Lady Bucs win big in regional semifinal

JACKSONVILLE — The Hoover High School girls basketball team wasted no time in setting the tone for Thursday’s Class 7A Northeast Regional semifinal.

After Grissom won the opening tipoff, Hoover’s Madison Adamson stole the ball, dribbled down the court and dished a pass to Skyla Knight for an easy transition layup.

The fast start helped the Lady Bucs (31-1) open a 12-point first-quarter lead that turned into an 84-46 victory at Pete Mathews Coliseum.

“I think we were trying to make sure we came out to a hot start,” Hoover head coach Krystle Johnson said. “We wanted to make sure we came out and were clicking on all cylinders.”

With the win, Hoover advances to Wednesday’s regional final, where it'll play Sparkman.

A trip to the state final four will be on the line.

To advance, the Lady Bucs will need only to execute as they did against Grissom. Hoover deployed a full-court press from the outset, which created numerous issues for its opponent.

The Lady Tigers (19-8) struggled to advance the ball across the Jacksonville State University Gamecocks logo at half court. When they did, Hoover’s airtight man-to-man defense prevented them from finding many open looks at the basket.

“We play with a lot of energy,” Johnson said, “we get in a lot of people’s faces, which I think is something we were lacking last season.”

Grissom had as many points at the half, 18, as it did turnovers. Hoover led 40-18 after two quarters behind 17 points from Knight, a senior. She finished with a game-high 29 points.

“It’s my last year, and I want to go out with a bang,” Knight said.

The Lady Bucs grew their advantage in the second half. They knocked down four 3-pointers in the third quarter, including two from Joiya Maddox, and held a 63-35 advantage entering the final frame.

Aniya Hubbard (18) and Maddox (14) both joined Knight with double-digit point totals. 

Tipoff on Wednesday is at 9 a.m. Hoover will aim to redeem itself from last year’s regional final, when it lost by one point.

“The mindset that everybody on this team has...is to come out and show everybody that we should have won last year,” said Maddox, another senior. "The best way we know how to do that is to blow everybody out and show them we belong here.”

This article was updated Feb. 14 at 3 p.m. to reflect Hoover's opponent in the regional final.