JACKSONVILLE, Ala. — The top two teams in Alabama high school basketball will face off not for a state but a region title Wednesday.
Hoover is ranked first and Albertville second in both the Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 7A poll and the all-classification AL.com Super 10. The Bucs and Aggies will meet at 12:30 p.m. in the Northeast Region championship game with a trip to the state tournament on the line.
Both teams posted big wins in the semifinals Monday. Albertville (28-4) started slowly but rode a 27-point outburst from Lani Smallwood to beat Vestavia Hills 54-35.
Hoover (32-1) jumped to a 32-6 lead in the first eight minutes and buried Sparkman 79-30.
The Buccaneers have won five consecutive state titles and 11 in school history, all since 2011. Albertville is looking for its first girls basketball state championship. The school’s best finish ever in basketball came when the boys team finished third in the 1960 Class AA tournament.
“I am so proud of this team,” Aggie coach Natasha Smallwood said after the Albertville win Monday.
“They never quit. Things didn’t go our way in that game all the time, but they never quit, and that’s the thing that I’m most proud of them about. They always play for four quarters, strong.”
The Aggies (28-4) led 10-8 after a quarter and 21-19 at halftime but stretched it to 30-24 at the final rest stop.
Lani Smallwood, who’s signed with Mississippi State, was 10 of 20 from the field including 3 of 8 from 3-point land.
Whitley Booker scored 9 points, Mylie Butler 8, Millie McBee 7 and Gracyn Robeson 3.
Ella Grace Stricklin led 10th-ranked Vestavia Hills with 10 points.
Later in the day, Aaliyah Blanchard scored 20 points and Khloe Ford and Kristen Winston 17 apiece in the Bucs’ rout of Sparkman (15-12).
Hoover held the Senators to just 8 of 29 (27.6%) shooting, including just 1 of 6 from 3-point range. The Bucs led 52-17 and were able to empty their bench.
Blanchard and Winston were both members of the all-tournament team at last year’s Final Four. Blanchard has made an oral commitment to Middle Tennessee. Ford plans to play at Missouri. Winston is a freshman.
Madyson Beasley scored 9 points for Sparkman.
Elsewhere in Class 7A, Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa plays Bob Jones on Tuesday for the Northwest Regional championship in Hanceville. Auburn plays Dothan on Wednesday in the Central Regional title bout at the same time Alma Bryant faces Fairhope for the South Region crown. Both those games are in Montgomery.
The Hillcrest-Bob Jones winner will play the Auburn-Dothan winner at 9:30 a.m. March 5 at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. The Albertville-Hoover winner will play the Alma Bryant-Fairhope winner at noon that day.
Albertville’s Mylie Butler (1) goes to the basket against Vestavia Hills in the regional semifinal Monday. Photo by MIRANDA HUMPHREY l Albertville City Schools
