44-42 in the final seconds of regulation. She was also fouled on the play and missed the free throw. Coming out of a timeout, Pyle’s drove the lane for a shot and missed, but she was fouled on the play. With ice water running through her veins, she hit both free throws to tie the game at 44 and send it to overtime. On the quarter, Springville outscored Moody 14-11. Hawkins had 11 points for the Tigers while Emma Kile put up 5 for Moody.
In overtime, the game did nothing but get more exciting. Like a heavyweight boxing match, each team would deal blows to the other as the scoring went back and forth. Pyles would score the first points in the bonus period from the charity stripe to put Moody up 46-44. After a steal, Kyle got the ball in the paint and hit a layup to put the Devils up 48-44. Hawkins would answer with 2 of her own to close the gap to 48-46 but then she would get a chance from the stripe and miss both free throws. Tarryn Woodall hit what would be the game-winning shot to put Moody up 50-46. In an effort to pull out the win for her team, Hawkins hit a 3 pointer to make it a 1-point game, but time would run out and Moody would walk away with a 50-49 win.
Springville’s Farrah Hawkins finished off her historic night with 31 points in the losing effort. She also eclipsed 1,000 points in her career.
Moody was led by Tori Pyles with 24 points, Emma Kile with 10 and 7th grader Serenity Rutledge with 8 on the night.
“We did a great job rebounding but it seemed like every time we got a ball, we gave half of them back to Moody as a turnover,” said Coach House. “We did a good job defensively. We shot poorly, partly due to Moody’s defense.”
Coach Davis said, “We had a lot of turnovers and we did not play our best game. There were a few times where I thought ‘here it goes’ and we kept our composure and we kept playing and let things work out for us.”
Going into the overtime period, Davis told her team, “It’s a new ball game. Free basketball. Let’s go. There’s no pressure on us. We beat them the first time and everyone but us thought it was a fluke. I never felt like the pressure was on us. I never put the pressure on them.”
Moody plays St Clair County Friday night while Springville travels to Leeds to take on the Green Wave.