By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

TALLADEGA–The Helena girls basketball team had their season come to an end in the Class 5A Sub-Regional round as the Lady Huskies were defeated by the Class 5A Area 8 winning Talladega Lady Tigers by a score of 73-53.

The Lady Huskies traveled to Talladega to take on the Lady Tigers on Monday, Feb. 15, and although the Lady Huskies have plenty of offensive scoring power, the Lady Tigers were able to match Helena.

The Lady Huskies had no answer for Talladega’s Camille Bucklanor who finished as the games leading scorer with 26 points.

The Lady Tigers led Helena 38-22 at the half and never let up in the second half to advance in the postseason.

Despite the loss, Helena head coach Alan Skinner was proud of the way his team competed all season and what they were able to accomplish.

“Not the way we wanted our year to end,” said Skinner. “Talladega is a tough place to play and they have a really good team. I felt we had the game plan but we didn’t execute consistently. “I can’t express how proud I am of this bunch of girls. We have made strides throughout the year that I don’t think I could have envisioned us being in the position we were in before the year started. We steadily improved, learned how to win, learned a lot of valuable lessons that will help us a ton next season. We have a lot coming back with only two seniors on this season’s roster. I don’t want to gloss over Alli and Bri and their value to this year’s team. They were major contributors this season and I know they will be successful in their post-high school careers.”

Niya Oden and Jordan Jones led Helena in scoring with 23 and 15 points.