Golden Tigers face Indians, Wildcats
By Brannon King / For the FCT
The Russellville varsity basketball teams recently got back on the court after battling the winter weather and had games at East Limestone and Central-Florence.
Regular season Class 5A, Area 16 action wrapped up for the Golden Tigers Jan. 19 with a trip to Athens to take on the East Limestone Indians. The RHS boys came away with a 62-55 win, led by Chandler Dyas. The freshman had a team-high 15 points to help Russellville (5-13, 1-5) to their first area victory of the season.
The loss by the Indians paved the way for Brooks to take the area crown, and the Lions will host Russellville in the first round of the postseason tourney coming up in early February.
Russellville used a strong second quarter to take a 30-26 lead into the half and outscored the Indians by three points in the fourth period to get the win. Lucas McNutt and Devin Buckhalter each had 13 points in the game for RHS. Caden Parker scored eight, while Calen Bragwell, Logan Jones and Brock Malone all had four points each. Brooks Scott rounded out the point-scoring for RHS with one.
Earlier that evening at East, the Russellville girls dropped their game against the Lady Indians by a 52-42 final score.
For the second time this season against Russellville, Jirah Rogers of East Limestone totaled the most points in the game. This time, the freshman tallied 23 for the talented ELHS team. Russellville (8-15, 3-3) tried to rally late in the game and almost pulled off a monumental comeback, but the try fell short at the end.
Madison Murray led Russellville with 19 points, while Treyvia Pruitt also scored in double-figures with 10. Madison Hargett scored seven for RHS, and teammates Fallyn Cox and AJ Taylor had three points apiece.
The girls returned to the court Monday night and struggled offensively against the Central-Florence Wildcats. The Lady Golden Tigers lost 47-29, playing without guard Treyvia Pruitt, who had to miss the game because of sickness.
Central outscored Russellville 17-5 in the second quarter and held a 26-13 lead at the half. Turnovers were an issue for RHS, as Central picked up the defense and Russellville played without a starter in Pruitt. Foul trouble cut into playing time for another key contributor, Hargett.
“I thought we came out pretty strong early on,” Russellville head coach Corey Thomaston said. “We got some good looks in our half-court set and hit a few shots, but they brought a half-court trap to us, and it was after Madison Hargett had gotten into foul trouble. We really didn’t have that floor general out there to settle us in.
“We picked up our pace a little bit more than we were comfortable with in the half-court set, and some turnovers led to some easy buckets for them.”
Murray led the team with nine points. She was followed by Lexie Glass, who had six for the Lady Golden Tigers. Taylor scored four, and teammates Cox and Krista Sikes had three points each. Hargett and Autumn Logan scored two apiece for RHS.
In the boys’ game, Buckhalter scored 29 points, but Central came away with a 67-61 win over Russellville. The Wildcats used hot shooting from the outside to jump out to a quick lead.
Russellville trailed by 10 at the half, and the Golden Tigers were down 55-42 going into the final quarter before outscoring the Wildcats by seven in the final period.
“(Central-Florence) came out and were absolutely on fire probably the first four minutes of the game, and that really turned out to be the difference,” Russellville head coach Patrick Odom said. “I thought our guys again were fighting hard, and we were giving ourselves a chance down the stretch, but sometimes basketball is a crazy game that comes down to make and miss.
“It wasn’t a lack of good looks tonight; we just didn’t shoot it well enough to get a win on the road.”
McNutt scored 17 for Russellville as eight Golden Tigers got into the scoring column. Scott had four, while Parker picked up three points for RHS. Bragwell, Jones, Dyas and Malone all had two points each for RHS.
The Golden Tigers return to action Saturday with home games against Haleyville.
