The Andalusia Lady Bulldogs edged Brantley 59-54 Friday night to win the 12th annual Red Level Christmas Invitational tournament.

Andalusia coach Bennie Shellhouse said despite winning the tournament, his team still has “work” to do.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “We have a long way to go. I just hope we continue to improve like last season.”

Andalusia and Brantley played a tight game early in the first quarter. The Lady Bulldogs then went on a 6-0 run before claiming the first quarter, 15-6.

In the second quarter, Brantley outscored Andalusia 16-12, but remained five points behind at 27-22.

Things started to turn around in the third quarter for Andalusia. Andalusia went on a 9-0 run to gain a 14-point advantage over Brantley.

Brantley quickly bounced back, picking up the pace of the game and bringing the contest to within five points with less than four minutes to go in the third quarter.

After gaining its composure, Andalusia diminished Brantley’s momentum to lead 44-33 going into the final quarter.

Throughout the final quarter, Andalusia and Brantley traded fouls and timeouts. Brantley made it an eight-point game at one point, but Andalusia kept its win secure.

“We lost our composure and we started fouling for no reason at all,” Shellhouse said about his team’s fourth quarter play. “We base our program off pride and integrity and we’re trying to keep that.”

At the buzzer, Brantley managed a 3-pointer to cut its deficit to five points.

Andalusia’s Alexis Horton led with 22 points and Shi’Amber Townsend had 11. Amber Anderson finished with nine points and Alectricia Barnes had eight.

Andalusia will play in its first area game of the season tonight in Clarke County.