Pleasant Home Pleasant Home Lady Eagles found themselves in a tense match in the first round of their match against McKenzie in the opening round of the regional tournament Monday. In the end, Pleasant Home pulled away to the win by seven points 33-26, keeping their hopes of advancing to the regional tournament alive.
The game was a tight affair throughout, with both teams holding the lead at various points. However Pleasant Home’s Pleasant Home defense held strong during the fourth quarter which allowed McKenzie just one point to claim victory.
The first half set the tone for the rest of the contest, with each team having scored six point. Hailey Ward, Piper Bulger and Rylee Straughn all scored baskets on behalf of Pleasant Home in the opening period.
McKenzie had a lead of four points just 3:10 into the second half 12-8. Ward passed a ball to Si’Niya’s Purifoy at the net. She made the layup to narrow the gap to 2 points. Then, Ward took the shot herself from the three-point line to give Pleasant Home a 13-12 edge at 1:45 of the first quarter. Zaniyah Davison from McKenzie, scoring six points during the second quarter, hit the final basket , giving McKenzie the Lady Tigers a 14-13 lead at the end of the period.
Pleasant Home got off to an excellent start in the third half with, at one point, a four-point advantage 21-17. A three-pointer from McKenzie’s Trenady Pierce narrowed the gap down to one point 21-20. Eight points scored by Ward with a three-pointer, and buckets from Presley Kelley and Emma Anderson and tying the game to the end of the game at 25-25.
The Lady Eagle defense held McKenzie to just one point in the fourth quarter. In the meantime, the Lady Tigers went one-for-eight at the free-throw line in the stretch. Ward, Kelley and Anderson all scored the points Pleasant Home at the end of the fourth quarter to lead in a win of 33-26.
Ward was the top scorer to Pleasant Home with 17 points. Kelley, Anderson and Straughn each scored four points, while Bulger scored two points.
Pleasant Home will play in the semi-finals of the region on Wednesday, February. 8 at 6:30 p.m. The team will play against the top seed Red Level.
Lady Bulldogs earn first-round victory; Opp girls’ season is overAndalusia and Opp also participated in girls’ semi-finals of the girls’ area tournament action on Monday night in the road. It was a win for the Lady Bulldogs routed Dale County by a score of 57-26 and went on to play in finals in the 4A Area 3 title game in Geneva on Thursday, February. 9 on the 9th of February at 6 p.m. It was a loss for the Lady Bobcats fell to New Brockton 33-29 within 3A Area 4 and end their season with a 7-13 mark.
The article Pleasant Home girls advance with a win over McKenzie was first published in The Andalusia Star-News.
