Pleasant Home’s girls’ aggressive style of play led the Lady Eagles to a 55-49 over time and homecoming victory over Geneva County on Friday night.

The Lady Eagles needed this victory over the Lady Bulldogs because GCHS beat PHS 52-50 in the first area game of the season.

“We knew it was going to be an aggressive game,” PHS coach Kelley Garner said. “It was the same way there. It was a two-point ball game.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” she said.

At the end of regulation, the score was 44-44.

In over time, Pleasant Home got out to a quick 48-44 lead thanks to an inside pass from senior Erica Bullard to Abigail Kelley and Raven Wood’s pair of free throw shots.

Geneva County’s Amber Cannon added a lay up to cut the Lady Eagles’ lead to 48-46.

Woods then found Bullard for an easy basket and the Lady Eagles led 50-46 with more than 2-and-a-half minutes remaining in the extra period.

The Lady Eagles had a tough time finding an answer for Geneva County’s Paige Crutchfield and Lacey Stafford.

Stafford got a lay up with 2:05 on a drive to the basket to bring Pleasant Home’s lead back to two points at 50-48.

Pleasant Home leading scorer Ashley Williamson, who had 17 points, made the back-end of a pair of free throws to give PHS a 51-48 edge.

The Lady Eagles took a time out, and afterward, Geneva County scored its last point on free throw from Jasmine Smith with 53 seconds remaining.

With 19 seconds remaining, Pleasant Home drove to the basket, where the ball wouldn’t go in upon three attempts.

The final attempt came on a put back from Woods to give her team a 54-49 lead.

“She was determined,” Garner said about Woods. “You could see it in her eyes. That’s what we’ve been looking for. That was the exclamation point.”

Williamson made a free throw late to seal the victory for the Lady Eagles.

PHS improves to 7-4 overall, and 3-1 in Class 1A, Area 2. The Lady Eagles will visit Florala in an important area contest on Tuesday.

Pleasant Home’s Jade Self drained a 3-pointer as time expired in the third period to help the Lady Eagles take a 28-26 lead to the fourth period.

From there, the game went back and forth until the end.

At the 5:05 mark, Geneva County fouled Woods, and then received a technical foul.

The Lady Eagles made one of the four free-throw shots to tie the game 33-33.

Stafford made a drive to the basket to give the Lady Bulldogs a healthy 39-35 lead with 3:05 left in the second half.

Williamson got in the lane, was fouled made it a three-point play to cut into the Lady Bulldogs’ lead at 39-38.

Woods then got a steal made the lay up to give her team a 40-39 edge.

From there, the lead changed two times before Bullard got a rebound and was fouled. She made her two free throws to give her team a 44-41 lead with 30.7 seconds left in regulation.

On the other end, Stafford drained the game-tying 3-pointer with approximately 20 seconds left to send the game into over time after the Lady Eagles couldn’t do much afterward.

“It was a huge area win for us,” Garner said. “I’m just so proud of the girls.”

Woods chipped in 12 points; Kendra Bryan had seven points; and Bullard had six points for the Lady Eagles.

Stafford led the Lady Bulldogs with 20 points; and Crutchfield chipped in 18 points.

GCHS led 11-9 after the first period, and the game was tied at 16-all at half time.