Regional tournament: Lady Hornets come up short

JACKSONVILLE – The Hewitt-Trussville High School girls basketball team is headed to the state final four for the third time in program history.

The Lady Huskies toppled area rival Chelsea 54-44 on Tuesday in the Class 7A Northeast Regional final, knocking off the Lady Hornets for the fourth time this season and clinching a berth in the state semifinals.

“It’s so tough when you have to play a team four times,” Hewitt-Trussville head coach Tonya Hunter said following the game.

Hewitt-Trussville got off to a 10-0 start in the game and led wire-to-wire. 

“They jumped up 10-0 and we lost by 10,” Chelsea head coach Jason Harlow said of the slow start. “They’re a team with a lot of seniors in this game and it showed.”

Jordan Hunter, the star senior and Auburn signee, led the Lady Huskies with 16 points despite battling illness. The fatigue was evident in her eyes afterwards, but she credited her teammates for helping her push through.

“If it wasn’t for this team, I wouldn’t have been able to get up and fight,” she said.

Olivia Burton joined Hunter in double figures with 14 points, with Tonya Hunter calling it the “game of her life.”

“I had never played in an atmosphere like that, so that was really exciting,” Burton said. “Knowing what I was playing for, it made me more excited every play.”

Mia Ada also drilled three key 3-pointers throughout the game and finished with nine points.

“Every day I get in the gym and put up a bunch of shots,” she said.

Chelsea lost just six games all season, four of them coming at the hands of Hewitt. Despite graduating seven players from last year’s team, the Lady Hornets made another deep postseason run. 

“Hard work,” said Caroline Brown, who had 14 points for Chelsea. “We have a lot of kids that come in the gym every day and give everything they’ve got. We worked together very well. We always have fun.”

Haley Trotter posted a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, capping off a brilliant season.

Harlow lauded the efforts of Allie Scott and Baylor McCluney, who stepped in and played key minutes after Madeline Epperson got into foul trouble.

Epperson and McCluney are the team’s two seniors. While they don’t bring much to the stat sheet, Harlow warned of discounting their value when it comes to their impact on this year’s team.

“Two of the highest character kids I’ve ever coached,” Harlow said. “For all the talent we have coming back, people will look at us [as having potential]. But if we don’t learn from their character, all bets are off next year. I can’t say enough about them.”

Hewitt-Trussville will move on to face Prattville in the state semifinals next Wednesday in Birmingham at Legacy Arena.

Chelsea’s season ends with a 26-6 record.