The Russellville varsity boys and girls traveled to Tuscumbia Nov. 23 to take on the Deshler Tigers in pre-Thanksgiving basketball action. Russellville’s boys fell to 2-1 on the season thanks to a 71-68 loss. The RHS girls dropped to 1-2 after an 85-28 defeat by the talented Deshler squad, led by legendary head coach Jana Killen.

The Golden Tiger boys played an exciting game that came down to the last shot.

The Golden Tigers led 16-14 after one quarter of play, but the Deshler team outscored RHS 24-12 in the second period to take a 10-point advantage into the half.

Russellville showed toughness and battled back in the third to trim the Deshler lead to 50-47 after three quarters. DHS was able to make the plays down the stretch to hold off the Russellville rally, and when a desperation shot at the buzzer that would have tied the game fell short, Deshler had the win for head coach Brian Pounders.

“As much as I hate to lose, and our guys hate to lose, that’s a perfect game for us to play this time of year,” said Russellville head coach Patrick Odom. “I thought our kids did a great job.

“I didn’t think we played very well the first half, but I really love how we responded. I thought we controlled the second half, but we’ve got to learn that we can’t dig holes against good people.

“Even though it’s a loss, I like the direction. We needed to get tested, and we needed to get pushed, and we got that tonight. I think we got better tonight because of it.”

Eli Gipson led Russellville in scoring with 20 points. He was followed in double figures by Boots McCulloch with 17 and Amir Williams with 11. Malachi Duncan and Conner Warhurst finished with seven each, while Nathan Brockway had four points and Ashton Boyd scored two.

As is the case for many teams going up against the Deshler girls, Russellville was no match for the Lady Tigers. DHS led 21-8 after one quarter of play and took a 45-18 lead into the halftime break.

Deshler then grew that advantage to 68-22 after three quarters of game action.

Five Lady Golden Tigers scored in the contest. Jayna Poss and Avery Watts finished with eight points apiece, and Ella Copeland added seven. Anna Beth Oliver scored three for Russellville, and Jacey Moore had two.