Tigers on top

By Staff
Mike Self FCT Sports Editor
RED BAY - The Red Bay girls were a little slow out of the starting blocks on Saturday, but once they hit full stride there was no catching them.
After going nearly the first four minutes of the game without a field goal, the Lady Tigers ran off 15 unanswered points and never looked back en route to defeating county rival Belgreen 59-39 in the championship game of the Class 2A, Area 16 tournament.
Red Bay (19-7) won for the 12th time in 14 games and earned the right to host No. 6 Tanner (22-4) on Thursday in the sub-region round. A win tomorrow will send the Lady Tigers back to the Northwest Regional Tournament in Hanceville after a one-year hiatus.
"That definitely motivates us," said junior guard Lauren Tucker, who scored 10 of her game-high 16 points in Red Bay's early 15-0 run. "A lot of us were ninth-graders on the team that went all the way to the state championship game [in 2003], and then we didn't even make it to Wallace last year. So we've experienced it both ways. We want to make it back to Wallace this year and play for another championship."
Red Bay's season ended last year with a sub-regional loss to Tanner.
"We were really disappointed with the way last year ended," said senior center Kendra Sparks, who finished with 12 points. "It motivates us to do better this year and make it back to the regional."
Sparks admitted the Lady Tigers might have been "a little too keyed up" in the early going, and they trailed 4-1 midway through the first quarter.
A putback by Chelsea McWilliams gave Red Bay its first field goal, and the proverbial floodgates opened wide.
Tucker scored 10 straight points by herself, making a shot in the lane, back-to-back three-pointers and a pair of free throws to give Red Bay a 13-4 lead.
Alyssa Horton capped the run with a three-pointer to make it 16-4 with 1:10 left in the first quarter, and Red Bay's slow start seemed like a distant memory.
"It just takes us a while to get going sometimes," said Tucker, who made all five of her first-half field goal attempts and finished the night 6-for-8. "We were a little nervous at first. Once we relaxed, we were able to get some momentum going."
As usual, pressure defense was the catalyst behind Red Bay's surge.
"Our defense is what jumpstarted us," coach Donnie Roberts said. "We got off to a slow start, but we picked up our pressure a little bit and started getting in the passing lanes."
The Lady Tigers had seven steals in the first half and scored 14 points off 11 turnovers by Belgreen (17-7). Red Bay also finished the night with a 40-23 edge on the boards.
"We always put a big emphasis on rebounding," Roberts said. "Sometimes we do a good job of it, and sometimes we don't. Tonight, I thought we did a good job blocking out."
Mandy Lowery also gave Red Bay a big lift, scoring 14 points off the bench. Sparks had six rebounds to go along with her 12 points, and Horton finished with seven points and three steals.
Red Bay shot 52 percent (22-for-42) from the floor on the night.
Belgreen threatened to rally midway through the second quarter, cutting the lead to 10 on a three-pointer by Casey Guinn.
Lowery responded with six points to ignite an 11-2 run by Red Bay.
Mallory Garrison drained a three-pointer, and Tucker stole the inbounds pass and made a layup to push the lead to 34-15 with 1:20 left in the first half.
Belgreen sliced the lead to 13 on another trey by Guinn early in the third quarter, but Lowery scored four straight points as part of a 10-4 spurt by Red Bay that stretched the lead back out to 48-29.
Mary Billingham led Belgreen with 11 points, and Guinn added 10. Amanda Hester finished with eight.
The Lady Bulldogs will travel to face Area 15 champion Mars Hill on Thursday in the sub-region round.
In other local action:
Hartselle 59 Russellville 51
Russellville led by four before being out-scored 22-10 by No. 9 Hartselle in the fourth quarter of Saturday's Class 5A, Area 16 championship game.
Jordan Dollar, one of four starters to foul out for Russellville (10-16) in the fourth quarter, finished with 18 points.
Lyndi Brown added 12 points, and Meghan Quillen had six. Kala Trapp and Quinetta Phillips each finished with five.
Brown, Trapp and Quillen also fouled out.
Lauren Drake and Anna Reeves each had 15 points to lead Hartselle (19-6).
Russellville will travel to face No. 2 J.O. Johnson (25-2) in Thursday's sub-region round.