Smithton holds on

OTTERVILLE — The Lincoln girls basketball team gave second-seeded Smithton fits Monday night in the Otterville Holiday Classic.

The Tigers grabbed an early lead and held off multiple comeback attempts by  Lincoln to grab a 53-45 win in the second semifinal.

Smithton (4-2) advances to the finals on Friday night to take on Tuscumbia.

“I thought in the fourth quarter we got the ball to (Brittney) Hotsenpiller and she made some nice plays,” said Smithton coach Mike Baker. “I thought Megan Glenn and Kaslyn Gail and Haley Kahrs did a nice job of getting control of the offense and getting the ball to her in crunch time, and she made some plays for us.

“It’s one of those games where you’re not happy with how you played, but you’re happy with the results.”

Hotsenpiller, who finished with 17 points, scored eight of those late to stop the final Lady Cardinal run.

Smithton jumped out early, grabbing a six-point lead behind the shooting of  Gail. Gail, who led all scorers with 18 points, hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter.

Lincoln (3-6) did not let the Tigers blow the game open.

The Lady Cardinals roared back to tie the game at 13 before a Gail 3-pointer gave Smithton a 16-13 lead after one quarter.

Lincoln guard Trisha Cook had early scoring success, slashing to the basket, but picked up her fourth foul midway through the second quarter and went to the bench. With Cook on the bench, Smithton increased its lead to 29-19 at halftime.

“That hurt us a little bit,” Lincoln coach John Crull said of the loss of Cook. “I thought our kids overcame it pretty well. They worked together. I’m really proud of them on the defensive end of the court.”

With whistles blowing on nearly every possession in the third quarter, neither team could establish a rhythm, but the Lady Cardinals continued to chip away at the Smithton lead.

Cook slashed to the basket for scores, and when Kara Ward scored inside, the Smithton lead was cut to 31-28 with 3 minutes left in the third.

“In the third quarter, I thought we played a great defensive game,” said Crull. “We got the stops we needed. We had a couple of chances there to cut it to one, and if either of those baskets had gone in, I think we would have kept the momentum and kept it going.”

That Lincoln defense forced a number of Smithton turnovers, limiting the Tigers to just seven points in the quarter.

“What their pressure did was take us out of our half-court offense. I thought we handled it in the frontcourt, but in the half-court offense, we just stood a little too much, didn’t move, didn’t make some cuts like we should have,” said Baker.

Brittney Milsap and Gail  connected from the field for the Tigers at the end of the third, helping Smithton push its lead to 36-30 heading into the fourth.

Lincoln kept up the defensive pressure in the fourth, but Hotsenpiller scored in the paint, the Tigers hit free throws, and Smithton held on for the win.

Cook scored 10 second-half points to lead the Lady Cardinals with 16, and Ward tallied 12 before fouling out late.

Tuscumbia 40, Russellville 26

The Tuscumbia Lady Lions ran out to a 21-9 halftime lead Monday night and held off a late run by Russellville to win the first semifinal.

Tuscumbia got all 40 points from three players.

Tierney Webb led the way with 19 points, Kirsten Patterson had 11, and Kacie Wright had the other 10.

Katie Leithauser’s 10 points led