CACHE — The Hydro-Eakly Lady Bobcats are going back to the state tournament for the fourth consecutive year after beating Cyril 56-39 in the area finals.
This is the third straight area championship for Hydro-Eakly and fourth straight season to go to the state tournament. The Lady Bobcats have won the past two Class A state championships.
“Every year we have gone to the state tournament, the road gets a bit more tough,” coach Jeremy Tharp said. “Every year, there are more teams who are fired up to play us and give us their best shot. Our effort tonight and all season long has been awesome. Our girls laid everything they had out there. Paisley Vickery and Lotti Parker threw their bodies in front and took charges for us, which slowed Cyril down. I was a bit worried because we had not played a game in more than a week. We took some illadvised shots at times, but other than that we played very, very well. Everyone did their part, which is why we are area champions and going back to the state tournament.”
Hydro-Eakly trailed 8-1 early but the Lady Bobcats responded, outscoring Cyril 8-0, capped off by Rees Berkey scoring a contested layup. Cyril had a slight 13-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
In a low scoring second quarter, neither team could get a substantial lead. The game was tied, 16-16, with 3:30 left in the second quarter. Hydro-Eakly did have the slight lead at halftime.
“We missed too many jump shots,” Tharp said. “I felt like if we made all our jump shots in the first half, I felt like we would have been ahead by 20 or more points. Some of this is because we have had some ankle and injury problems. Some of the missed shots came from not having shot in a game in a while. I simply told the girls this and went over some of the mistakes we made.”
Hydro-Eakly began making some jump shots. Dillyn Coe came off the bench and helped Hydro-Eakly build their first double-digit lead of the game, at 37-27 with three minutes left in the third quarter. She scored points and Hydro-Eakly was ahead 44-31 with a quarter to play.
“Dillyn hitting those shots for us was huge,” Tharp said. “I have played my freshmen a lot this season. I am confident in putting them on the floor and Dillyn has been consistent for us. With so many juniors and seniors on the floor for us, it can be challenging to get in. However, I have told the girls when we need a big play or spark against a good team like Cyril, somebody has got to step up and come off the bench. Wow, this was the spark we needed from Dillyn and we enjoyed it.”
The Lady Bobcats were in control and with three minutes left to play. Hydro-Eakly put their reserves in. Hydro-Eakly won the game 56-39.
“This week has been tough,” Tharp said. “The girls really are going to have to communicate with one another. We have to find a happy medium between not going full throttle in practice, but getting some good reps in before the state tournament begins.”
Rees Berkey scored 22 points and Tessa York scored 10 points. Hydro-Eakly remains unbeaten on the season, with a record of 27-0 and will play in the state tournament. Their first game will be Thursday and it is the fourth straight season of going to the state tournament. The bracket will be released Wednesday.
“I am going to be praying this week,” Tharp said. “I pray quite often and I will pray for us to make smart decisions and communicate with one another this week. I do not want to overdo or underdo them this week. We have to be in control of our own game. The crowd can be very loud and pick us up. Sometimes, we get a bit excited and too pumped up. I seriously will be praying this week.”