Girls Basketball: Mountain Brook 51, Thompson 42
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“Survive and advance” was the theme Mountain Brook coach Mark Cornelius preached to his team all week.
The Spartans (25-9) did both, beating Thompson in a Class 6A sub-regional game.“I was really worried about the game,” Cornelius said. “But we did enough to win. I was proud of the way that the ladies fought and took advantage of the opportunities.”
Mountain Brook will face Shades Valley at noon Feb. 22 in the Northeast Regional at Jacksonville State.
Annabelle Friedman led the Spartans with 17 points, 10 coming in the fourth quarter. The junior guard was 10-of-10 from the free-throw line. Collier Oglivie added 11 points.
“Thompson had a great game plan” Cornelius added. “Our run in the third quarter and free throw shooting helped us advanced. That’s all is about tonight.”
The Spartans made 19-of-25 of free-throw attempts.
Cornelius, who took the Spartans to several regionals and a Final Four appearance during his tenure as the school's boys coach, is making his first trip to Jacksonville in his first season as the girls coach.
Thompson (16-12) was led by KaDeisha Stowes, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Taylor Underwood added nine points before leaving the game with an injured knee in the third quarter.
