Russellville teams take on TD Classic
By Brannon King / For the FCT
The Russellville boys and girls basketball teams wrapped up their before-Christmas portion of holiday tournament play with games in the TimesDaily Classic.
The boys’ team fell 81-49 to a talented Florence squad Dec. 19 at Coffee Gym. The Falcons were led by Charlie Champagne’s 21 points and were considered the favorite to win the tournament.
Russellville (3-7) fell behind 10-0 to start the game and trailed 23-10 after one quarter of play. FHS cruised the rest of the way and held a 75-36 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Nine players scored for RHS, and they were led by Devin Buckhalter’s 12 points. Lucas McNutt finished with nine, while Brock Malone and Chandler Dyas had six each. Logan Jones and Caden Parker had five apiece, Calen Bragwell added three, Houston Kitterman had two points, and Brooks Scott added a free-throw.
“For us, this tournament and as we get ready for our after-Christmas tournament over at the Bracy, it’s all about preparation,” Russellville head coach Patrick Odom said. “I felt good about how we played last night. It was a tough matchup tonight, but I still like the direction that our team is going.”
The game against Florence came a night after Russellville soundly defeated Colbert Heights in game one of the TimesDaily tournament.
After a Christmas break, the Golden Tigers get back on the court with games in the Bracy Invitational at Deshler.
The Lady Golden Tigers finished with a 1-2 record in TimesDaily pool play at Mars Hill Bible School.
RHS dropped a game to the home team Panthers Dec. 19 by a 55-34 score. Mars Hill used a 22-5 third quarter to pull away for the win. Russellville was outscored 32-12 in the second half.
Madison Murray led RHS with 12 points. She was followed by Treyvia Pruitt (8), Autumn Logan (6), Krista Sikes (3), Madison Hargett (2), Jamie Hill (2) and AJ Taylor (1).
Russellville got to go into Christmas break on a happy note with a win over the Haleyville Lions by a 46-41 score Dec. 21 to finish up their portion of the TimesDaily Girls Classic.
Murray again led the way for Russellville (3-12) with 19 points. Teammates that also got into the scoring column included Hargett (11), Pruitt (9), Logan (5) and Hill (2).
RHS held the Lady Lions to five points in the fourth quarter and overcame a four-point halftime deficit to get the win.
“Madison Murray had shot the ball really well this week, and she had a really good tournament,” Russellville head coach Corey Thomaston said. “We were able to find her and rub her off some screens and got her some good open looks, and she got us going.
“We’re still struggling to find a second scorer consistently right now. When we do, it’s really going to open things up for us on the offensive end,” Thomaston added.
Russellville will look to start a winning streak in the Hatton Christmas Tournament.
