The Russellville varsity basketball teams are off to a winning start during the early-portion of the 2023-24 season. RHS recently hosted boys and girls games versus the Deshler Tigers and then the two Russellville squads opened area play with contests against the Brewer Patriots.

Deshler visited Russellville on Dec. 5 and the Golden Tigers held-on to win the boys’ game by an 85-80 final score. RHS had a 37-27 lead at the half and the Golden Tigers went into the fourth quarter with a 66-48 advantage before Desher finished strong with a 32-19 fourth period.

Russellville was led in scoring by EJ King’s 21 points. Amir Williams followed closely with 20. Also scoring in double figures were Mike Young with 13 points and Bralynn Vincent with 11. Jah Williams and Gavin Hyde added six points each, Malachi Duncan scored five and KJ Murray had three. Deshler’s Garrett Reid had 24 points to lead all scorers.

Deshler’s girls defeated Russellville by a 68-40 total. DHS jumped-out to a 21-8 first quarter lead and had a 34-17 halftime advantage.

Russellville’s top-scorer was Ella Copeland with 18 points. Jacey Moore and Aleah Bonman had six points apiece. Avery Watts and Laila Hill scored four each and Jemma Moore had two points. Deshler’s Reece Davis was atop the scoring column with 24 points.

RHS hosted Brewer on Dec. 8 for the first area games of the season for the Golden Tigers.

Russellville’s boys improved to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in the area with a fast-paced 99-61 victory over the Patriots. All RHS players scored and five Golden Tigers finished the game in double-figures. As a team, Russellville scorched the nets with 16 made three-pointers.

EJ King led the group with 20 points. Mike Young had 17, Malachi Duncan 16, Amir Williams 12, KJ Murray 11, Gavin Hyde nine, Jah Williams seven, Rylan Pratt five and Bralynn Vincent had two points.

Russellville head coach Patrick Odom was happy with how his team improved in the areas of limiting turnovers and passing the basketball. “I thought the ball whipped and moved and we were able to get the game in transition which is how we want to play,” Odom said. “That’s our only area game before Christmas, so we did what we needed to do. I thought it was the best and most complete game we’ve played all year.”

The Lady Golden Tigers used a 14-2 second quarter to pull away from Brewer on the way to a 51-38 victory. Russellville improved to 4-3 on the season and 1-0 in area play with the win.

Laila Hill and Jacey Moore led the team with 20 points each. Ella Copeland scored nine and Jemma Moore added two.

RHS was able to use their defensive attack to create a large number of Brewer turnovers. “This was one of the first games that we’ve been able to play our pressure defensive package for the entire game,” Russellville head coach Jermaine Groce said. “The girls did a great job of applying pressure and forcing them to speed-up.”