West Point's Lexi Shadix drives to the basket and scores on Monday.

WEST POINT — Olivia Ball swished a game-tying 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining, but Hartselle’s Anna Mathis provided a huge layup as time expired to hand the Lady Warriors a 54-52 loss — their first of the year — inside Jim Boyd Gymnasium on Monday evening.

West Point (10-1) trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half but fought back with a fantastic third-quarter effort to trim the deficit to one entering the final frame.

The two squads battled gallantly down the stretch — each corralled respective three-point leads in the stanza — to set up the thrilling, albeit disappointing fireworks in the final minute.

“We started playing better defense and finishing on offense in the second half,” West Point coach Richie Penn said. “Hats off to Hartselle, though. They made some fine plays. I’m proud of our girls for scratching to the end and getting back into the game. We just need to start out with a bit more intensity moving forward. We opened a little sluggish, and I think that hurt us early.”

The Lady Tigers — behind a strong mix of inside and outside buckets — earned a 30-17 lead midway through the second stanza before the Maroon and White finally found their rhythm.

Lexi Shadix tallied 10 of her team-high 18 points during the frame to help West Point pull to within eight points heading into halftime.

Mackenzie Carter and Miriam Oldacre came through in the third quarter to whittle the deficit down one point — Micah Oldacre’s 3-point shot granted the Lady Warriors a brief advantage before a Mathis free throw propelled Hartselle back in front — entering the clutch minutes.

Unfortunately for West Point, the Lady Tigers proved to be a touch better in that category.

Penn’s group missed the front end of three one-and-one opportunities late in the matchup, which along with a couple of turnovers and non-finishes around the hoop, allowed the road team to stay close and eventually put away the homestanding Maroon and White.

“It’s still early in the season, but our free throw percentage should have been better,” Penn said. “We couldn’t make key free throws, and that’s something we’ll need to improve on moving forward. We hate to lose, but I’d say we’ll learn from this and regroup for Cullman on Tuesday and Fairview on Friday.”

Micah Oldacre (eight), Carter (eight), Miriam Oldacre (six), Ball (six) and Brooke Brownfield (three) racked up the remaining points for West Point.

Hartselle was paced by Moriah Taylor (16), Masyn Marchbanks (14) and Mathis (12) offensively.

% Holly Pond 62, J.B. Pennington 41: The Lady Broncos gathered their first area victory of the season on Monday night with a solid road showing.

Kirsten Campbell collected 15 points, while Maddie Heatherly tossed in 14 to help Holly Pond — which outscored its foe 25-9 in the fourth quarter — improve to 2-7 overall and 1-1 in area play.

Makenna Folds (eight), Tess Duke (seven), Kolby Holcombe (seven) and Presley Marks (six) were the Green and White’s other top contributors.

The Lady Broncos host Vinemont on Tuesday night.

% Cullman 55, Albertville 40: Anna Grace Murphy (16) and Anna Katherine Eastman (12) secured double-digit efforts offensively to lead the Lady Bearcats to their first area win of the season on Saturday.

Cullman (7-5, 1-1) also claimed scoring contributions from Hannah Hoffman (eight) and Kennedy Wren (six) to help transform a modest four-point halftime cushion into a comfortable victory.

 

Varsity Boys

% Holly Pond 80, J.B. Pennington 49: The Broncos overcame a slow start to pull away for an easy triumph on Monday night.

The Broncos (8-2) nabbed double-digit efforts from McKinley Garrett (17), Griffin Morris (15), Zach Shaw (12) and Tyler Boatright to improve to 2-0 in area play.

Holly Pond outscored the Tigers 56-29 after the first quarter.

% Hartselle 81, West Point 46: The Tigers used a 43-11 run to close out the first half and roll to a thundering triumph against the Warriors on Monday night.

Stats for West Point (5-5) were unavailable.

% Cullman 63, Albertville 58: The Bearcats improved to 7-4 overall and 1-1 in area play with a home victory over the Aggies on Saturday night.

Zane Manley corralled a game-high 25 points, while Drew Morton (11), Trey Tucker (nine) and Jayden Sullins (seven) also pitched in crucial buckets for the Black and Gold.