Hanceville's Taylor Hollingsworth, who scored a game-high 14 points, prepares to go up for a shot in the first half of Friday's home game against Good Hope.

HANCEVILLE — It didn’t always look good or come that easy for Good Hope on Friday night, but Michael Oldacre will always be proud and happy to get a win.

The longtime Lady Raider coach watched his squad start out slow before turning it up in the second half en route to a solid 39-29 victory over county-rival Hanceville.

“Seeing as it was our first game of the year and we’ve got a lot of young players, I thought at times we played pretty well,” Oldacre said. “Now, we did a lot wrong and have tons of room for improvement, but I’m proud of them.”

Hanceville took the home momentum early, riding some nice shooting and studly defense to a 17-13 halftime cushion. The Bulldogs were also able to get Celest Whisenant in a little foul trouble and took advantage of her absence in the paint.

However, a few halftime tweaks later, and the Red and White came out a whole different team.

Kate Kent tallied all six of her team’s points in the third, and Good Hope played significantly better on defense — holding a scrappy Hanceville team to only three points in the quarter to pull within one.

“We were nervous, but they got more comfortable,” Oldacre said. “We did play some pretty good defense in those last two quarters. Hopefully, they will keep us close in all of our games.”

In the fourth quarter, the Raiders threw in a little offense, as Kaylee Maddox scored 10 points in the frame — including a 6-of-7 clip at the free-throw line — to ease past the Purple and Gold down the stretch.

“It feels really good to win because I think there was a lot of pressure,” Maddox said. “When our nerves went away, we had so much more success. I think we played well as a team, and I am pretty happy with that.”

Maddox led her team with 13 points, while Jami Stinson had eight. Kent and Whisenant each contributed six in the victory.

Jessica King notched three, Josie McDonald nabbed two and Sadie Abbott made a free throw.

Taylor Hollingsworth paced Hanceville with 14 points on the night, while Kaela Hall, Lexi Cooper and Niya Evans all secured four. Karmen Johnson (two) and Desi Hackney (one) added points for the Bulldogs (1-3).

Coach Christina Warren’s team finished 1-2 at a tournament earlier in the week, which included a nice win versus two-time defending Class 4A champion Oneonta.