Red Bay teams take on Wildcats
By Bart Moss / For the FCT
Varsity Girls
The Red Bay Lady Tigers have picked up their first win of the Sonya Marks era over the Tharptown Wildcats, 45-35.
“We’ve been in several close games, and it is a relief to get that first win,” said the Tigers’ first-year coach. “These girls have worked really hard. We have four first-year starters, so it is taking them some time to get accustomed to the varsity game. We’ve shown a lot of improvement. It’s going to take some time to get where we want to be, but I know they are happy to get the win.”
Red Bay jumped out to an 11-4 first quarter lead. Tharptown fought back, outscoring the Tigers 17-14 in the second quarter to cut Red Bay’s lead to 25-21 at halftime. Red Bay extended their lead to 37-28 at the end of the third quarter.
Reagan Kuykendall and Macy Faulkner led Red Bay with 12 points and 10 points, respectively. Savannah Shaw and Carlie Lindley had seven points each. Mallori Miller finished with six points and Destiny McCollister with four points.
Aly Vandiver led Tharptown with nine points. Brooke Daily had eight points, Gracie Montgomery seven points, Adrianna Borden six points, Linda Bahena three points and Ameliah Dawson two points.
Another Wildcat game recently did not go as well for Red Bay. The Tiger girls dropped a close game to Central, 56-50. They held a three-point lead at halftime but couldn’t hang on, losing to the Central Wildcats by six points.
Red Bay and Central were tied at 13-13 at the end of the first quarter, but the Tigers were able to take a 29-26 lead at halftime.
Red Bay extended the lead to 38-32 by the end of the third quarter. Central’s aggressive play put them at the free throw line several times in the fourth quarter and allowed them to outscore the Tigers 24-12 in the fourth quarter to get the come-from-behind win.
Kuykendall led Red Bay with 17 points. Faulkner and Lindley scored 11 points each. Miller finished with six points, Shaw with four points, and Brooke Shewbart scored one point.
Varsity Boys
The Red Bay Tigers had to fight off the pesky Tharptown Wildcats to get a 52-42 win last week.
Red Bay doubled up the Wildcats in the first quarter, taking a 14-7 lead. The two teams fought to a draw in the second quarter, 13-13 to give Red Bay a 27-20 halftime lead.
Tharptown battled back in the third quarter, outscoring Red Bay 17-12 to cut the Tigers’ lead to 39-37.
Tharptown’s Levi McCormack tied the game on the first basket of the fourth quarter, but two big baskets by Red Bay’s Gath Weatherford put the Tigers back on top for good.
Weatherford led Red Bay with 18 points. Colton Corum followed with 13 points. Clay Allison scored nine points, Braden Ray seven points and Peyton Green five points.
McCormack led Tharptown with 20 points. Cole Daniel followed with 11 points. Edward Lopez (5), Winston Nolen (4) and Misael Saldana (2) also scored for Tharptown.
The Tiger boys picked up another close win over Wildcats when Weatherford and Allison combined to score 42 points to help the Red Bay Tigers get past Central, 62-60.
Central led Red Bay by one at the end of the first quarter, 16-15. Red Bay tied the game at halftime, 33-33. The Tigers gained the lead at the end of the third quarter, 43-39. Central tried to make a late run, but the Tigers were almost perfect from the free throw line to fend off the Wildcats.
Red Bay made 18 of 24 free throws in the game.
Weatherford and Allison scored 21 points each. Weatherford was perfect from the free throw line, nine for nine.
Ray scored 13 points. Corum finished with five points, and Green scord two points.
B-Varsity Boys
The Red Bay Tigers defeated the Tharptown Wildcats 35-29 in the B-Varsity Boys game. Alex Kennedy led Red Bay with 10 points. Colton Simmons led Tharptown with 16 points.
The boys squeaked out a one-point win over the Central Wildcats, 42-41. Lane Shewbart and Kennedy led Red Bay with 15 points and 14 points respectively.
