It’s business as usual for the Hoover girls basketball team as the fourth-ranked Bucs held off a fiery response in the second half to earn a 58-46 victory over James Clemens in Wednesday’s Class 7A Northwest Regional girls semifinal at Wallace State-Hanceville’s Traditions Bank Arena.

The Bucs advance to their 10 straight regional final, the 28th in program history. Hoover has won nine state titles, five of the last seven, and are seeking a fourth straight 7A championship.

Hoover (25-7) got off to a blistering start, building an 8-2 lead midway through the opening period, and extended the advantage to 13-6 at the end of the quarter on a 3-pointer from Kaitlyn Gipson and a layup from Khloe Ford inside the final two minutes.

The Bucs quickly asserted their dominance to open the second quarter, Ford powering Hoover to a 22-10 lead on a personal 7-0 run, and held as much as a 17-point lead before James Clemens’ Karla Alejo knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 31-17 entering the halftime break.

The Jets managed to cut the lead below double digits early in the third period as Gabrielle Stigger went on her own 7-0 run, but the Bucs were able to outscore James Clemens down the stretch for a 47-36 lead entering the final period.

James Clemens (21-11) once more trimmed the advantage to less than 10 as Kimory Potter and Stigger combined on 4 straight points, but the Bucs hit a 7-0 run to seal the win.

By the numbers: The Bucs shot 55 percent for the game, 3-of-9 on 3-pointers and 11-of-13 at the foul line, and worked the glass for a plus-14 edge in rebounding. James Clemens was held 36.4 percent from the field, but forced eight steals off 16 turnovers to close the gap in the second half.

Stat sheet: Hoover – Ford led the Bucs with a game-high 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting, adding 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, and Gipson finished with 13 points, 2 rebounds and 7 assists. Aaliyah Blanchard had 8 points and 7 rebounds, followed by Jillian Williamson with 4 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, and Lee contributed 3 points and 4 rebounds. James Clemens – Stigger had a team-high 17 points, along with 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals, and Deyon Smith finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Alejo, Potter and Brooke McNeal had 5 points each while combining for 4 rebounds.

Coachspeak: “Hard-fought game. They (James Clemens) made the necessary adjustments and played a lot harder than we did in the second half. We got a win, but not satisfied with giving up that many points in the second half. We got a lot of work to do before Tuesday.” – Hoover’s Krystle Johnson

“Honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of their fight. After last year and how we played, they could have easily laid down. We’re excited to be back, but knew we would. Once we got Hoover, they got a bit more excited because we knew we were going to compete. We had our ups and downs and we don’t want to end our season like this, but we left everything out on that floor.” – James Clemens’ Monica Maxwell

They said it: “We played well in the first half, but started slacking off on defense in the second half. We were letting a lot of threes fly and not really boxing out. We played well but it was not the Hoover standard.” – Khloe Ford

“We’ve done a better job of communicating from the beginning of the season to now. We came out thinking we were already going to win when there was a whole other half to play. We could have done a better job of talking and being aggressive on the defensive side and not just trying to score offensively.” – Kaitlyn Gipson

“It was a good fight. Wish we could have come out the other side smiling and laughing, but this game was a life lesson, too. When you get knocked down, get back up.” – Gabrielle Stigger

What’s next? Hoover advances to face top-ranked Bob Jones in Tuesday’s Northwest Regional final at Wallace State’s Traditions Bank Arena.