PRICEVILLE — In another episode of The Little Team That Could, Danville High girls basketball played the right cards to take Falkville 57-35 in the Morgan County semifinal tournament game.

“That’s how you elevate your game right there,” Hawks coach Paul Wilson told his team after the win, applauding the team’s start-to-finish effort.

“You never let them good a good whiff of what it was like to be in that ball game,” he continued.

Wilson wasn’t only referring to the tournament game, Danville’s ninth-straight win. His sights for the Hawks are season-long.

“When you’re successful, it’s like a drug. You get hooked on it,” he said. “I want us hooked.”

Danville (20-7) jumped in the lead early, evening the score at seven with a 3-pointer from Erin Cleghorn to begin a nine-point run. Doing what they usually do, the Hawks used a full-court press to keep Falkville out of the lane, keeping the team at bay with a speedy offense.

“We try to pressure them out front, but we try not to let them get inside because we’re kind of small,” Gracie George said of her team, whose roster has no seniors and just three juniors.

Falkville (17-2) had trouble breaking past the 3-point line, with the exception of Sydney Moore, who led Blue Devils’ scorers with eight points, including two from the 3-point mark. Mackenzie Smith and Elizabeth Davis followed, adding six points each.

“They put a lot of ball pressure on us, and we just didn’t handle the it well,” Falkville coach Jeff Andrew said.

Danville’s Sydni Shelton, a 5-foot-11 sophomore, led all scorers with 15 points and two assists, followed by Jesse Oliver, who scored 12 points with four rebounds. At half, the Hawks led 35-19, helped by George, who added two from the 3-point line.

“I felt like we played well today and that we were all on, and that we knew what we had to do to win,” George said.

Falkville cut Danville’s lead to as little as 10 after the half, but couldn’t find enough momentum to move ahead.

“I want our kids to know what it’s like,” Wilson said of returning to the county finals, where the team has not competed since 2011. Today at 5:30 p.m., the Hawks will face Brewer in the final round.

“We want to win tomorrow night, but tomorrow night is not the period on our basketball success,” he said. “I’m just excited to be back and have an opportunity.”

Meredith Qualls can be reached at 256-340-2395 or mqualls@decaturdaily.com.

Morgan County schedule

All games are at Priceville High.

Friday’s results

Girls: Danville 57, Falkville 35

Boys: Danville 53, Brewer 51

Today’s games

Girls: Danville vs. Brewer, 5:30 p.m.

Boys: West Morgan vs. Danville, 7 p.m.