The Russellville High School boys and girls varsity basketball teams have both advanced to the championship game of the AHSAA Class 5A Area 15 tournament with first round wins.

Coach Patrick Odom’s RHS boys took first place in the area during the regular season with a 6-0 record versus West Point, Lawrence County and Brewer. The Golden Tigers earned the right to host the area tournament, and it began with a 78-55 win over the Brewer Patriots on Feb. 5. In game two of the night, Lawrence County defeated West Point to set-up the area championship game which is scheduled for Feb. 7 between RHS and LCHS. The area tournament winner and runner-up both advance to the upcoming sub-region round.

The Golden Tigers (16-6) got off to a bit of a slow start against Brewer, and the two teams were tied 31-31 at the half. Russellville came out for the third quarter with a sense of urgency and outscored the Patriots 30-12 in the period.

EJ King led RHS in scoring with 27 points. KJ Murray was next with 19, and Malachi Duncan added 18. Jah Williams and Gavin Hyde scored five points each, and Mike Young earned four points.

Jan. 30, the Russellville boys hosted West Point for a regular season game on Luther Tiggs Night. RHS got the 73-59 win by outscoring the Warriors in three of four quarters. EJ King led Russellville with 21 points, and Malachi Duncan followed closely with 20. KJ Murray finished with 13 points, Gavin Hyde had nine, Jah Williams scored six and Mike Young had four points.

Brooks came to town for a boys’ game on Feb. 1 and the Lions got a 80-73 victory to snap a long RHS winning streak to finish the regular season.

Russellville got 29 points from EJ King, 16 by Malachi Duncan and 15 from Gavin Hyde. KJ Murray scored six, Jah Williams added five and Mike Young had two points.

The RHS girls led by head coach Jermaine Groce advanced to the area championship game with a 42-40 win over Lawrence County in the first round. The Lady Golden Tigers (11-13) will face host team West Point for the area title on Feb. 6 and the RHS girls have advanced to the sub-region round for the first time since 2012.

Russellville led Lawrence County 3-0 at the end of the first quarter in the area tourney opener on Feb 3. RHS then outpaced the Lady Devils 13-4 in the second quarter before both teams played an even third period.

Ella Copeland led Russellville in scoring with 19 points and Jacey Moore also scored in double figures with 13. Laila Hill and Jemma Moore also registered in the scoring column with five points each.

The Lady Golden Tigers finished the regular season with a 61-43 home loss to West Point on Jan. 30. The Lady Warriors led 15-2 after one quarter and 25-17 at the half. Ella Copeland scored 25, Laila Hill six, Jacey Moore five, Blevyn Sappington four and Desiree Medina had three points for RHS.