Story By Heath Hambrick

Monday afternoon, the varsity girls semifinal finals for the Sand Mountain Tournament got underway with the No. 1-seeded Ider Lady Hornets facing off with the No. 4-seeded North Sand Mountain Lady Bison.

The Lady Bison pulled the upset, defeating the Lady Hornets 65-51 to move on to the Championship game Tuesday night. This is NSM's first trip to the finals since 2015. 

The Lady Bison led at the end of each quarter break (17-14, 31-25, 45-43, 65-51). 

Both teams started slow, but NSM took control of the game with a 6-0 run to end the first quarter. 

In the second half, NSM built a 13-point lead at 40-27, but the Lady Hornets wouldn’t go away as McKinley Traylor sparked a 14-0 Ider run with back-to-back three-point baskets to give Ider a 41-40 lead with 2:39 to go in the third quarter. 

Both teams traded baskets as the third quarter ended. NSM pulled away late to take the victory by 14 points. 

McKinley Traylor led Ider with 19 points, and Kennzie Smith added 12 points. 

Ider falls to 12-5 on the season. 

The second varsity girls semifinal was between two No. 1-ranked teams, the Pisgah Lady Eagles and the Plainview Lady Bears. Plainview held on for a hard-fought 70-60 victory to advance to the championship game. 

Plainview led at the end of each quarter break (19-13, 33-30, 51-44, 70-60). 

Sawyer Kate Hulgan went on a 6-0 run to open the game before Pisgah responded with a 13-0 run to take a 13-6 lead. The Lady Bears ended the quarter with an 11-0 run to take a 19-13 lead to the second quarter. 

Plainview pushed the lead to 12 early in the second quarter before the Lady Eagles cut the lead to four right before half. Hulgan hit a three to push the lead back to seven before Pisgah bade a late basket to end the half. 

Pisgah opened the second half with a three-pointer to cut the lead to two, 33-31, then down to just one point at 35-34. That was as close as the Lady Eagles would get as Plainview finished the third quarter with a seven-point lead. 

Plainview pushed the lead to double digits in the final quarter to secure the semifinal victory. 

Sawyer Kate Hulgan led Plainview with 32 points, Piper Anderson scored 13, and Taegan Whitmire added 11 points. 

Campbell Barron led Pisgah with 23 points. 

Plainview improved to 13-0 on the season.