The Belgreen High School varsity girls’ and boys’ basketball teams returned home and took care of business against Franklin County and Class 2A Area 14 rivals Tharptown High School on Tuesday night.
The Lady Bulldogs, in their area opener, ran away from the Lady Wildcats 56-18 to move to 7-3 on the season, while the BHS boys routed Tharptown 52-17 to improve to 3-4 overall, 1-0 in area play.
The Belgreen and Tharptown girls’ teams tipped the evening off. Tharptown, with baskets from Carly Cason and Maddaline Amaro, surprised the hosts and jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the contest, but Belgreen quickly regrouped as the Lady Wildcats went cold. BHS, led by a 15-point second period by senior Dacota Green, went on a 35-2 run to end the half and took a 35-7 lead into the break.
After halftime the Lady Bulldogs continued to increase their lead, eventually ending the contest with their final 38-point advantage. Tharptown’s Aalivia Wilson scored eight points in the second half to lead her team in the defeat. Belgreen’s Dacota Green, averaging 15.2 points-per-game this season, led all scorers with 15 points in the win while teammate Isabella Tate chipped in 12 points. All but one of the Lady Bulldogs who saw action scored during the game.
Belgreen head coach Chad Green said one of the emphasis for his team coming into the game against Tharptown was playing better defensively.
“Last Wednesday we played Elkmont over at Clements right before Thanksgiving, and we shot the ball tremendously—we were like 46 percent from the three-point line. But we didn’t defend real well,” he said. “That was one thing we really wanted to work on was defense in the halfcourt. You know, we like to get out and press and stuff, but eventually you’re gonna run into teams that you gotta defend in the halfcourt, so that’s what we’re working on and trying to get better rebounding, too.”
Belgreen’s defensive effort definitely paid off: the 18 points scored by Tharptown were the second fewest BHS has allowed this season. (BHS only allowed 11 points against Red Bay on November 15th.)
Up next the Lady Bulldogs will face off against Shoals Christian on homecoming. No doubt the big win over Tharptown will breed confidence for the Lady Bulldogs heading into their next contest, but Green said BHS can’t afford to become complacent against a team like the Flame.
“Everybody likes to win big, you know, and get everybody in and play a lot of minutes and stuff—and we did. Almost every one of our girls got on the scoresheet tonight, so you know that’s good,” Green said. “But Friday night (December 6th) we go in—we’ve already went to Shoals Christian and we won, but now they’re coming here with an outstanding collegiate player (who) scored 48 points last night, so we can’t have no letdowns.
“(Shoals Christian’s) Sarah Davis, she’s just an outstanding player. We’ve got all attention on her and then rebounding,” he added. “You almost focus on her so much, sometimes your defense gets out of position and then you give up those easy rebounds and let them go back for putbacks, so we can’t do that.”
The Belgreen and Tharptown boys finished out the evening at the BHS gym. The Bulldogs, led by Jonathan Mendoza’s 16 points, jumped on the Wildcats early and never really looked back. BHS led 22-4 after the opening period and increased its advantage to 32-9 at halftime. The second half was more of the same with Belgreen outscoring Tharptown 20-8 in the final 16 minutes.
Cody McClusky, with five points, was Tharptown’s top scorer in the defeat. For Belgreen, right behind Mendoza and his 16 points, Braycen Johnson scored 14 points and Gabriel Estrada added seven.
The big victory was huge for the BHS boys, who were coming off three consecutive defeats heading into Tuesday’s contest. Belgreen’s first-year head coach Will Bonner said the Bulldogs faced tough competition in those losses, but he wasn’t liking what he saw. Therefore, it felt pretty good to play well and get back in the win column against Tharptown.
“The last three games we played very bad,” Bonner said. “Tougher competition. We played (Class) 4A Hamilton, Deshler, played a really good Hubbertville team. So, I was just really wondering how our guys would respond, and I think they responded well tonight.”
The 17 points Belgreen allowed Tharptown were the fewest the Bulldogs have surrendered to this point this season. Bonner liked the defensive effort of his team against the Wildcats Tuesday night, but it’s an area, overall, that the first-year head coach would like to see his team improve in as the Bulldogs push deeper into the schedule.
“Defensively we’ve struggled in the last three games. I think we played really well tonight, but like I said, we played some very tough competition, so that’s why we haven’t been doing as well. But that’s where I want to see us improve is mostly on the defensive end,” he said.
“I think we’re heading in the right direction. I just hope we can gel at the correct time. We still got a long way to go to be where we wanna be,” Bonner added.
The Bulldogs will play Shoals Christian for homecoming on Friday, December 6th before hosting their second area game vs. Covenant Christian on Tuesday, December 10th.
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