The Russellville High School varsity girls’ and boys’ basketball teams saw mixed results last week in two road games versus Brooks on December 3rd and Haleyville on December 6th.
The RHS girls’ basketball team went 1-1 against the two sides, beating BHS 65-41 and losing to HHS in a close one 49-48; the RHS boys’ team finished with the same overall results but in opposing manner: the Golden Tigers fell to the Lions from Killen 62-54 before defeating the Haleyville Lions 80-70, a game during which one Golden Tiger recorded a remarkable individual achievement.
Against Brooks the Lady Golden Tigers jumped out to a 20-6 lead in the opening period of play and never relinquished their advantage. RHS extended its lead in the second period, taking the game into the halftime break up 32-18. Russellville maintained its double-digit edge over the Lady Lions for the remainder to come out with the 24-point victory. The Lady Golden Tigers’ leading scorer this season, Angeleah Smith, co-led the team with 15 points alongside Sadie Odom, whose tally was a season-high for the freshman.
In the boys’ game between Russellville and Brooks the Lions topped the visitors behind 21 points by RJ Gourley. The two teams traded blows in the opening half with Brooks leading 9-8 after the first period and Russellville up 23-22 at the intermission. The second half belonged to the hosts, however, who outscored the Golden Tigers 17-14 in the third period and 23-17 in the fourth to hand RHS its second loss of the season. Russellville’s EJ King led all scorers with 31 points, but his total wasn’t enough to push the Golden Tigers over the top.
A few days later, on the road trip to Haleyville, the Lady Golden Tigers suffered a reversal of fortunes against the Lady Lions. The Lady Golden Tigers led 14-9 after the first eight minutes, but HHS found its rhythm in the second period to take command 29-22 at the break.
The Lady Golden Tigers regrouped and pulled the game back within three points at the end of the third quarter before narrowing the host’s advantage even further at the end. Russellville forced Haleyville to eke out its win but the matchup ultimately ended in a one-point defeat for the visitors, the closest game for the Lady Golden Tigers so far this campaign. Laila Hill’s season-high 20 points led RHS in its fifth loss of the year.
It was the Russellville boys’ team that would come out on top in the nightcap at Haleyville. The Golden Tigers started the contest on fire, doubling up the Lions 29-14 in the first quarter. The advantage RHS gained in the first period of play would prove crucial as HHS recovered from the body blow to outscore the Golden Tigers in the remaining three periods 18-17, 22-19, and 16-15. In the end, the 15-point advantage RHS gathered in the first period was too much for the Lions to overcome and the Golden Tigers earned their third win of the season.
Senior EJ King led all scorers in the game, dropping 24 points for the Golden Tigers. Notably, King, who has amassed 140 total points this season, hit a career milestone scoring his 1,000th point at RHS during the win.
“It’s a special accomplishment. You don’t see it a lot,” Russellville head coach Patrick Odom said of King’s feat. “It obviously takes a lot of scoring, but it also takes years playing at the varsity level and EJ has done that. He’s played a lot of games for us. I think it shows more of a picture of the overall player he is.
“We’re not even to February of his senior year and he’s already gotten there. That just tells you what a great scorer he is,” he added.
King joins the likes of former Golden Tigers Devin Buckhalter, Chandler Dyas, and Lucas McNutt, who also reached the 1,000 career points mark during Odom’s tenure at Russellville.
“This is my 10th year (at Russellville) and we’ve had a lot of great players come through here, but only a few players have reached that goal,” Odom said. “I think that tells you how special—how big of an accomplishment it is.
“What I think makes it even more special is, you know what a great player EJ is,” he added of the all-state guard, “but he’s a great kid, too.”
The Russellville girls’ and boys’ basketball teams will face Phil Campbell in their next home game on Friday, December 13th.
Commenting on this story has been disabled.
