The Morgan Academy Lady Senators made a late run, but it wasn’t enough to pull off the comeback, as they fell 57-43 to the Tuscaloosa Academy Lady Knights, ending their season in the AISA Class 3A Region 2 tournament.

Jennifer Moore, head girls basketball coach of Morgan Academy (9-19), said her team got off to a slow start, but fought hard till the end.

“I think they were just very nervous at the very beginning of the game. They couldn’t make the passes and kept turning the ball over. In the second half of the ball game we calmed down and we were playing a bit smarter,” Moore said. “We were able to use the fast break down the floor and set up our trap [defense] and force some turnovers. They played well together, Lauren Yeldell getting down the floor and scoring a few really helped us out. Setting up a different offense helped us also. They really wanted to play hard this game even if it was going to be their last game. They wanted to try to move on to the next stage. They didn’t make it, but they fought very hard for it.”

The Lady Senators trailed by as much as 24 points, and entered the fourth quarter behind 50-29.

Morgan opened the final quarter strong, as Kendall Veach scored on a fast-break layup to make it 50-31.

The Lady Senators continued their run, as Veach hit a jumper before Lauren Yeldell hit a free throw and scored on a layup to make it a 50-36 game with 6:34 left to play.

Veach scored in the paint and Yeldell added another basket to bring Morgan within ten at 50-40 with 5:39 left.

Tuscaloosa’s Chasity Kimbrell scored under the basket to stop the run, but Reyn Cowart hit a free throw and Yeldell scored on another fast break for Morgan to make it 52-43 with 4:21 left.

But Carlie Cochran and Krissy Pruitt both hit free throws down the stretch to hold off the Lady Senators.

Pruitt led Tuscaloosa with 14 points, while Cochran, Hallie Harrison, and Addison Harrison each had 7 points for the Lady Knights.

Yeldell led Morgan with 16 points, while Veach had 11 points for the Lady Senators.