By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
JACKSONVILLE – It has been quite the year for the Hewitt Trussville Lady Huskies this season. They spent most of the season ranked in the top 5 and just finished off an amazing 16-game winning streak for the season, not losing since December. But that streak would come to an end on Tuesday morning in the Regional Finals of the AHSAA tournament when they took an 11-point loss to the top-ranked Senators of Sparkman, 55-44.
It looked like business as usual to start this game for the Huskies. The defense smothered the Senators in the first quarter, allowing them only 6 points. On offense, the Huskies just did what they do, putting up an impressive 16 points to start the game. Audre Benson led the Huskies with 6 points in the quarter, followed by April Hooks and Deondrea Powell who had a three-pointer each.
The second quarter was not business as usual for Hewitt as Sparkman’s defense found a way to stop the bleeding on defense and blew the doors off on the offensive side, scoring 14 points against the Huskies. For Hewitt, Jordan Hunter would be the lone scorer in the second quarter, putting up all 4 points for the Huskies. The halftime score would be 20-18 with Sparkman swinging the momentum in their direction, but Hewitt keeping it close heading into the locker room.
Hewitt recovered a bit on offense in the third quarter, but could not stop the Senators from having another 14-point quarter. The Huskies would score 9 points of their own, allowing Sparkman to widen the gap a bit. Hunter would lead the Huskies with another 4 points in the third and Powell would add another three-point shot for Hewitt. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Huskies found themselves in a manageable hole trailing Sparkman by a score of 34-29.
In the final period of the game, both teams would find the most success on offense of any other quarter in the game, which spelled doom for the Lady Huskies. Sparkman would light up the scoreboard with 21 points for the quarter. Hewitt would score 17, which would not be enough to advance them to Birmingham. Hooks had 5 points to lead the Huskies in the fourth with Hunter close behind with 4.
Jordan Hunter would lead the Huskies on the night with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals. Audre Benson would not be far behind Hunter with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 1 steal.
“Today’s game just didn’t play out in our favor,” said Tonya Hunter, Hewitt’s Head Coach. “We love how hard our girls played. I’m so proud of this senior group, they had so much fight. Sparkman was the better team on today. We will celebrate this season not on the end result but on all of the memories we created together.”