An Alabama eagle may have flown high at the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Salt Lake City last Friday, but the same couldn’t be said at the Panther Den that same night.

Fueled by a 36-17 rebounding edge, No. 1 seed Spring Garden blew past No. 4 seed Appalachian 59-34 to advance to the championship game against No. 2 seed Ce-dar Bluff.

Mikie Garner led the Lady Pan-thers with 14 points, followed by Latrisha Abernathy and Dusty Gill with 12 each.

Vada Williamson was a force un-der the glass, as the junior center grabbed 10 rebounds.

Tara Philips scored 13 points for Appalachian, while Ashley Smith added 11.

Spring Garden head coach Ricky Austin noted that his team’s early board work was the major factor in the win.

“We out-rebounded [Appalachi-an] 20-8 at halftime, so we really hit the boards well. I think that our press forced them out of their routine early on; it seemed to disrupt their offensive flow.

“Dusty Gill played very well to-night; she really hustled and came through with a few steals on de-fense.

“As far as Cedar Bluff is concerned, I certainly don’t have to worry about the girls getting up for the game. It’s become a nice rivalry over the past few seasons, and both teams have the veterans who know how to pick their game up against both an area and county ri-val. We’ll have to play very well in order to put ourselves in a position to win.”

The Garden girls led almost wire to wire, as eight first quarter points from Abernathy sparked the hosts to a 15-6 lead.

The Lady Panthers broke away during the second frame, as Gill scored eight points and William-son and Garner six each to help give Spring Garden a 36-15 lead at the half.

Four points from Lauren Hud-son and two from Abernathy extended the Panther advantage to 42-21 at the end of the third period, and two free throws each from Brandi Barber and Candi Hairrell down the stretch secured the hosts’ championship berth.

SPRING GARDEN (59): Mikie Garner 14, Latrisha Abernathy 12, Dusty Gill 12, Lauren Hudson 7, Vada Williamson 6, Britney Parris 4, Brandi Barber 2, Candi Hairrell 2.

APPALACHIAN (34): Tara Phillips 13, Ashley Smith 11, Candi Hicks 5, Beth Phillips 2, Courtney Harwood 2, Ashley Gilliland 1