Golden Tigers suffer hard fall to Indians
By Brannon King for the FCT
The Russellville Golden Tigers traveled to Leighton Jan. 26 to face an old rival, and the Colbert County Indians won the boys’ and girls’ games on the hardwood. Colbert County took the boys’ game 80-72 while the Lady Golden Tigers fell 49-27.
The RHS boys fell behind early and struggled on the defensive end during the first two quarters before coming out with good energy in the second half of the game that saw emotions run high. Russellville (15-5) went on a 9-0 run to start the third quarter after ending the first half down by ten points. Bailey Motes put RHS up 56-55 with just under a minute to go in the third period when he scored a basket, but the Indians would not give in to the pressure.
Russellville Head Coach Patrick Odom said he wasn’t overly surprised to see his team start slow but was still proud of his group’s effort to fight back in the game. “I told our coaches yesterday in practice that I almost expected a little flatness from us,” Odom said after the contest. “We’ve played so many high stakes area games, and we’ve had all that at stake it seemed like every time we’ve taken the floor lately. Our guys have been so ready to play those games, it was almost natural for us to maybe lose a little edge, and you saw that in the first half.
“I thought we still played hard, but defensively, we were just terrible in the first half. What I love about our kids is that we came back and we responded. I believe in our guys, and we’re definitely headed to where we need to go.”
Motes led all scorers in the game with 28 points. Lucas McNutt and Devin Buckhalter also scored in double figures with 13 points each for RHS. They were followed by Judd Ward (7), Taylor Vincent (4), Caden Parker (4) and Austin Stidham (3).
The Lady Golden Tigers were short-handed due to injuries, and only seven players were available for the game.
Russellville (5-18) fell behind early and trailed at the end of the first quarter, 18-0. RHS played better the rest of the way, and the Lady Golden Tigers were outscored by only five in the second period before playing to a 7-7 score in the third and outscoring CCHS 13-12 in the fourth quarter.
“We knew it was going to be a tough challenge,” Russellville Head Coach Corey Thomaston said. “I thought our girls settled down about halfway through the second quarter and played well, but by that point the game was out of reach. I really appreciate the effort and how they fought all the way to the final buzzer. We were able to hit some shots late in the game, and I would like to see us carry that over into the first part of the game coming next week.”
Krista Sikes and AJ Taylor led Russellville in scoring with six points apiece. They were followed by Treyvia Pruitt (5), Madison Murray (4), KK Harvey (3), Lexie Glass (2) and Autumn Logan (1).
