By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor 

ALABASTER – The Evangel Lightning are starting to click at the right time and have now won four consecutive games after taking down county foe Hope Christian as well as the Wiregrass Kings in back-to-back nights to set the seeding for the ACSC playoffs.

Having lost by 12 to Wiregrass earlier this season, the Lightning had to take down the Kings by at least 13 points to earn the two seed heading to the state tournament, which will take place at Samford University starting Friday, Feb. 15.

Evangel did just that. After leading by 12 at the halftime break and at the end of the third quarter, the Lightning flipped into a new gear in the fourth quarter thanks to strong free throw shooting and pulled away for a dominant 51-33 to earn the two seed.

Coming off a dominant 88-53 victory over Hope the night before, marking the Lightning’s most points scored this season, you know they would come out with confidence in this one, specifically on the offensive end of the floor.

So despite losing to Wiregrass back in December, Evangel went into the game thinking it was the better team and played like it in the first half to earn that 27-15 advantage at the half.

Coming out of the halftime break, however, the Lightning’s offense all of a sudden disappeared, but it was more due to the pace and style of the game.

Both teams were playing with a new defensive effort, which made offense to come by for each having exerted so much energy on the opposite end of the floor.

While Evangel was only able to post five points in the third, thanks to the new change of pace, the Lightning also limited the Kings to just five points in the period to maintain their 12-point lead heading to the final quarter up 32-20.

After the game, head coach Hagan Joiner made sure to point out that in that specific quarter, his team played its best defensive quarter of the game, and it came in a big moment with the offense struggling.

In the fourth quarter, despite the loss of senior Westin Akin due to fouling out very early in the period, but thanks to strong play from Hudson Hobbs and Tyler Henderson, the Lightning were able to put together a strong quarter.

Hobbs ended up going 6-6 from the free throw line in the quarter and made all 12 of his free throws in the game to make a key difference in the final score and post 21 points by himself.

Henderson also closed out an impressive game where he put together a double-double performance featuring 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Evangel went on to outscore Wiregrass 19-13 in the quarter to pull away for the 18-point victory.

It was a special win on senior night that Joiner talked about after the game.

“We were 0-3 against that team dating back to last year, so it was special to send these seniors out in their last home game with a win they’ll remember,” he said. “All four seniors have made a positive impact on this program in their own way.”

Those four seniors are Noah Harwell, Justin Jett, Will Mason and Akin.

Now those seniors and this Evangel team will get one more crack at Wiregrass in the semis hoping to turn what was a three-game losing streak into a two-game winning streak to earn a spot in the championship game.