By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

TUSCALOOSA–The Helena Lady Huskies basketball team put together a solid game plan and will advance to the Class 5A Area 7 Championship game after defeating the Calera Lady Eagles 53-46 on Monday, Feb. 8.

Helena head coach Alan Skinner contributed much of the success to minimal turnovers and solid defensive play.

“We did a really good job taking care of the basketball,” said Skinner. “We also did a great job of sticking to our game plan defensively and kept them off balance.”

For the majority of the season, the Lady Huskies have relied on the inside scoring of Jenn Brown, and she once again came up big, finishing with 15 points along with Helena’s Jordan Jones, who also finished with 15 points. The duo of Brown and Jones combined for 30 of Helena’s 53 points in the game in the victory.

Although Helena took a 31-20 lead going into halftime, the Lady Eagles and Tyesha Haynes would not go away quietly.

Haynes finished as the game’s leading scorer with 18 points.

“I kept preaching to keep focus and keep grinding,” said Skinner. “I knew Calera was going to make a surge and you can only hold down a great player like Tyesha Haynes for so long.”

Helena kept the focus in the second half to preserve the 53-46 victory.

“It’s a big win for us that assures us a berth in a sub-regional contest,” said Skinner. “We are going to be happy about this one until midnight then we are back to work to try and win an area title on Wednesday.”

Helena will play area top seed Central on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 6 p.m. for the area championship after Central defeated Jemison 81-25 on Feb. 8.