Mike Self FCT Sports Editor

By Staff
Ready To roll
MOULTON - The Russellville Golden Tigers didn't waste a single second celebrating Monday's 75-53 rout of Lawrence County in their regular season finale.
As soon as the final buzzer sounded–perhaps even a few moments before–the Golden Tigers had only one thing on their mind.
"This one meant something as far as wins and losses go, but Friday night is the big one," said Russellville coach Tony Seals, looking ahead to the Golden Tigers' first-round matchup with Alabama commitment Richard Hendrix and No. 6 Athens in the Class 5A, Area 16 tournament.
Russellville (12-8) was hoping to use Monday's game as a final tune-up for Athens, and the Golden Tigers looked sound in almost every phase as they won for the fifth time in six outings.
Aside from an uncharacteristic 16-for-35 performance from the foul line and a couple of defensive lapses, Seals had little to complain about.
"We shot the ball well," he said. "I was disappointed in our free throws, and I was disappointed that we didn't do a good job finding their shooter [Chris Pugh]. We talked before the game about how he could shoot the ball, but he still got too many open looks."
Pugh made four threes on the night and finished with 17 points.
"If that's [Athens guard Chad] Horton, he'll do the same thing," Seals said. "We know Hendrix is going to get his. We can't allow somebody else to go off, too. We'll have to correct that this week.
"I thought our defensive pressure was good tonight. We executed well, and our shot selection was great. Overall, I'm pleased with how we played."
Russellville played without injured guard Cory Trapp, but Justin Thorne stepped into the starting lineup and scored eight first-quarter points to help the Golden Tigers get out to a 20-10 lead.
Seals said he elected not to dress Trapp, who is nursing a pulled muscle in his lower leg, as a precautionary measure.
"It's feeling better," Trapp said after the game. "I should be able to play on Friday."
Lawrence County was still within nine midway through the second quarter before senior forward Jarrell Nesmith scored seven points in a 10-2 run by the Golden Tigers that gave them a 35-18 lead.
Nesmith continued to heat up in the third quarter, scoring 10 points as the Golden Tigers extended the lead to 53-32.
By that time, Russellville's thoughts had begun to turn to Friday's big challenge.
"We're going to have to play hard on defense to beat Athens," said Nesmith, who finished with 18 points to lead four players in double figures. "Everybody talks about Hendrix, Hendrix, Hendrix, but they've got other good players, too. If you just focus on stopping him, he has the ability to make all those other guys around him better. We have to stop them all."
Freshman point guard Siran Winston added 16 points for the Golden Tigers, and Geoffrey Nelson had 14. Thorne finished with 10.
Nesmith said the Golden Tigers are now playing their best basketball of the season.
"We've come a long way," he said. "We got a late start on basketball, so we're just now getting to where most teams were in December. We've had to catch up, but we're playing well right now."
Varsity girls
Lawrence County 54 Russellville 41
Kala Trapp led Russellville with nine points, and Quinetta Phillips added eight.
Sasha Willingham and Britnee Phillips each had six.
Shoals Christian 38 Vina 36
LeShe McGee led Vina with 10 points in Monday's loss at the Class 1A, Area 14 tourney.