Special to the Reporter

The Montevallo Lady Bulldogs basketball squad improved its season record to 5-4 last week, picking up wins over Maplesville and Holt on consecutive nights.

The win over Holt put MHS at 2-1 in area play, just one game behind first place Bibb County.

Montevallo 48

Maplesville 42

The Lady Bulldogs raced out to a 14-5 first quarter lead behind the powerful inside game of Kinyatta Hayes. Maplesville, however, took advantage of multiple opportunities from the free throw line to take a 25-22 lead into halftime.

Montevallo was able to outscore the Lady Devils 10-7 in the third quarter to even the score, then Telea Naugher scored all five of her points in the final period to seal the victory.

The Lady ‘Dogs hit just six of 13 free throw opportunities, but canned enough down the stretch to hold off a late Maplesville rally.

Hayes led all scorers with 20 points, while pulling down a season-high 17 rebounds.

Ashley Ebrahimi added nine points and Haley Dennis dished out ten assists for Montevallo.

Naugher and Shanteeka Reed contributed eight rebounds each.

Montevallo 50, Holt 8

Nine of ten Lady Bulldogs got in the scoring column in a game that was never close. MHS ran out to an 18-3 lead after one quarter of play, and extended the margin to 29-6 by halftime.

In the fourth quarter, the Lady ‘Dogs pitched a shutout, outscoring Holt 10-0 over the final eight minutes of play.

Hayes once again led Montevallo in scoring with 12 points, while Samantha Spradlin owned the boards with nine rebounds.

Other leading scorers were Candice Fields with eight and Reed with seven. Haley Dennis chipped in six assists and five steals.

MHS will take a long break over Christmas before squaring off with Briarwood Christian in the opening round of the Shelby County Tournament on Jan. 8