WINTERBORO — Talladega High’s 15th win of the season was something extra special.
The THS girls played some terminator-style defense, which led the Tigers to the large schools championship over Sylacauga High 38-23 in the Talladega County girls basketball tournament Friday.
The play by either team was seldom pretty. A puny four points was scored in the first eight minutes of the championship contest.
Talladega High had an unnerving lead of 4-0 after one quarter of play. It would eventually get better for the Tigers in the second quarter.
The THS girls eased their lead to 9-2 in the second period. Tigers sophomore guard Zae Cunningham kept on trying, exhaling and shooting.
She finally got a shot to drop as she buried a 3-pointer at the 3:47 mark of the second quarter. Talladega High had their 9-2 advantage. The Tigers also got a putback from sophomore forward Makayla White for an 11-6 lead with 2:18 left in the first half.
And Cunningham responded with a four-foot hoop with 42.7 seconds remaining in the second period for a 13-7 Talladega High advantage. In time, THS would take a 15-10 lead to the locker room at halftime.
The Tigers' county basketball crown was just two quarters away.
“We moved the ball and moved our feet. We put the work in. We played defense, and we knew what we had to do,” said Cunningham, the energetic guard for Talladega High.
The Tigers also inflated their lead to 23-12 in the third stanza. Makayla White, Cunningham and junior guard Trinity Webb were making waves and buckets for the Tigers.
Talladega High also got some hoops and effort from senior guard Houston Goins in the second half. Goins scored eight points for the game.
The Tigers also got some finishing hoops from Webb, who scored 11 points, and Cunningham, who seized the moment with 10 points.
“We played hungry," Goins said. "We made some shots (sooner or later), and we played aggressive defense."
Talladega High girls basketball coach Baron Sandlin was right there with his players, celebrating the county basketball tournament championship.
“We’re keeping the tradition going (at Talladega High). We want to win. We play our game, and we play it with defense,” Sandlin said.
The Sylacauga High girls had to settle for second place in the large schools county tournament. They still played with a purpose, but the Aggies still fell short despite getting nine points from Journey Smith, five points from Hadyn Owens and eight points from sophomore guard Destinee Ealy.
“We played hard, but we missed shots. We put too much pressure on ourselves,” said Aggies coach Victor Smith, whose team is now 10-16.
