By DREW GRANTHUM/Sports Writer

NORTH SHELBY— What looked like it was going to be a defensive struggle turned into the Alexandra Dunn show, as the Oak Mountain sophomore turned in a hat trick performance in a 4-1 win over Hoover April 17.

The game was essentially a tale of two halves, as the first featured a dominating performance by both defenses. Hoover appeared to not be intimidated by the unbeaten Eagles, turning up the pressure on Oak Mountain, holding the Eagles scoreless through the first.

The Buccaneers kept the effort up at the beginning of the second half, as Jordan Henderson put a shot past Eagle keeper Katie Denney to put the Bucs up 1-0. The goal came on a rebound as Denney made an incredible diving save to block a shot, but Henderson took the rebound in at 32:26.

Oak Mountain responded minutes later when Sydney Jeter put a shot in to tie the game at 1-1 at the 26:02 mark.

With the game knotted up at one apiece, Dunn took control of the momentum when she dribbled around a defender and drilled an arcing, bending shot that went above the outstretched arms of the Hoover keeper for a score. The shot gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead at the 21:30 mark in the second half.

Dunn notched another goal at the 20:13 mark off an assist by Julianne Jackson to give Oak Mountain a 3-1 lead.

With 14:08 left in the game, Dunn struck again, dribbling through traffic before making a heady play to break free of a tangle with another player to nail her third and final goal of the game.

Neither team scored again, and the Eagles hung on for the 4-1 win.

Head coach Pete Dakis said he was proud his team never quit fighting.

“These girls are resilient,” he said. “Hoover is a very strong team (and) well-coached. They gave us all we could handle.”

The Eagles moved to 20-0-1 with the win.