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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Briarwood Christian Lions saw their undefeated area record briefly under threat in the first quarter of their matchup against the Sylacauga Aggies, but just like their previous four area matchups, they emerged victorious.

Briarwood defeated Sylacauga 46-26 on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at Briarwood Christian School in a game that was previously scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 21 but postponed a day as a precaution for potential winter weather.

The win took the Lions to 5-0 in area play and tightened its grip on the No. 1 seed in Class 5A, Area 8. As a result, Briarwood will host the area tournament during the week of Feb. 3 if Central-Clay County loses to Shelby County on Thursday, Jan. 23.

However, the Lions offense took a moment to get going as the Aggies limited them to just four points in the first quarter, all of which were scored by Emma Kerley.

Sylacauga couldn’t get much going on the offensive end either and held just a 5-4 lead at the end of the first.

From there though, Briarwood flipped a switch and remained in control for much of the remainder of the game.

The Lions started getting 3-pointers to fall, including two deep shots from AT Baker and one from Kerley to go with a Clara Crawford field goal. Combined with another strong defensive quarter from Briarwood, the hosts outscored the Aggies 12-4 in the second quarter.

As a result, the Lions went into halftime with a 16-9 lead and continued building on that advantage in the second half.

Briarwood’s offense erupted in the third quarter for 17 points as Baker scored six points and Kerley had five points to get both Lions in double figures for the evening. Sasha Munikar joined the scoring party with her first 3-pointer of the night while Crawford scored again as well.

Briarwood’s defense allowed just two field goals during the third to outscore Sylacauga by 10 and increase the lead to 33-16 at the end of the third quarter.

With a commanding lead going into the fourth quarter, the Lions continued to control the game. Kerley and Crawford each hit multiple shots from the field to finish out the 20-point victory.

Kerley led Briarwood with 18 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Baker had 14 points and four assists, Crawford scored eight points and Munikar finished with five points.

The Lions improved to 17-9 overall and 5-0 in area play with the win. They will finish out area play on Friday, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. on the road at Central-Clay County.