HANCEVILLE — Hanceville’s varsity girls parlayed a blistering start into a rock-solid victory inside Tom Drake Coliseum.

The No. 3 Lady Bulldogs (12-8) jumped on sixth-seeded Good Hope from the get-go on Tuesday en route to a 62-36 win at the Cullman County Basketball Tournament.

Hanceville advances to Thursday’s semifinal, where it’ll play No. 2 Fairview at 7:30 p.m.

Coach Christina Watson’s group opened the game on an 8-0 run before the Lady Raiders got on the board with a 3-point basket.

The Lady Bulldogs, however, answered with a dominant 19-0 spurt, creating numerous turnovers with their quickness to build a comfortable lead.

They took a 35-9 advantage into halftime and were never threatened down the stretch.

Watson couldn’t help but be pleased with the strong effort.

Mostly.

“They definitely stuck to the gameplan in the first half,” she said. “We wanted to pressure the ball and control the boards and take good shots. They did a great job of that in the first half. Second half … not so much (laughs). But we have to use our speed. That’s the one thing we have. We don’t have tons of size or tons of shooters, but we have lots of speed.”

Pickett, who spearheaded the Purple and Gold’s first-half performance, finished with 27 points. Kierra Merriweather claimed 11 of her 13 points in the first half  as well to supplement the offensive output.

Malia Howell (10) also reached double figures for the winning team.

Hanceville’s matchup against the Lady Aggies now looms for Watson and Co. on Thursday.

Fairview won the season’s only meeting between the teams back in November.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunity to play them again,” Watson said. “We’re just glad to make it past the first round of the county tournament. We’re trying to change things at Hanceville, and making it to Round 2 is a big step for us.”

Savanna Derrick was Good Hope’s top scorer with 18 points. Desire’ Odachowski contributed nine for coach Amanda Swann’s squad.