BOYS

The Russellville varsity basketball teams went to Haleyville Jan. 28 and got wins over the Lions in both boys’ and girls’ action.

Russellville’s boys defeated Haleyville by an 83-70 score to improve the Golden Tigers’ record on the season to 12-10.

RHS jumped out to a 19-2 first quarter lead with about four minutes remaining in the opening period and kept the pressure on throughout the contest. The Golden Tigers outscored the Lions by a 41-32 first half total and held a 66-45 lead after three quarters of play.

Boots McCulloch and Conner Warhurst scored 20 points each to lead RHS. Amir Williams added 13 and Eli Gipson followed with 12. Malachi Duncan scored seven, Ashton Boyd and Nathan Brockway had four apiece, and Nicholas McSpadden scored three. Drake James of Haleyville finished with 26 points.

“I thought early our energy and our ability to get on the offensive glass and turn some missed shots into points led to us getting comfortable offensively, and then from there, I thought we played really tough,” said Russellville head coach Patrick Odom. “This team that played tonight can do some things down the road. So, we’re excited about what we did, and now we’ve got to sustain it and build on it.”

Earlier in the week, Russellville wrapped up regular-season area play with a 73-67 loss at Lawrence County. With the defeat, the Golden Tigers’ area record dropped to 1-3.

The two teams played an even first quarter, with both squads scoring 14 points. Russellville trailed 36-30 at the half and by nine going into the final period.

Gipson led the Golden Tigers in scoring with 22 points, and McCulloch had 21. Duncan scored seven, Brockway and Vincent had five apiece, and Boyd scored three. Rounding out the RHS scoring were Williams and Warhurst with two points each.

GIRLS

The Russellville girls took down Haleyville by a 43-40 score to improve their record to 8-13. The Lady Golden Tigers outscored their opponent 23-16 in the second half to earn the victory.

Six RHS players got into the scoring column, with Jacey Moore leading the way with 12 points. Leah Rushing followed with 11, and Ella Copeland had seven. Jenna Whitfield and Avery Watts added five each, and Anna Beth Oliver scored three.

“Anytime you come to Winston County, it’s always a scrappy, hard-fought game,” said Russellville head coach Jermaine Groce said. “The girls battled through some adversity and went into a couple of little droughts offensively, but our defense held tight. We continued to battle and got some easy transition points, and that spearheaded our offense in the second half.”

Jan. 25 Russellville went to Lawrence County and dropped to 0-4 in area play with a 65-44 loss to the Lady Devils.

Ella Copeland led RHS with 18 points. Whitfield scored nine, Oliver added eight, Moore had five, and Watts scored four.