Guntersville ends season for RHS girls basketball

The memorable and successful 2025-26 girls basketball season came to an end for the Russellville Golden Tigers at the AHSAA Class 5A Northwest Regional.

The Guntersville Wildcats defeated Russellville, 60-36 on Feb. 19 in the semifinal round of the regional held at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville.

The loss to the highly ranked Guntersville team did not take away from the progress made by this year’s RHS team, which finished the season with a 19-13 record under the leadership of head coach Jermaine Groce.

Guntersville got off to a fast start. The Wildcats built a 24-10 lead after the first quarter before RHS heated up a bit for the second quarter during which the Wildcats only outscored the Golden Tigers 16-13 to take a 40-23 lead into the halftime break.

Russellville opened the second half by outpacing GHS by a 10-4 total during the game’s third period to go into the final quarter trailing the Wildcats 44-33. Guntersville then showed its strength with a 16-3 fourth period helping the Wildcats finish off the victory.

Standout Russellville guard Ella Copeland led the Golden Tigers in scoring with 17 points. Russellville’s only senior, Laila Hill, finished with nine points versus Guntersville. Angeleah Smith had eight points and Samantha Wilson added two for RHS.

Guntersville’s Kenna’d Buie had 21 points during the contest and Addison Reese Hammond also scored in double figures with 15. Bristol Cook had eight points for GHS and Kyndel Gray scored seven. Sophie Porch, Mya Fennell and She’londa Wellington all scored three points each for the Wildcats.

Guntersville shot 40% from the field going 22 of 55 while Russellville shot 29% making 14 of 48 attempts.

The Wildcats made seven three-point shots while RHS made five. Guntersville outrebounded Russellville 38 to 31 and the Wildcats were active on defense collecting 11 steals.