Russellville starts season with mixed results
The Lady Golden Tigers pulled a disappointing loss against the Fairview Aggies Dec. 1. Kallie Allen led the Golden Tigers with seven points. Aleshia Phillips (six), Megan Brockway (three), Patricia Borden (three), Madison Hargett (two), Tia Smith (two) and Carley Seal (two) also scored for Russellville.
By Brannon King for the FCT
The Russellville varsity boys and girls basketball teams split two home games against the Fairview Aggies Dec. 1.
In Patrick Odom’s first game as Russellville boys’ head coach, the Golden Tigers defeated the Aggies 54-28. Meanwhile, the girls dropped their game, 57-25. The matchups were also the teams’ first area games of the season.
In the boys’ game, the Golden Tigers started the contest with a fast-paced attack and jumped out to a 15-0 lead to begin the game. With 2:33 remaining in the first quarter, the Aggies finally got on the board to make it 15-2.
Russellville’s season was delayed and preseason practice time was limited because of the success of the football team this year.
“I’m proud of our guys. We didn’t necessarily play pretty at times, but the one thing I’ve been telling them to do is that I want to see great attitude and effort and unselfish play, and I thought we did that,” Odom said. “For us to come out and play as hard as we played, having no more time than we had, it’s a great way to start the season.”
Russellville led 33-14 at the half and 48-22 at the end of the third quarter to put away the Aggies.
Russellville’s Adonnis Bailey led all scorers with 18 points, including a third quarter dunk that electrified the crowd. Josh Seal added 13 points, while Avery Sears scored 12 in the win. Austin Stidham (five), Taylor Vincent (four) and Nate Franklin (two) also scored for the Golden Tigers. Austin Fletcher (13) led Fairview in scoring.
In the girls’ game, both teams struggled to get things going early on as Russellville held a slim 5-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. Fairview got things going their way in the second and third quarters, outscoring Russellville 48-14 in the two periods combined. The Golden Tigers managed to finish the game by outscoring the Aggies 6-5 in the fourth quarter.
Kallie Allen led the Golden Tigers with seven points. Aleshia Phillips (six), Megan Brockway (three), Patricia Borden (three), Madison Hargett (two), Tia Smith (two) and Carley Seal (two) also scored for Russellville.
Elizabeth Garrison (15) and Taylor Yeager (12) scored in double figures for Fairview.
The West Point Warriors put the hurt on the Golden Tigers Dec. 4, resulting in a 69-62 loss for the boys. Six Golden Tigers scored in the game. Adonnis Bailey led the way with 19 points, while Josh Seal also scored in double figures with 12. Avery Sears (nine), Devin Buckhalter (eight), Austin Stidham (eight) and Taylor Vincent (six) also scored for Russellville.
Golden Tigers versus West Point Warriors
For the second time this season, the Russellville varsity basketball teams split a couple of games, but this time the roles were reversed Dec. 4 when the West Point Warriors came to town to take on the Golden Tigers.
The girls jumped out to a big lead and won 66-45 while the boys lost 69-62 in Class 5A Area 14 action.
First-year head coach Brooke Long’s girls took control of the game that saw physical play in the early stages and went on to put away the Warriors in the contest that featured a large number of fouls on both teams.
“We’re very excited to get some momentum; we’ve just got to stay consistent,” Long said. “Sometimes we struggle to keep the momentum that we’ve got and the intensity, and I want to make sure that when we sub and things happen and when we get tired, we still keep that same intensity the whole game.”
Russellville led 20-6 at the end of the first quarter. West Point rallied back in the second to outscore the Golden Tigers 19-12 in the second period. In the second half, Russellville bettered West Point 34-20 to claim the victory.
The Golden Tigers used a balanced team effort in the scoring column. Kallie Allen led all scorers with 20 points. Madison Murray (14) and Patricia Borden (13) also scored in double figures for Russellville. Madison Hargett (three), Tristin Thomas (three), Aleshia Phillips (three), Carley Seal (three), Caroline Jackson (two), Devin Jones (two), Layne Boyd (two) and Kamaree Davis (one) all scored points for the Golden Tigers. Jeri Beasley had the most points for West Point with ten.
In the boys’ game, West Point jumped out to a 20-9 lead and held off Russellville’s second half charge to claim the win. The Golden Tigers outscored the Warriors 39-32 in the second half and, with just over a minute to go in the game, cut the lead to only three points but just couldn’t get over the hump.
“We dug too big of a hole early,” Russellville head coach Patrick Odom said. “When it comes down to it, it was amazing that we had an opportunity at the end. It was a credit to how hard our guys played, but it looked like they had a team that has played ten games, and we’ve played two.”
“They just out-executed us. We didn’t fundamentally play very well on the defensive end,” Odom added. “We’re still learning how to play better team offense, but for as poor as I felt we played, we had an opportunity to win, which tells us that we’re giving ourselves an opportunity with the effort; now we’ve just got to clean up the basketball part.”
Six Golden Tigers scored in the game. Adonnis Bailey led the way with 19 points, while Josh Seal also scored in double figures with 12. Avery Sears (nine), Devin Buckhalter (eight), Austin Stidham (eight) and Taylor Vincent (six) also scored for Russellville.
