Hayden climbed out of the hole once.

They couldn’t quite do it twice.

The Wildcats came back from an early 16-3 lead by visiting Cullman to tie the game shortly before halftime. But they never could get over that hump, and the Bearcats went on to take a 61-52 victory in a Class 5A sub-regional playoff game Thursday night.

It was a game of two halves: the first, physical and filled with fouls; the second, much more open, which worked to the Bearcats’ advantage.

Hayden did not score a single field goal in the first quarter, partly because they were often being fouled while shooting. The Wildcats went to the foul line 14 times in the period and hit eight. Going into the bonus early, they were 13-for-23 at the foul line before intermission.

Cullman coach Jonathan Hayes didn’t complain much about the early disparity in fouls — 14 on his squad in the first half, compared to five for the hosts.

“I didn’t want to get on the refs, because a lot of them were fouls,” Hayes said. “We foul a lot, and we’re aggressive in our defense. … But I was able to sub freely. That’s been a major strength of our team all year long.”

The hosts started to get their shooting touch back midway through the second quarter, with drives by guard Krista Stricklin and put-backs off of offensive rebounds by Madison Durham. That effort brought the scores level at 23-23 with 2:25 to play.

But it was the closest Hayden got to a lead all night, as Cullman answered with a Jordan Quick 3-pointer and two more baskets before the break.

From that point, Stricklin tried to take matters into her own hands, as she has done numerous times when her team was in trouble. She got several baskets in transition — something Hayes had strived to prevent in his game plan.

On three different occasions in the fourth quarter, Stricklin pulled Hayden to within four points. The last time was with just 65 seconds left.

But Cullman’s Morgan Pitts took the ball and drove for a layup, and after a missed 3-point attempt from Stricklin, Dani Dean hit two free throws to seal the Wildcats’ fate.

Stricklin finished with 33 points. Durham had seven points and 10 rebounds in her final game as a Wildcat. Grayson Taylor added six points and six assists.

Hayden coach John Simmons had to make a few adjustments of his own at the half, going with a smaller lineup.

“I had to ask a guard to play up against their big post player,” Simmons said. “Segan Bryant did a fantastic job of doing that. But we had a couple of missed opportunities. I think if we could have gotten a lead and gotten over the hump, we would’ve been all right.”

Hayden’s raucous home crowd didn’t seem to faze Cullman, despite not seeing that kind of atmosphere often. “Our girls haven’t ever played in that situation, so I’m real excited that we were able to sustain while they were making their runs,” Hayes said.

The Bearcats had a balanced offensive attack, with six players scoring between seven and 12 points. Quick led the way with three treys and three free throws. Shannon Mitchell and Dani Dean had nine each.

The Wildcats shot 15-of-52 from the floor (29 percent); they were 5-for-18 in the first half for just 18 percent. They struggled from outside the arc, hitting 3-of-19 (16 percent) with no treys before halftime.

Cullman (23-7) moves on to play J.O. Johnson in next week’s regional tournament at Wallace State-Hanceville. Hayden finishes the season with a 24-6 record.