Two years ago Montevallo fans anxiously awaited news from the University of South Alabama, where their Lady Bulldogs were playing in their first Class 3A regional. Today the Montevallo community awaits Coach Tena Nivens and her Lady Dawgs&8217; trip back to a regional tournament tomorrow &045; this time in the Central Regional at Alabama State University.

&8220;The community is excited and that&8217;s the fun thing,&8221; Nivens said. &8220;We&8217;ve been there before and have won a game to make the region final, but have never been further. The goal with this team is not to just be in the regional final again, but we want to get to Birmingham.&8221;

Montevallo&8217;s leading scorer Candice Fields was a sophomore when the Dawgs last appeared as one of the final 16 teams in the state. Her dream to return to a regional become a reality Thursday night when she led her Montevallo teammates with 28 points in a 66-46 sub-region win over rival Calera.

&8220;She&8217;s excited about getting to go back,&8221; Nivens said. &8220;It&8217;s her senior year and right now she&8217;s leading the team. The good thing is that she doesn&8217;t have to carry the team, but she does have to lead the team for us, and that&8217;s made the difference.&8221;

Fields, who averages 14.7 points per game, leads the team in seven categories for the season and set a new season high for free-throws Thursday with a 9-of-16 performance against Calera.

Also stepping up for the Lady Dawgs against Calera were Alisha Gentry and Jordan Archer who had 17 and 11 points respectively.

&8220;This team just wills themselves to win,&8221; Nivens said of her team that is the first to win 20 games in girls basketball at Montevallo.

The Lady Dawgs carry a 15 game win streak into Thursday&8217;s 9 a.m. tip-off against Montgomery Academy at ASU.

&8220;They don&8217;t have that much experience of losing. They&8217;re almost playing at the state now, because they think they can&8217;t lose. I don&8217;t think any other (Montevallo girls) team has ever had just one loss, and we just want to keep adding on to our achievements,&8221; Nivens said