Red Bay girls remain perfect in area play

By Staff
Mike Self FCT Sports Editor
BELGREEN - Lauren Tucker and Mandy Lowery each finished with 11 points on Tuesday as Red Bay dominated the second and third quarters en route to a 61-29 victory over Belgreen.
The Lady Tigers (8-5) snapped their two-game losing skid and improved to 4-0 in Class 2A, Area 16.
"That's really important to us, because we want to be able to host the area tournament," said junior guard Alyssa Horton, who added 10 points for Red Bay. "That's what we're shooting for."
Horton nailed a pair of three-pointers in the second quarter as the Lady Tigers out-scored their county rivals 19-6 to blow open a close game.
Lowery's layup just before the buzzer gave Red Bay a 31-15 lead at the half.
The Lady Tigers were even more dominant in the third quarter, out-scoring Belgreen 21-4.
Tucker had seven points during a 17-0 run that gave Red Bay a 50-17 lead late in the third quarter.
Belgreen (7-4, 4-3) trailed just 12-9 after one quarter, thanks in large part to six points from Candace Allen.
Kendra Sparks had three baskets as Red Bay quickly opened a 10-5 lead, but back-to-back jumpers by Allen trimmed the lead to one.
A basket by Lowery with 15 seconds left gave the Lady Tigers a three-point lead at the end of one.
"We got off to a slow start in the first quarter," Red Bay coach Donnie Roberts said. "I'm not really sure what caused it. We just looked a little sluggish and got out of position on defense a few times.
"We didn't really do a whole lot different in the second quarter. We didn't change much. We just started executing better."
A couple of minor adjustments the Lady Tigers did make paid off.
"We had been running our triangle offense, which is our primary offense," Horton said. "In the second quarter, we wanted to give them a new look on offense, so we started running our rotation offense. It worked pretty well.
"On defense, we went away from our trap a little bit and just stayed with our man. Coach Roberts told us at halftime we were going to have to hustle. We really pushed ourselves in the second half."
Kendra Sparks finished with eight points for Red Bay, and Kalie Sparks added six. Chelsea McWilliams had four.
Allen led Belgreen with six points. Casey Guinn, Kala Dill and Amanda Hester each added four.
The Lady Tigers will put their unblemished area record on the line tonight against Cherokee.
Belgreen also returns to area action tonight with a trip to face Colbert Heights.
In other local girls action on Tuesday:
Athens 82 Russellville 75, 2 OT
Athens made game-tying shots at the end of regulation and the first overtime before pulling away for the win.
Quinetta Phillips and Jordan Dollar each had 14 points to lead five players in double figures for Russellville (7-5, 0-1 Class 2A, Area 16). Kala Trapp added 13 points, and Meghan Quillen had 12. Britnee Phillips added 10.
Keon Shaveders led Athens (10-6) with 29 points.