West Point’s Lexi Farley rushes the ball down the floor during the second half of Thursday’s semifinal victory.

HANCEVILLE — West Point’s junior varsity girls didn’t back down from a tough challenge on Thursday night.

Instead, they wholeheartedly embraced it.

Lexi Farley drilled a go-ahead 3-pointer with 40 seconds left, the Maroon and White secured a couple of defensive stops and Meredith Calvert sealed a 35-31 semifinal victory over Cold Springs with a pair of free throws in the waning seconds during the Cullman County Basketball Tournament at Tom Drake Coliseum.

With the upset of the top-seeded Lady Eagles, No. 4 West Point will play in the championship contest Saturday at 2 p.m. against No. 2 Fairview or No. 3 Holly Pond.

“The girls played hard tonight,” coach Richie Penn said. “I’m proud of the heart they showed. I thought Cold Springs got a ton of second-chance points early in the game, but we corrected that at halftime and did much better. I’m really happy with how we played overall.”

Cold Springs used the 3-point shot early to take a 19-15 lead heading into the break. The Lady Warriors, however, came out on a 12-3 run to seize a three-point cushion entering the fourth stanza.

Toni West evened things up for the Blue and Gold with an early trey, but West Point simply wouldn’t be denied.

Tied at 29-29 late, Farley found herself wide open on a half-court set and promptly drained a 3-pointer to hand her team a three-point advantage before Cold Springs’ Emily Williams banked in a bucket to cut the deficit down to one with around 18 seconds left to play.

“It was definitely nerve-wracking,” Farley said. “We’ve been working hard all year. I felt like my 3 was going to go in.”

After Farley sank a free throw to bump the cushion back to two, West Point forced a Blue and Gold turnover, which sent Calvert to the charity stripe needing two makes to propel the Maroon and White to the title game.

Done. And done.

“Those plays were really huge,” Penn said. “Lexi and Meredith are our leaders. Leaders lead by example. That’s exactly what those girls did tonight. They came up big in big situations for us.”

Farley led her team with 15 points, while Calvert (10) and Maci Hamby (five) also contributed.

West paced the Lady Eagles with 15 points, while Hayden Goodwin had six. Coach Tammy West’s squad finished 16-3.

“West Point did well,” she said. “They made some great plays. We had too many turnovers. Their pressure caused us a whole lot of problems.”

While the Blue and Gold sign off on the season, West Point is seeking one more win to cap off an excellent campaign.

Farley, for one, can’t wait.

“It’s going to be great,” she said. “I’ve never played in a championship game before. It’ll be exciting for all of us.”