Things were not going right for the Montevallo Lady Bulldogs Saturday night, and head coach Tena Niven knew it.

The Lady Bulldogs trailed the Chelsea Hornets in the Class 4A, Area 8 championship game in Montevallo 18-10 with four minutes left to go in the first half.

&8220;We were out of sync,&8221; Niven said. &8220;We needed to just calm down and play our game.&8221;

After a few strategic timeouts, the Bulldogs were able to gather themselves, take a 21-18 halftime lead and go on to defeat the Hornets 61-43 to claim the area title.

&8220;This is the fourth time we&8217;ve played them this year,&8221; Niven said. &8220;We knew that they always come to play and they did.&8221;

Lakisha Brown scored a team-high 20 points in the victory while teammate and tournament MVP Alisha Gentry netted 18 points in the win.

&8220;Alisha is such a great ballplayer,&8221; Niven said of Gentry. &8220;She was the difference-maker tonight, and we&8217;re lucky to have her.&8221;

Brown joined Gentry on the all-tournament team along with the Lady Bulldogs&8217; Candace Stevens and the Hornets&8217; Lindy Thompson and Charlie Bowman.

Morgan Arnold led Chelsea in scoring with 12 points while Bowman netted 10 in the losing effort.

Chelsea head coach Christi Martin said her team struggled defensively in the second half.

&8220;We started lunging instead of planting our feet,&8221; she said. &8220;We started pressuring them really hard and they turned that pressure into a lot of points in the transition game.&8221;

The Lady Bulldogs prepare to host Bibb County tomorrow night in their sub-regional matchup while the Hornets travel to face Greensboro at the same time.

Niven said having one more game at home will be

beneficial to her squad.

&8220;Going into tonight, we wanted to make sure we had the home advantage,&8221; she said. &8220;It&8217;s huge that we were able to get that done.&8221;

Martin said her team will change little of their game plan as they travel to face the Class 4A, Area 6 champs tomorrow night.

&8220;We&8217;re going to play our same game,&8221; Martin said. &8220;We need to take care of business and not worry about what the other team is doing. We&8217;ll stay with the same philosophy, and we&8217;re sold on our defense.&8221;

Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. tomorrow night.

Calera 60, Shades Mountain 57: Area 8 tournament MVP Shanavia Dowdell saw her team struggling going into the final quarter of their game against Shades Mountain Saturday night.

With the Eagles trailing by five points going into the final quarter, Dowdell decided she had to do something.

Eight minutes later, the Eagles were area champions with a 60-57 victory and Dowdell had scored a team-high 24 points.

Dowdell finished with 19 rebounds as her team came back to edge SMCS in the final seconds. Calera&8217;s Jalisa Thomas netted two crucial free throws with 19 seconds remaining to give the Eagles the victory. Thomas followed Dowdell with 15 points for her team while Sherianne Allen finished with 12 points for the Eagles. Both players joined Dowdell on the all-tournament team.

The Eagles are preparing to host Keith tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in their Class 2A sub-regional game. The winner will earn a spot in the Southwest Regional at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, where they will face the winner of the UMS-Wright vs. Geneva matchup next Tuesday.

Briarwood 54, Talladega 40: Briarwood&8217;s Ruth Ketcham netted a game-high 29 points as the Lady Lions downed Talladega 54-40 in the Class 5A, Area 8 championship game.

Ketcham&8217;s teammate Sarah Byers finished with a team-high 15 rebounds and eight points for the Lady Lions.

Briarwood moves on to face Area 5 runner up Stanhope-Elmore on Thursday night, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.

Spain Park 60, Thompson 59: With less than five seconds remaining in the Class 6A, Area 6 consolation game Saturday, Spain Park&8217;s Tiffany Thomas sank two free throws to give her team a 60-59 victory over the Thompson Warriors.

Thomas finished with a team-high 17 points while teammate Tiaren Young netted 16 points in the win.

The Lady Warriors had a chance to win the game late, but two turnovers in the final minutes of the game by Thompson opened the door for the Lady Jags to take the lead.

Chasity Herron netted 16 points for he Lady Warriors while teammate Tamara Williams finished with 15 points in the loss.

With the win, the Lady Jags will face Area 7 runner-up Huffman on Thursday night while the Lady Warriors take on Area 7 champion Clay-Chalkville at the same time.

Both matchups are scheduled for 7 p.m. tip offs.

AHSAA Sub-Region Schedule

– Calera vs. Keith; Thursday, 7 p.m.

– Briarwood vs. Stanhope-Elmore; Thursday, 7 p.m.

– Montevallo vs. Bibb County; Thursday, 7 p.m.

– Chelsea at Greensboro; Thursday, 7 p.m.

– Spain Park at Huffman; Thursday, 7 p.m.

– Thompson at Clay-Chalkville; Thursday, 7 p.m