Fairview's McKinna Yearwood puts up two during the Junior Varsity girls semifinal Thursday evening during the Cullman County Basketball Tournament.

HANCEVILLE — There will be a new junior varsity girls champion crowned during Saturday’s Cullman County Basketball Tournament finale.

Top-seeded Fairview roared out to an early advantage, survived a barrage of treys in the second frame and pulled away late with stout defense to take care of defending-champion and No. 4 Holly Pond 40-22 on Thursday inside Tom Drake Coliseum.

“This team is scrappy,” coach Mary Hartline said. “We’ve been shifted around with injuries, players being sick and girls moving from junior varsity to varsity and back. We stopped doing that after Christmas and it’s paid off for us with consistency. We played a good game against a good team. I was proud of the win.”

The Aggies grabbed an early 15-5 cushion in the first half on strong play by Abby Schnittker and McKinna Yearwood, who combined for 14 points in the opening 14 minutes.

However, the Lady Broncos responded with a trio of 3-pointers shortly after to cut their deficit to just one point heading into halftime.

“We weren’t rebounding very well, and they got hot there at the end,” Hartline said. “We were making mistakes. They made us pay for it.”

With last year’s champions nipping at their heels, the Purple and Gold knew they’d need a great second half to pull away.

That’s exactly what they got.

Ally Hogeland tallied all 13 of her points in the third and fourth quarters, while her squad played lockdown defense — allowing just one field goal — to extend its slim lead back to six en route to a double-digit win.

“We came back with a whole lot more intensity after halftime,” Hogeland said. “We know how to finish games, and we knew we couldn’t let it go to our heads that we’d already beaten them twice before. They’re too good for that.

“Coach Hartline told us to settle down and play our game, so that’s what we did.”

Hogeland’s game-high 13 points was supplemented by Yearwood and Scnittker’s 11 apiece, respectively. Jordan Moore tossed in five.

Fairview will play the winner between West Point and Cold Springs Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Kolby Holcombe had six points for the Green and White. Other contributors were Sophie Slaten and Haley Higginbotham, four each; Lauren Camp and Taylor Oslin, three apiece; and Taylor Oslin, two.