With 46 seconds left on the game clock, Hartselle High’s crowd rose to its feet to cheer its Lady Tigers in a winning effort over Decatur on Thursday at Earl Morris Gymnasium.

The lead was finally safe.

Hartselle secured a spot in next week’s Northwest Regional with a 55-36 win over Decatur in a contest that was anyone’s game until the fourth quarter.

“It wasn’t safe until less than two minutes left,” Hartselle girls head coach Greg Adams said. “This is the first really big game we’ve won this year when a lot was at stake, and I think that’s what the girls are most proud of.”

Hartselle (19-12), a Final Four team a year ago, will play Wenonah on Wednesday at Wallace State-Hanceville in the Northwest Regional.

Wenonah advanced with an 88-36 win over Walker.

Decatur’s season ended at 17-16.

It’s the fourth straight Class 5A Northwest Regional berth for Hartselle seniors Anna Reeves and Lauren Dye, who are two of five Hartselle seniors with a wealth of experience that was the decisive edge Thursday night.

“It means the world to us,” Reeves said. “We played better as a team tonight than we have this whole entire year.”

The seniors wrote the story for Hartselle’s sub-regional victory.

With Decatur ahead 9-7 at the end of the first quarter and up 19-18 at halftime, Hartselle didn’t take its first lead until the third quarter.

“I expected the first quarter for four quarters,” Decatur head coach Brad Boy said.

“In the end, where we’d gotten our most success this year — our defense — let us down. In that pivotal time, our inexperience showed. We lost our cool a little bit, and they were able to capitalize on that.”

Hartselle put four seniors and sophomore Alex Holmes on the court in the third, while Decatur matched up with one senior, three juniors and a sophomore.

“When those four seniors were out there playing with Alex, we knew where our advantage was,” Adams said.

“Those seniors were content to get it in to the sophomore and give her the ball,”

Holmes exploded for 25 points and eight rebounds, leading the game in both categories.

Adams said Decatur’s full-court pressure got to his Lady Tigers early and was a main concern at halftime. Hartselle came out of the locker room focused on breaking the press in the second half.

The Lady Tigers grabbed a 21-19 lead on a three-point play by Holmes in the opening seconds of the third.

Decatur tied the game at 21, before Hartselle surged ahead again with an 11-2 streak that had the Lady Tigers up 32-23, but the Lady Red Raiders would not go away.

It was a 2-point game with Hartselle leading 31-29 with a minute to go in the third, but the Lady Tigers pushed the advantage to 36-31, heading into the fourth quarter.

“Decatur played an extremely hard game. They’re very good at what they do,” Adams said.

“After we had lost some leads, we were just determined to hold on to it.”

Hartselle held the first double-digit lead of the game ahead 42-32 with six minutes to play.

The Lady Tigers’ lead consistently stayed around 10 points the majority of the fourth, but Decatur never let up, making Hartselle earn the win until the final buzzer.

Hartselle senior Jessi Smith added 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Lady Tigers, while Reeves scored eight points with three steals.

For Decatur, Britney McCloud led with 17 points and four rebounds.

Decatur went from two wins a year ago to a winning season this year and an area championship.

“They need to hurt over this because it shows they believed they had a chance,” Boy said.

“When we’re a little more removed from things, we’ll be able to step back and see how special this season was.”

Basketball sub-regional results

Thursday

Class 1A girls

R.A. Hubbard 57, Belgreen 46

Speake 76, Hackleburg 61

Class 2A girls

Tanner 51,
Westminster Christian 50

Red Bay 49, Addison 40

Hatton 76, Cleveland 47

Class 3A girls

Elkmont 52, Lexington 51 (OT)

Danville 66, Sumiton Christian 39

Class 4A girls

Ardmore 77, Priceville 73

Lawrence County 48,
East Limestone 40

Class 5A girls

Brewer 73, Russellville 43

Hartselle 55, Decatur 36