BAY MINETTE, Alabama – The Baldwin County Lady Tigers and Robertsdale Lady Golden Bears advanced to the 6A Area 3 championship game with wins in the semifinal round on Thursday in Bay Minette.

BCHS (13-9) will host Robertsdale (14-12) on Monday in the area championship game at 5 p.m. The Lady Tigers defeated Robertsdale twice in the regular season. Win or lose on Monday both teams will advance to the first round of the state playoffs on Thursday.

“Whether we win or lose Monday we are in the playoffs, and that’s a great accomplishment for these girls,” Robertsdale head coach Paul Marsh said. “I think they won two games last year, so they have come a long way.”

The Lady Tigers beat Foley 63-41 in the nightcap on Thursday to advance to the final. BCHS jumped out to a 10-0 lead early in the game and led 16-6 after one period. The Tigers extended the lead to 34-18 by the half.

“We had not played a game in like a week so I was a little nervous about where we would be mentally,” BCHS head coach Robert Wills said. “But they came out and showed me they were ready to play.”

Latia Pullum led BCHS with a game-high 27 points and Darnisha Maye added 11 in the win.

“(Pullum) has been doing a good job the last month and a half putting the ball in the bucket,” Wills said. “We rely on her to set the tone. My post, Darnisha, had a pretty good game as well.”

Brittney Davis finished with 14 points and Payton Kiser had nine for Foley.

Robertsdale advanced with a 38-33 win over Daphne in the first game on Thursday. The teams were tied at 18 at the half and Daphne led 28-25 after three periods. The Bears opened the fourth period on a 9-0 run and did not let Daphne score until the 3:15 mark, allowing only five Lady Trojan points in the fourth.

“I have been stressing handling the ball well at the end of games all year, and some games we did and some we didn’t,” Marsh said. “It was very nice to see them handle the ball at the end of the game tonight.”

Austin Richardson led all scorers with 13 points and Maddy Petite had 12 in the win.

“Maddy is a big threat for us, when she is on the post she is hard to stop,” Marsh said. “Our offense is based around her and Austin. We run a lot of stuff at her and try to get her the ball. At first she was shooting from outside, which she can do too, but we would rather have her in the post. When we got her back in the post she helped us come back. She and Austin both played the fourth quarter with four fouls, so I was extremely proud of them being able to play disciplined the whole fourth quarter.”

Brinesha Mason led Daphne with 12 points in the loss.