No. 9 Hillcrest-Evergreen rallied from an eight-point deficit after three quarters to knock off No. 7 Cottage Hill 69-61 in the Class 3A South Regional final Wednesday at Montgomery’s Garrett Coliseum.

The win sends the Jaguars back to the final four for the second straight time under coach Terean Pinkney.

“It feels really good,” he said. “It is all still unfinished for us. Our job is to win it this year, not just go back and be there.”

Hillcrest lost to Midfield in the semifinals a year ago. This year, the Jaguars (26-3) will play Plainview or Geraldine at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Those two teams will decide the Northeast Regional title on Thursday.

“I’m so proud of these guys,” Pinkney said. “I’m just ready to go to Birmingham.”

Hillcrest defeated Cottage Hill 72-71 in the regional final a year ago. Wednesday’s game was tightly contested as well.

The Warriors (20-11) led 20-16 after one quarter but trailed 31-29 at the half. A 26-16 third quarter gave Cottage Hill its largest lead of the game, 55-47, entering the fourth quarter.

“I told the guys just to keep playing hard,” Pinkney said of the deficit. “They were going to wear out because they hadn’t made any subs in the first half. We kind of figured they would wear down.”

Hillcrest-Evergreen opened the final quarter on a 10-2 run. Jermonte Stallworth’s pull-up jumper evened the score at 57-57 with 3:56 left. Clay Scofield’s two free throws gave Cottage Hill the lead back briefly at 59-57 before Stallworth’s 3 and Jordan Bonner’s free throw put Hillcrest up 61-59. Scofield scored on a layup to even the score at 61-61, but that turned out to be the Warriors’ final points.

MVP Trey Simpson’s putback gave his team the lead for good and sparked the 8-0 to finish the game. Simpson finished with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

“He makes a big difference with his athleticism and length,” Pinkney said of Simpson. “He’s so long. People don’t realize it, but he’s 6-foot-6 with a 6-10 wingspan. That makes it hard to defend in the post.”

Stallworth finished with 15 points. The Jaguars played 11 players, eight of which played double-figure minutes. Ten scored at least two points each.

“We just kept playing hard, kept doing what we had been doing, and it worked out in our favor,” Pinkney said of the comeback.

Cottage Hill’s Shadrick Toodle led all scorers with 24 points. Scofield finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists. Four of the Warriors’ starters played at least 30 minutes.

By the numbers: Hillcrest had an edge in points in the paint (36-26), points off turnovers (16-6), second-chance points (23-14) and bench points (18-2).