Story By Druw Giamalva
The Sardis Lady Lions wrapped up area play on Friday night as they defeated the Boaz Lady Pirates 54-23 to finish 6-0 in area play.
“It is our fifth straight area championship so it feels good,” said Sardis Head Coach Heath Cullom. “That’s one of our goals, win the county and then win the area on back-to-back Fridays, so it was pretty good weekends for us. We have a showdown against Plainview next Friday that we’ve been looking forward to.”
The win for the Lions improves them to 19-8 on the year while Boaz falls to 14-10.
“Ultimately, this game didn’t decide anything as far as the area champion coming in,” said Boaz head coach Justin Bowen. “There are a lot of things we still have to clean up before we get to the area tournament but I am confident we will get there. I am just excited to continue to see us grow and ultimately playing our best at the end.”
With Sardis locking up the first seed, they will play the Crossville Lady Lions in the first round of the area tournament in February.
The Lions opened up the first quarter on a 10-0 run that was led by a Kaydence Williams three-point shot. Delaney Lee would add on three points in the first quarter for the Lions while Vada Willmore and Lynne Wright added two points. Macie Cullom would close out the first quarter with a free throw for Sardis. The last score of the quarter would finally see the Pirates score as Addison Bowlin would knock down a three-point shot. Sardis would enter the second quarter with an 11-3 lead.
The Sardis defense would continue to impress as they held Boaz to just eight first half points. Boaz would be led by Peyton Hall and Braylee Hogue who each finished with two points in the second quarter. Lee and Vada Willmore would lead the scoring for Sardis in the second quarter as they finished with three points each. Mollie Brock would close the quarter out with a score to give Sardis a 19-8 halftime lead.
Sardis would begin to pull away in the second half as they put up 17 total points in the third quarter. Jacee Holcomb led the way for Sardis with six third quarter points followed by three points each by Lyla Willmore, Mya Glass and Lee. Boaz would be led by four third quarter points by Hogue. Sardis would enter the final quarter with a 36-17 lead.
The Lions closed out the fourth quarter with a big 18-point fourth quarter that was led by Cullom and Williams who each finished with five fourth quarter points. Glass and Lee would also add three points each to close out the game. Boaz’s leading scorers in the fourth quarter would be Hall and senior McKenzie Garcia who finished with two points each.
The Sardis offense was led by Lee who finished with 12 points. Holcomb and Williams would finish with eight points while Cullom would finish with six points.
The Boaz offense would be led by Hogue who finished with seven points. With area play wrapped up, the Lions close out their regular season with two more away matchups against the Plainview Lady Bears and the Hokes Bluff Lady Eagles. Sardis will play Plainview on Friday while they play Hokes Bluff on February 3. Tip-off for both matchups is expected for 6 p.m.
