By Brannon King / For the FCT

Girls

Russellville 42, Brooks 30

Class 5A, Area 16 regular season play got underway for RHS Dec. 5 at Brooks, and the Lady Golden Tigers picked up a win over the Lions.

The two teams were tied after the first quarter of action, but Russellville (2-7, 1-0) came alive on both ends of the floor in the second period, outscoring BHS 11-3 to take a 20-12 lead into the half. RHS finished strong, putting up 14 points in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Treyvia Pruitt led the Lady Golden Tigers to victory with 16 points. Madison Murray had nine points for RHS, and Autumn Logan finished with eight. Madison Hargett contributed five, while Fallyn Cox and Lexie Glass had two points apiece.

Lawrence County 44, Russellville 37

The Lady Golden Tigers played their second road area game of the week in Moulton Friday night. The two teams struggled to get things going offensively to start the game, and the Lady Red Devils led 9-2 early on.

Russellville (2-8, 1-1) came out of the locker room energized after the half and outscored LCHS 14-9 in the third period of play. However, the Lady Red Devils answered in the fourth by putting up 16 points to finish off the win.

Pruitt again had the highest point total for RHS, but this time she shared the honor with Murray. The duo had 12 points each for Russellville and were followed by Hargett with seven points and Logan with six.

Central-Florence 53, Russellville 46

The Lady Golden Tigers finally got to play a home game Saturday when they welcomed the Central Wildcats to the high school gym. Work continues at Russellville Middle School on the usual home floor for varsity games, causing RHS to shift the schedule.

Russellville doubled up Central 18-9 in the fourth quarter, but it just was not enough to get the win. Murray (18), Pruitt (11) and Logan (11) all scored in double figures for RHS (2-9, 1-1) in the loss. They were followed by Hargett (4) and Glass (2).

The team is scheduled to play another home game at the old gym with hopes that the RMS gym will be ready for action in January.

Boys

Brooks 60, Russellville 44

Russellville traveled to Killen Dec. 5 and began regular season Class 5A, Area 16 play against the Lions. Brooks used a strong third quarter, outscoring RHS 19-7, to pull away for the victory.

The two teams were close at the half, with BHS holding a 26-23 advantage.

Russellville (1-4, 0-1) got scoring from seven different players. Lucas McNutt and Devin Buckhalter both scored in double figures with 13 points each. They were followed by Chandler Dyas with seven and Caden Parker with four. Houston Kitterman pitched in with three, while Brooks Scott and Brock Malone had two points apiece.

Lawrence County 47, Russellville 44

Russellville dropped to 0-2 in area play with a close loss to the Red Devils Friday night in Moulton.

The two teams battled in a hotly-contested game, and both teams struggled at times making shots, but the Red Devils did just enough to get the win.

Russellville outscored LCHS in the third quarter and took a 30-26 lead into the final period but couldn’t hold on for the victory.

A Dyas basket with 10 seconds remaining in the game evened the score at 44-44, but LCHS grabbed the win in the final seconds with success at the free-throw line. A late turnover by Russellville was costly in their effort to win, and a long shot at the buzzer would have tied the game, but it failed to go in on a desperation try after a timeout.

Dyas led the Golden Tigers with 13 points and was followed by McNutt (11), Buckhalter (11), Malone (5), Bragwell (2) and Parker (2).

Russellville 76, Central-Florence 63

The Golden Tigers got back into the win column with a victory over the Wildcats at the Russellville High School gym. Eight different players scored in the game for RHS, and it was the highest point total so far this season for the Golden Tigers.

“You find out the character of yourself and your team when you go through adversity,” Russellville head coach Patrick Odom said. “For our guys in less than 24 hours to respond the way that they did with really our best stretch of basketball – I’m proud of them. I thought we had a lot of contributions from a lot of guys on our roster, which is what we need.”

Buckhalter had a big game with 24 points for RHS (2-5). McNutt (13), Jones (9), Kitterman (9), Bragwell (7), Parker (5), Scott (5) and Dyas (4) also scored in the win.