Russellville teams fall to Deshler
By Brannon King / For the FCT
Boys
Deshler 80, Russellville 65
The Golden Tigers and Deshler matched up in a fast-paced game at the RHS gym Dec. 12. The bleachers were packed and the fans were treated to an exciting game with plenty of action.
Deshler jumped out to a 24-20 led at the end of the first quarter, but Russellville was hot from beyond the three-point line early on. The Golden Tigers were successful on four three-pointers in the opening period to keep the game close.
DHS outscored Russellville by four points in the second quarter to take a 42-34 lead into the half. Russellville pulled to within five points with 2:30 left in the game but were held scoreless for the remainder of the contest and dropped to 2-6 on the season.
“They have so many weapons that can get you in so many ways,” Russellville head coach Patrick Odom said of Deshler. “They made some runs, we answered runs, and they were able to make the last one. “We’ve got to clean some things up, but I’m seeing our guys starting to gel,” Odom added.
Chandler Dyas led Russellville with 17 points in the game. Devin Buckhalter and Houston Kitterman also scored in double figures with 12 points each. Lucas McNutt and Caden Parker pitched in with nine apiece, and they were followed by Calen Bragwell with four.
Russellville 80, Colbert Heights 53
RHS opened the TimesDaily Classic with a win at Florence High School against the Wildcats of Colbert Heights Monday night.
The Golden Tigers scored their highest point total in a game so far this season. With the win, they improved to 3-6 on the season.
Eight Golden Tigers scored in the game, and all 10 players got playing time in the win. McNutt led the way to victory with 22 points. Buckhalter was next with 20, and Dyas scored 13. They were followed by Logan Jones (6), Parker (6), Brooks Scott (6), Brock Malone (4) and Bragwell (3). Kitterman and Danny Hernandez also got playing time on the court.
Russellville used a strong second quarter to pull away from the Wildcats, taking a 42-23 lead into the halftime break.
Girls
Deshler 71, Russellville 37
The top-ranked in Class 4A Tigers of Deshler were just too much for the Russellville girls team to handle.
Deshler jumped out to a 21-5 first quarter lead and never looked back. Russellville managed to close the gap a bit in the second period, only being outscored by five points, but RHS trailed 42-21 at the half.
Top scorer for Russellville was Treyvia Pruitt with nine. She was followed by AJ Taylor and Autumn Logan with seven points each. Madison Murray (5), Lexie Glass (5) and Madison Hargett (4) also scored for RHS.
“We’ve played a lot of games and a lot of games on the road. It’s been a challenging schedule for us early on,” Russellville head coach Corey Thomaston said. “We’ve been right there in a lot of games. We’ve lost seven games by eight points or less, so we’re at that point where we’ve got to learn how to finish games and learn how to win games and play with the lead.”
Wilson 68, Russellville 44
A scoreless first quarter set the stage for a tough evening as the Lady Golden Tigers dropped their first game in the TimesDaily Girls Classic at Mars Hill Bible School Tuesday.
The Lady Warriors outscored RHS 17-0 in the opening period and held Russellville (2-11) to 14 first-half points.
A bright spot for the Lady Golden Tigers was the performance of Murray. She scored a career-high 25 points in the game.
Murray was followed in scoring for Russellville by Pruitt (7), Hill (4), Hargett (3), Xaria Hollingsworth (2), Logan (2) and Krista Sikes (1).
