The Meadowview Christian Lady Trojans were only down three to Coosa Valley entering the fourth quarter, but the Rebels’ Danielle Richardson exploded for 17 fourth quarter points to lead her team to a 56-45 win.

Meadowivew head coach Elyse McIntyre was pleased with her team’s effort in the loss.

“I thought we rebounded very well. Our offense was really on it tonight,” McIntyre said. “We hustled after loose balls — we were trying to get them more than we have been — so we did a lot of things right tonight.”

McIntyre was impressed by Richardson’s performance, especially when the game was tight down the stretch.

“She is a good ball player and she knows the game of basketball very well and she just took control,” McIntyre said.

Meadowview jumped out to a 17-10 lead but Richardson’s three-point play to end the first half brought the Rebels to within four.

Coosa Valley wouldn’t trail for long, hitting back-to-back three-pointers to begin the third quarter to tie the game 21-21. The game went back and forth until the Rebels went on a 18-9 to start the fourth quarter.

The Trojand started to play too fast in the second half, McIntyre said.

“We need to learn when to go and learn when to slow it down,” McIntyre said.

Rebels head coach Kimbo Rutledge was proud his team followed a lackadaisical first half with a fantastic second half.

“They decided to hustle”, Rutledge said. “[In the first half], they were standing around watching on rebounds and the ball wasn’t going in.”

Christina Dabit led the Trojans with 13 points in the game. Claudia Kendrick and Mallory Freeine added eight points.