Holly Pond's Melissa Clingman drives past Cullman's Christina Skinner during the first half of Friday's game. Clingman scored 11 points as the Lady Broncos pulled away late to win their season opener 59-41.

It didn’t take but one game for Meg Gambrill to figure out just how different this year’s Holly Pond girls squad was going to be following back-to-back state final appearances.

There was no Natasha Holcombe or Rachel Finley throwing their weight around inside the paint or grabbing big-time rebounds in the Lady Broncos’ matchup with Cullman on Tuesday night.

Instead, the Green and White went tiny, deploying five guards and holding off the Bearcats for a tough, 59-41 road victory to start off their season on the right foot.

“We knew we’d have to be fast tonight,” Gambrill said. “Don’t think we were going to be “Fast32”, but I told them we’d really need to be small, white and fourth-quarter players. We’re going to have to play a totally different style.”

So far, so good.

Holly Pond got off to its customary fast start, grabbing a 21-10 lead after the first quarter. However, the Bronco O faltered, as the Cullman offense found its groove and trimmed the stout deficit to just five points at halftime.

“We started relying on too many 3-point shots,” coach Scott Adams said. “I told them they better start making them if they are going to shoot so many. We’ve got to do a better job as a team of attacking off the dribble more and creating looks from that. We just need to find our identity and we’ll be fine.

The Bearcats continued to play well in the third quarter, even taking a two-point lead midway through the frame on the good play of Oakleigh White, who scored 11 points in the superb run.

Unfortunately for the home team, it ran out of gas.

The Broncos scored 20 of the final 24 points to pull away early in the fourth quarter.

“I guess we got our second wind,” Gambrill said. “We have so many young players on our team, so the seniors just told them to be calm and play smart. That helped a lot. After that, I think we finally got in the swing of things.”

The senior guard helped her team’s cause with a trio of treys in the second half to finish her day with 22 points. Fellow Lady Bronco Melissa Clingman added 11 in the win.

Adams, however, is looking for a bit more consistency out of his squad when it comes to scoring points.

“It’s just like last year,” he said. “We start out crazy and get a ton of points in the first quarter. Then, for whatever reason, we can’t score well after that. It drives me crazy. But later on, we settled down and made some plays. Cullman’s run woke us up a little bit I guess.”

Kaitlyn Stephens garnered seven points for the Broncos, and Ruth Horton, Taylor Tankersley and Abby Gambrill each netted five. Molly Gambrill and Adair Gillilan had two.

On the flip side, White ended her night with 12 points, while Sierra Easterwood was good for 10 and Anna Evans, nine.

Cullman coach Jonathan Hayes liked his team’s effort during the game and saw plenty of good to take away forging into a long season ahead.

“We spent a lot of energy there in the third quarter to grab that lead,” he said. “They hit some big shots after that and it won them the game. We need to keep our heads up, though. We’re young, and the timing will get there. We gave up a few too many offensive boards and had too many turnovers, but I really like our team’s athleticism and physicality.”

For Adams, he’s been around basketball long enough to give and take a little bit when it comes to the first game of the fall.

He wasn’t and didn’t expect a perfect performance from the new-look Broncos. Nor did he get one.

Not that it’s a bad thing.

“If we’re playing our best game in our first game, then we’re going to be in a whole lot of trouble,” Adams said. “We will be a lot better in the long run.”