Andalusia outscored Straughn 42-11 in the second half as the Lady Bulldogs rolled to a 59-35 victory in the Class 4A, Area 3 championship on Saturday night at AHS.

With this victory, the Lady Bulldogs improve to 26-2 overall, and extend their win-streak to 24 straight. The Lady Tigers fall to 23-5.

Andalusia will host St. James on Thursday night in the Class 4A sub regional, and Straughn will travel to Montgomery to take on Brewbaker Tech.

“We wish them the best of luck,” AHS coach Bennie Shellhouse said about Straughn. “We hope to see them again. They’re a very worthy opponent.”

The Lady Bulldogs trailed 24-17 going into half time after a late 7-0 run by the Lady Tigers in the first half.

Shellhouse said he asked the girls if trailing by seven points was really what they wanted at half time.

“I told them, ‘do you want to win a championship? If you do, it starts tonight?,'” he said.

Andalusia cut into Straughn’s lead early in the third period when Alexis Horton drained a 3-pointer with 7:07 on the clock to put the Lady Tigers’ lead at 26-22.

After that one play, things started going down hill for the Lady Tigers.

On the other end, Straughn’s Brittany Driver was called for an offensive foul that started a flurry of fouls, some intentional, for the Lady Tigers.

Tyleshia Malcolm, who had a great night with 15 rebounds, put the game at 26-24 later in the third period on a put back.

“I came out to show how good we are,” Malcolm said. “I had confidence in my team.”

Andalusia’s Shi’Amber Townsend tied the game up off of a pass from Alison Daniels later on. Alectricia Barnes’ front-end free-throw gave the Lady Bulldogs a 27-26 lead with 3:47 left in the third.

Driver kept it close for Straughn on mid-range jumpers late in the same period.

The Lady Bulldogs finished the third period on a 10-3 run to lead 37-29 going into the fourth period.

The closest Straughn got within Andalusia’s lead was by eight points at 39-31 with 6:52 left in the game.

The Lady Bulldogs led 47-32 late in the fourth period to put the game away.

Late in the game, the fouls kept coming against SHS and coach Scott Kinsaul said the girls were trying to get Andalusia to the line to maybe get the ball back.

“What happened was that they shot 38 free throws; we shot 14,” Kinsaul said. “What happened was we had 25 fouls and they had 15.

“That’s not what lost us the game,” he said. “Andalusia has a very good ball club, and they came out in the second half and played like seniors should play.

“It’s just one of those things where we wish them luck Thursday night, and maybe we’ll get a chance to play them one more time in Mobile,” he said. “We just hope we can get to Mobile now.”

Horton led Andalusia with 26 points, eight rebounds and seven steals; Townsend chipped in 17 points and 13 rebounds; and Barnes had eight points.

Driver led Straughn with 12 points.

At the end of the game, Andalusia’s girls huddled together where Shellhouse gave a little pep talk, just like he did at half time.

“That huddle in the game was just to tell them I was proud of them for keeping their class the whole time and not getting upset with the intentional fouls,” he said.