An RHS and Tharptown player tie up for a loose ball. RHS won the game 46-38.

by Brannon King for the FCT

Senior night always brings out the best in high school basketball players.  When you couple that with the fact that a team from just down the road is coming to your gym as the opponent for the special occasion, then you can be sure your team will give it their best effort to come out victorious.  The Russellville Lady Golden Tigers did just that as they defeated the Tharptown Lady Wildcats, 46-38 Friday night in Russellville.

Another thing that you can almost always count on is that senior, Ashley Dunstan had a big night.  Dunstan scored 34 points in the win.  In the first quarter, she had 10 of the team’s 11 points.  She had 20 of the team’s 27 points at the half and followed that up by scoring 14 of Russellville’s 19 second-half points.  If that wasn’t enough, she added 12 rebounds and 6 blocks in the game.

Russellville knows that in post-season play, it will take all pieces of the team working well together to advance.  Another important senior, Abby Holcomb used her shooting skills and added 8 points in the win.  Aleshia Phillips pitched in with 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks while Peyton Hester (3) and Madison Hargett (1) also had points for the Lady Golden Tigers.

“I thought they all stepped up and played really well.  There’s a lot of emotion on senior night.  Some of them have been with me since eighth grade,” Russellville head coach, James Bostick said.  “They are a real good bunch of kids and they’ve worked hard so they are getting the reward now.  We get to host the area and that’s what it’s all about.”

Tharptown wasn’t able to ruin Russellville’s party on this night, but the Lady Wildcats played hard and had bright spots of their own.  Haley Malone led the team with 14 points, half of which came in the fourth quarter alone.  Jessica Wilson scored in double-figures as well with 13 points.  Ameliah Dawson (5), Savannah Hamilton (3), Kathy Alfaro (2) and Klaudia Harris (1) also scored for Tharptown.

The Lady Wildcats finished the night outscoring Russellville, 17-10 in the final quarter.  “One thing about my kids is that they never quit, they fight to the end,” Tharptown head coach, Chad Green said.

Tharptown will travel to Mars Hill on Tuesday night, February 3 and will take on Hatton in the 2A Area 16 tournament.

Russellville (12-13, 4-2) will host the 5A Area 14 tournament and will face Fairview on Wednesday, February 4 at 7:30.

“We know that they are going to gun the threes.  They’ll shoot about 40 threes and we hope we can stay out there and guard them enough and make enough twos to beat them,” Bostick said.  If the Lady Golden Tigers find a way, they would then host the winner between Lawrence County and West Point Friday night at 7 in the area tournament championship game.