Russellville boys top West Point, girls defeat Belgreen in basketball action
The Russellville High School varsity basketball teams traveled to West Point and split area games versus the West Point Warriors.
Russellville’s boys improved to 2-0 in area play with a hard-fought 74-62 win over the Warriors on Jan. 5. The Golden Tigers started the contest with a 14-12 advantage after one quarter and held a 30-27 lead at the half. West Point was able to outscore RHS 20-18 in the third period before the Golden Tigers put together a strong finish, outscoring the Warriors 26-15 down the stretch.
EJ King led Russellville in scoring with 28 points, and Amir Williams was next with 16. Malachi Duncan scored 14, Gavin Hyde had 9 and KJ Murray added three. Mike Young and Jah Williams scored two points apiece for RHS.
“They’ve had a good year up to this point, and I knew they were going to play really well at home,” Russellville head coach Patrick Odom said of West Point. “It seemed like that if it could go wrong or a little adversity hit, it went wrong. I’m really proud of our guys, we just played through it. It was more of a second half win, and we took control of the game. We’re 2-0 in the area, and that’s what it’s about.”
The Russellville girls fell to 1-1 in the area and 7-9 on the season with a 64-48 loss at West Point. The Lady Warriors were ahead 23-16 at the end of the first quarter, and WPHS led 46-29 at the half.
Ella Copeland was the top scorer for Russellville with 18 points, and Laila Hill also scored in double figures with 12. Jacey Moore added six, Jemma Moore scored five and Avery Watts had three. Sadie Odom and Alexia Groce had two points each for RHS.
On Jan. 2, the Russellville girls won at home over the Belgreen Lady Bulldogs by a score of 56-52.
Ella Copeland led all scorers with 22 points. Desiree Medina added 14 points for RHS. Laila Hill had seven, Avery Watts and Jacey Moore scored five each and Jemma Moore added three points.
Green led Belgreen with 19 points. Lauderdale and Fisher also scored in double figures with 10 points apiece. Hovater added six, Scott scored four and Willingham had three.