Belgreen moves on to Elite Eight after win over No. 8 Sulligent

The Belgreen High School varsity girls’ basketball team is moving on to the next round in the AHSAA postseason tournament after a 31-20 win over the No. 8-ranked Sulligent Lady Blue Devils Tuesday morning in Hanceville. It was a low-scoring, defensive affair with the Lady Bulldogs scoring their fewest and allowing their second-fewest points of the season.

In the first Class 2A girls regional semifinal contest of the day, the first points weren’t scored until over midway through the first quarter. Belgreen and Sulligent missed a combined 12 shots before BHS senior Makenna Fisher created a turnover and opened the scoring on a fast-break lay-up with 3:58 to go in the period.

The slow start for both teams dragged into the second quarter. The score was 7-3, BHS, after the opening eight minutes of play with both teams shooting under 25 percent.

Belgreen head coach Chad Green said the first game of the regional comes with pressure on the players and that likely played a role in the game, especially early.

“It was a slow start for both teams, for sure, and in the first game of the regional tournament I think nerves played a factor in that,” he said. “Defensively we did some good stuff, but offensively we missed opportunities to score.”

It was no shootout, that’s for certain. Belgreen would go into the halftime break leading 16-10 and would close out the game outscoring Sulligent 15-10. BHS would finish shooting 29 percent from the field, Sulligent 17 percent.

But it wasn’t just poor shooting that defined the game: both teams created turnovers, but it was Belgreen that capitalized on them—the difference in the game. Sulligent had 32 turnovers, compared to Belgreen’s 19. The Lady Bulldogs also had 20 steals and scored 20 points from turnovers compared to the Lady Blue Devils’ nine steals and eight points from turnovers—a vital 12-point difference.

Green applauded his players for the work they put in on the defensive side of the ball.

“I was pleased with how we played defensively and pleased with the turnovers—I think we forced over 30 turnovers in the game,” he said. “I was also proud of how we played one-on-one against their ball-handlers. They have some pretty good ball-handlers and I think we did a good job defending against them in most situations.”

Sophomore Randi Terry led Belgreen with 10 points and Makenna Fisher had nine for BHS. Terry and Fisher also led the team in steals with five apiece. Jemma Moore did well for Belgreen on the boards, recording a team-high eight rebounds. Junior Lilliana Willingham added two blocks.

Belgreen advances to face No. 10 Cold Springs in the regional final on Monday, February 23 at 9 a.m. Cold Springs, which routed Decatur Heritage Christian 57-14 to clinch its play in the Elite Eight, will be another tough challenge for the Lady Bulldogs, Green said, and they’ll have to play a better game in order to win.

“We can’t miss those same opportunities (to score) against Cold Springs,” Green said.

“They have some really good players, and they shoot the three well, so we’ll have to get out there and defend their shooters,” he added. “They also play good man defense, so we’ll have to play well against that and win the one-on-ones.”

Belgreen’s last two regional final appearances were in 2024 and 2009, both losses. A win against Cold Springs on Monday will send the Lady Bulldogs to Birmingham for the first time since 2003, the year after BHS won the Class 1A state title.