Cold Springs boys notch 1st victory of the season

COLD SPRINGS — Mary Hartline’s season-long message to her team is fairly consistent — defense, defense and more defense.

The Holly Pond varsity girls basketball coach is adamant that if the Broncos can maintain their intensity on that side of the ball for 32 minutes, the rest will take care of itself.

Her theory certainly panned out on Tuesday night.

Ava Thomas scored a team-high 12 points, Maggie Nail tossed in 11 and Holly Pond suffocated Cold Springs throughout en route to a dominant 43-24 victory.

Hartline’s squad made life miserable for the Eagles on the offensive end, holding them to just a pair of 3-pointers while forcing numerous turnovers and frequently contesting shots.

That aforementioned consistent message? Also a simple one for this particular clash.

“They’re a shooting team, so coach told us to run them off the 3-point line,” Nail said.

For Hartline, the defensive performance wasn’t a surprise. It was her team’s improvement in another category that stood out.

“Our defense has been great, even in losses to Fairview and West Point,” she said. “It was our decision-making that needed to improve. I was proud that we took what we’ve worked on with that in terms of not forcing the ball but still playing with the same intensity and improved on it. You can always rely on defense, because you can control that with effort. We’ve just got to be smarter on offense … and we were tonight.”

Madison Butts added nine points for Holly Pond.

Cold Springs, meanwhile, was paced offensively by Aleah Addison with 10 points.

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Varsity Boys

Cold Springs 69, Holly Pond 57: Nic Fallin swished six 3-pointers for a game-high 24 points, Ethan Day added 18 and the Eagles registered their first win of the season — and first victory under coach Adam McKinnon — on Tuesday night.

Ayden Black pitched in nine points for Cold Springs, which outpaced Holly Pond 19-7 in the third quarter to build some separation.

Cade Allbright (14 points), Ty Dunn (12), Asher Thrift (11) and Carson Ryan (10) recorded double figures for the Broncos.

See more local roundup below.

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Tuesday — November 19

Varsity Boys

Cullman 56, Hazel Green 48

Jake Dorough: 17 points, 6 assists

Evan Wilson: 10 points, 12 rebounds

Brooks Loftin: 7 points, 10 rebounds

Preston Gay: 7 points

 

Fairview 74, Vinemont 40

Calin Collins (F): 19 points

Landun Smith (F): 17 points

Carson Jones (F): 10 points

Will Conquest (V): 8 points

Gee Flores (V): 8 points

 

West Point 73, Hanceville 47

Maddox Chapman (WP): 33 points

Jaxon Shelton (WP): 10 points

Cade Welborn (WP): 10 points

Drake Bentley (H): 14 points

Peyton Twilley (H): 10 points

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Varsity Girls

Hazel Green 55, Cullman 11

 

Fairview 50, Vinemont 40

Davi Stidham (F): 14 points

Whitney Quick (F): 11 points

Darby Nichols (F): 7 points

Peyton Defoor (F): 7 points

Caroline Miller (V): 14 points

Reagan Robinson (V): 9 points

 

West Point 59, Hanceville 35

Camryn Faulkner (WP): 20 points

Jaelyn Faulkner (WP): 19 points

Laklin Shadix (WP): 8 points

Alex Twitty (H): 13 points

Aaliyah Twitty (H): 11 points

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Monday — November 18

Varsity Boys

Dora 59, Cold Springs 51

Nic Fallin: 18 points

Ayden Black: 12 points

 

Holly Pond 63, Cleveland 57

Carson Ryan: 19 points

Cade Allbright: 18 points

Fox Westall: 9 points

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Varsity Girls

Cold Springs 63, Dora 50

Ella Dickerson: 21 points, 8 rebounds

Kenady Graves: 16 points, 8 rebounds

Kaydance Williams: 10 points, 15 rebounds 

 

Holly Pond 54, Cleveland 23

Millie McBee: 18 points

Maggie Nail: 12 points

Ava Thomas: 9 points