Holly Pond's Dawson Foust drives and looks to dish during Thursday's road tilt at Hanceville. 

HANCEVILLE — Christina Watson isn’t much for moral victories, but she took one Monday from a relatively close game with county-rival Cold Springs.

Three days later, the Hanceville girls coach enjoyed a real one against Holly Pond — and the Lady Bulldogs who pulled it off couldn’t have been any happier.

Karmen Johnson made the most of Hanceville’s 18th and final offensive rebound Thursday night, putting it back with 7 seconds left to give the home team its only lead and propel the Purple and Gold to a thrilling 41-39 win.

After hanging around and hanging around, the Dawgs made their final push trailing 39-32 in the fourth quarter. Malia Howell kicked off the comeback with three free throws and, following a Cassidy Campbell field goal, pulled Hanceville even on a putback with 50 seconds to go.

That set the stage for Johnson’s heroics at the end. Watson wanted the junior to take the last shot anyway and got her wish — though not quite the way it was intended — when Kierra Merriweather’s drive for the go-ahead basket bounced off the rim.

Johnson knew what to do from there, gobbling up the board and banking it in to put the Purple and Gold over the top.

A Holly Pond timeout and quick defensive stand later, and Hanceville was left to celebrate its second — and easily biggest — victory of the season.

“It didn’t work out the way it was planned, but it worked out,” Watson said with a laugh of the game-winning sequence. “We haven’t beat Holly Pond in, I don’t know, six or seven years. And I haven’t been part of a team that has come from behind and won. Slowly, we’re getting it, you know. They really wanted this one. It was huge.”

Johnson wouldn’t have minded if Merriweather would’ve sank the decisive shot. She was, however, more than happy to deliver when needed and break the tie the Bulldogs’ way.

“I was really hoping she was going to make that,” Johnson said. “But I was glad I got the rebound and put it back up and it went in. I was like, ‘Yes, we’re up by two! Just gotta hold it off, just hold it off for 4 seconds.'”

Though Johnson came through at the beginning — she had six points of her nine points in the first quarter — and end, Cassidy Campbell was Hanceville’s clear star. The youngster hustled like crazy, collected 11 of her 15 points in the second half and capped off a double-double with 12 boards.

Not bad for anybody, much less an eighth-grader Watson said she’s “been drooling over” for a couple years.

“She didn’t play like an eighth-grader,” the coach said. “She had 15 and 12. Happy to have her around.”

Merriweather finished with eight points. Johnson and Howell both secured seven rebounds.

With a little work, Watson can see Johnson being even deadlier in the future.

“We know that she can dominate in the post,” said Hanceville’s third-year leader. “We just can’t see it. We’ve worked on every situation, lob or even just getting it in there, and we don’t see the forest, we just see one tree. It’s getting there, but we just can’t get there yet.”

Ruth Horton and Kolby Holcombe combined on eight 3-pointers for Holly Pond. All three of Holcombe’s came in the first half, and Horton’s last of five turned out to be the Broncos’ final contribution to the scoreboard with just more than four minutes remaining.

Horton led Holly Pond, which went 5 of 15 at the free-throw line and didn’t complete any of its seven full trips, with 16 points. Holcombe added nine, and Molly Gambrill had seven.

The Dawgs (2-7) open area play Friday at Oakman, while the Broncos (2-4) head to Cold Springs for a county contest.

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Varsity Boys

Holly Pond 71, Hanceville 37

There was a good chunk of Thursday’s first quarter where it looked like the Bulldogs came ready to play ball.

As it turned out, the Broncos were just slow starters — and they didn’t let up after taking a 13-12 lead on a Jake Harris 3 in the closing seconds of the opening frame.

Holly Pond, which had to wait more than three minutes for its first score (a Griffin Morris trey), used 19 unanswered points in the second quarter and 11 in the fourth to pound the Dawgs and improve to 7-0.

Drew Jones led the way with 25 points in less than three quarters. The Lee University signee drained three 3’s and was one of seven Broncos with at least one. Matt Cahoon and Andrew Shaw chipped in 10 points apiece, and Mckinley Garrett grabbed six.

R.J. Evans paced Hanceville (3-5) with 12 points and was strong on the boards. Fred Ellis cracked double digits with 10 points, and Raiden Morgan came close with eight.