A win and a coin toss gave the Andalusia Lady Bulldogs the right to host the Class 4A, Area 1 Tournament and it paid off last night with a 50-34 win against the visiting UMS-Wright Lady Bulldogs.

Andalusia Head Coach Marshall Locke said the crowd gave his team a lot of support.

"I am proud of the support we got from the student body tonight," Locke said. "I hope they continue to support us the rest of this season."

The game was intense.

Locke said he expected a "physical" game and prepared his players for a lot of "bumping."

It paid off as Andalusia (19-6) raced out to a 14-7 lead in the first quarter. Ashley Johnson scored 8 of Andalusia's 14 first-quarter points.

Andalusia was on top 32-14 at the half with Ann Huff scoring six of the 16 points in the second quarter.

While Andalusia did not appear to have a problem scoring, the UMS-Wright Lady Bulldogs failed to cash in on several "free" opportunities.

UMS-Wright (22-6) shot a dismal 4-of-14 from the free-throw line in the first half and ended the game converting 12-of-25 chances from the charity stripe.

In the second half, Andalusia was content to dribble the air out of the ball and the seconds off the clock en route to a 50-34 win.

After the game, UMS-Wright Head Coach Jessica Webb described her team's free-throw shooting in a word - "awful."

"It was awful," Webb said. "It was not a good night of free-throw shooting for us.

"This was not our night," she added. "They (Andalusia) played great from start to finish."

Leading the way for Andalusia was Ashley Johnson with 21 points. Tanesha Wright added 10 points. Also scoring for Andalusia were Ann Huff, Kathy Crittenden, Jermecia McNeil, Apri Kilgore and Brianna Cross.

Toots Otts was the leading scorer for UMS-Wright and the only one to reach double figures in points with 10. Gia DuPriest added 9. Also scoring for UMS-Wright were Tiffany Sanders, Mary Murray Battiste and Morgan Ladner.

As the area champs, the Andalusia Lady Bulldogs will play at home next Thursday night against the loser of last night's Class 4A, Area 2 Tournament Championship Game between Choctaw County and Thomasville. UMS-Wright will play the Area 2 champ next Thursday. Both games will begin at 7 p.m.

The members of the Class 4A, Area 1 Girls' Basketball Tournament All-Tournament Team are: Ashley Johnson (Andalusia), Tanesha Wright (Andalusia), Apri Kilgore (Andalusia), Toots Otts (UMS-Wright), Tiffany Sanders (UMS-Wright), Kristi Ybarra (Gulf Shores) and Ebony Nelson (Hillcrest).