Riley Northway recorded a double-double, Brook Childers knocked down a pair of clutch free throws and Brewer High overcame a furious Austin rally to hold on for a 57-53 win in the finals of the Danville Thanksgiving Tournament in high school basketball action Friday night.

After falling behind 35-25 at the half, Austin rallied to take the lead with two minutes to play, but Northway and Childers proved to be too much for the Black Bears, who could not hold the lead in the game’s final minute.

With 30 seconds left, Childers sank a pair of free throws, her only two points of the game, to give Brewer a 3-point that the Patriots would not relinquish.

“They really opened the game up in the first half,” Austin coach Bruce Hamilton said. “We were able to make a run at them in the third and again in the fourth, but they were able to bring it back up and close it out. They have a very experienced team with a lot of basketball savvy.”

Northway finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Patriots (6-0), while Rheagan Harvel added nine points, five rebounds and six assists.

Tyra Johnson had 14 points for the Black Bears (3-1), while Maegan Hamilton added 12 points. Takisha Jordan had 11 points.

“Overall, I’m very pleased,” Hamilton said of his teams performance. “I thought we played hard, and at this point in the season nothing but good comes from playing teams like this. We’ve got games against Bob Jones and Sparkman coming up and those teams demand your best. These games allow you to get better in a hurry, and that really helps when area play and the postseason comes around.”

Brewer 56, Lawrence County 44: Two of the state’s top Class 5A teams paired off in the Danville semifinals, with Brewer leading the whole way. The Lady Patriots led 53-30 with about three minutes to play before unloading their bench.

Northway led Brewer with 17 points, while freshman Childers added eight.

Rachel Childress and Whitney Woodard each scored 13 for Lawrence County, with both scoring 10 in the second half.

In addition to the win, Brewer coach Ricky Allen said his team got something else it needed — time on the court. With much of the roster participating in Brewer’s run to the volleyball state tournament, Allen hasn’t had his team together for long this season, even though seven players return from last year’s squad.

“With a tournament like this, we need to play as much as we can for conditioning,” he said. “We need to run as much as we can to get in game shape. Other than that, we just want to progress as much as we can.”

This game gave a small preview of what could happen down the road. If these two teams win their way to the Class 5A Final Four, this would be a potential semifinal matchup.

“Lawrence County is always solid,” Allen said. “They defend well. Childress is a good player. They have several others who are good players, too. They’ve got the tools to do well.”

Austin 58, Lexington 51: Johnson, a freshman poured in 19 points to pace three Lady Black Bears in double-digit scoring. Jordan and Katie Speegle each had 14 in the win.

Addie McGee scored 14 points and Haven Albright added nine for Lexington.

Austin trailed 26-24 at the half.

Hatton 39, West Morgan 34: Sydney Terry canned 10 points and Boston Claborn added eight as the Lady Hornets raced past West Morgan in the Danville tournament.

West Morgan (1-5) got a dozen points from Hallie Cunningham and eight from Krystyn Chambers.

Boys basketball

West Morgan 87, Lawrence County 67: Brandon Roberts totaled 48 points to carry the Rebels in the Priceville Marx Optical Tournament on Friday. Peyton Mullican added 12.

Dustin Morgan had seven points and 11 rebounds for the winners.

For Lawrence County, Jesse Childress had 16 and Donovan Wheeler added 10.

West Morgan 77, Brindlee Mountain 37: Roberts scored 30 and Morgan had 16 points for the Rebels (6-0).

Stephen Clark paced Brindlee Mountain with 10 points.

Priceville 56, Brindlee Mountain 21: Marc McLendon had a game-high 18 points for the Bulldogs in an early round-robin game.

Kaleb Barker had 11 points and four assists for Priceville, while Luke Mason added eight points, six rebounds and four assists.

West Limestone 64, Priceville 56: Kyle Casteel had 19 points as West Limestone closed out the Marx Optical tournament with a win.

Casteel had 10 points for the Wildcats, who overcame a 25-20 halftime deficit to get the win. Corey Appleton added 11 points.

Mason had 25 points and five rebounds in the loss for Priceville (3-3), while Barker and Chandler Livingston added eight points each.