By Staff
Scot Beard
The Tharptown varsity girls basketball team jumped out to an early 7-2 lead against Russellville at the RHS Invitational Friday, but Tasha West scored 28 points for the Lady Golden Tigers to help lead her team to a 50-44 win.
Russellville claimed its first lead of the game when Halie Harvey opened the second quarter scoring with a 3-pointer. The teams swapped the lead a few times and headed into the locker room tied 21-21.
The Lady Golden Tigers used a strong defensive effort in the third to pull way, outscoring the Lady Wildcats 13-5 during the quarter.
"We played better on defense," Russellville coach James Bostick said. "We tried to keep the ball away from (Chelsea) McCluskey."
Russellville's lead was as high as nine points in the final quarter, but Tharptown fought hard and pulled within one point at 42-41 with less than two minutes to play.
West scored to push the lead to three points before Erin Reynolds drew a foul. Reynolds missed both of her free throws, but Russellville grabbed the rebound and West scored again to put the Lady Golden Tigers ahead 46-41.
Tharptown's Heather Hatton added a free throw and McCluskey scored to pull within two points with 36 seconds remaining.
West added a three free throws down the stretch to help Russellville pull away late.
West was not the only Russellville player to score in double digits, Reynolds recorded 15 points for the Lady Golden Tigers.
McCluskey led the Tharptown offense with 12 points while Hollie Hines added 10.
Autumn Hatton scored seven points for the Lady Wildcats and Laken Barnett scored six.