RUSSELLVILLE - Russellville’s girls remained in the hunt for a regular season area championship on Thursday night, riding a red-hot start to a 65-32 rout of short-handed Lawrence County at the RMS gym.
The Lady Golden Tigers (8-14, 3-2 in Class 5A, Area 16) opened the game on a 20-0 run, getting nine early points from Madison Murray, six from Madison Hargett and five from Treyvia Pruitt. They led 22-6 at the end of one quarter.
Lawrence County, playing without injured starting guards Sadie Thompson (concussion) and Chloe Orr (sprained ankle), out-scored Russellville 11-9 in the second quarter and trailed 31-17 going into the half.
The Lady Red Devils (2-3 in area play) cut the lead all the way down to eight with six straight points to start the second half, but Russellville righted the ship with a three-pointer from Murray and a three-point play from Autumn Logan in an 11-4 run to close the third quarter.
The Lady Golden Tigers sealed the deal soon thereafter when Pruitt, a freshman guard, nailed back-to-back-to-back threes on three straight possessions. They out-scored Lawrence County 23-5 in the fourth quarter to blow the game wide open.
Russellville, which won for the sixth time in its last eight games, set new season-highs with nine three-pointers (including four from Pruitt, three from junior forward Jamie Hill and two from Murray) and 65 points scored. Pruitt led the way with 16 points, and Murray finished with 13. Logan scored 12 points, and Hargett added 11.
Hill finished with a season-high nine points, and Krista Sikes and Lexie Glass each added two.
Lawrence County dearly missed Thompson and Orr, who combined to score 29 points in the first meeting between the two teams—a 44-37 win by the Lady Red Devils in Moulton on December 8. Jayden Orr led Lawrence County with 12 points on Thursday, and Lauren Hopper added 11.
The two teams are likely to meet again in the first round of the Area 16 tournament next month, though it’s still possible that Russellville could earn the No. 1 seed and draw Brooks in the first round instead. For that to happen, the Lady Golden Tigers would need to win their final area game at East Limestone on January 19 and also have East (currently 4-0 in area play) lose to Brooks. In that scenario, Russellville and East Limestone would both finish tied atop the area standings at 4-2, and a coin flip would determine home-court advantage.
Russellville is scheduled to return to action with a home game against Winfield on Saturday.
Varsity boys
Lawrence County 66 Russellville 57
Up seven early in the fourth quarter and seemingly on the verge of their first area win, the Golden Tigers instead stumbled to their sixth straight loss as Lawrence County closed the game on a 21-5 run to clinch the No. 3 seed for next month’s area tournament.
With the game tied 43-43, Russellville (4-13, 0-5 in Class 5A, Area 16) opened the fourth quarter with a layup by Devin Buckhalter and back-to-back buckets from Lucas McNutt to grab a 49-43 lead. They stretched the lead to 52-45 moments later, but the Red Devils (2-3 in area play) responded with 10 straight points to go in front 55-52.
During the 10-0 run by Lawrence County, the Golden Tigers committed three costly turnovers and missed four straight free throws.
“This one stings, because we were in prime position to win the game,” head coach Patrick Odom said. “We just didn’t finish. We talked about coming out tonight and finishing a game, but we weren’t able to get it done. We missed some critical free throws late, and we missed a couple of point-blank looks right around the rim. Those are empty possessions you can’t afford to have when you’re trying to finish a game against a good basketball team.”
As the Golden Tigers were going cold, the Red Devils were locking in at the foul line. After missing eight of its nine free throw attempts in the first three quarters, Lawrence County shot 13-for-15 from the line in the fourth, out-scoring Russellville 23-14 to close out the game.
The Red Devils took the lead for good at 53-52 midway through the fourth on a baseline jumper by Austin Brewer, who finished with a team-high 13 points. Senior guard Cameron Carpenter went 6-for-6 from the line down the stretch and finished with eight points. Malik Strickland was 4-for-4 from the line in the fourth quarter and finished with nine points. Sabatian Terry, a 6’8 junior, scored 11 points on the night.
“Give credit to Lawrence County,” Odom said. “They were having a tough night at the foul line, but they made a lot of big free throws in the fourth quarter. I thought [Brewer] hit some really tough shots tonight.”
Brewer, a senior wing, made three of Lawrence County’s eight threes on the evening. Marquese Taylor and K’Lebb Taylor each hit two threes, and Strickland made one.
Russellville matched the Red Devils with eight threes, including four by McNutt and three by Buckhalter, who combined for 37 points. McNutt, who returned to the lineup on Thursday after missing the previous two games with the flu, scored 21 points, topping the 20-point mark for the fourth time in his last five games and the sixth time this season. Buckhalter added 16 points, 14 of which came in the first half.
Chandler Dyas scored seven points for Russellville, and Calen Bragwell and Houston Kitterman finished with four apiece. Caden Parker and Logan Jones each scored two, and Brock Malone had one point. The Golden Tigers shot just 5-for-11 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and finished the night 11-for-21.
Russellville will be the No. 4 seed for next month’s area tournament and will face the host team in the first round. Brooks (4-0 in area play and 17-0 overall) leads the area race and could clinch the top seed with a win over East Limestone (3-1 in area play). The two teams were scheduled to play Friday at East Limestone, but the game has been postponed due to the threat of winter weather and will be made up later this month.
Russellville will return to action Saturday night with a home game against Winfield.