West Point's Maci Hamby (0) dribbles past a defender in the Lady Warriors' 72-34 win over Russellville Friday night. (Nick Griffin for The Cullman Tribune)
WEST POINT – The Warriors hosted the Russellville Golden Tigers for a pair of area showdowns Friday night and the two varsity matchups yielded very different results. The Lady Warriors started the night with a 72-34 rout of the Lady Tigers but in the next game, Russellville escaped with an 87-85 win after hitting a shot at the final buzzer.
Russellville 87 – (10-13) West Point 85 (varsity boys)
The Tigers led this one by 12 at one point in the fourth quarter but for the rest of the contest, neither team could hold onto more than a three or four-point advantage. The game was tied at 12 midway through the first quarter but Kobe Bowers gave the Warriors a 21-18 lead late in the period after nailing three straight shots from long range. Russellville managed to get back in front 22-21 by the start of the second quarter but West Point kept it close in that period as well.
Kolton Sapp knocked down a three to take a 32-29 lead midway through the second quarter and the Warriors held onto a 40-36 lead at the halftime break. The third quarter was when the Tigers began to create some separation. West Point turnovers turned into easy buckets on the other end and Russellville was able to build a 66-56 lead by the end of the third.
The Warriors were able to get off to a fast start in the fourth and a Tyler Thompson three followed by two free throws from Bowers cut the lead to 66-61. West Point was able to cut it to 72-68 by the midway point of the quarter but and shaved it down even further as the game progressed. With 46 seconds to play, Sapp drove to the basket and scored while being fouled. After hitting the free throw, the Tigers’ lead was down to 81-80. Russellville hit two free throws on their end, but Sapp was able to get to the basket again and make it 83-82 with 30 seconds remaining. Sapp had one more big shot in him as he moved out to the top of the key and knocked down a three to tie the game at 85 with 15 seconds on the clock. Unfortunately for Warrior fans, the Tigers were able to inbound the ball on the other end with six seconds to play and got an acrobatic layup to go in off the glass time expired, collecting the area win on the road 87-85.
Several Warriors finished in double-digits offensively, led by Sapp with 22. He was followed by Bowers who finished with 18, Thompson with 16 and Tyler White with 15 in the loss. The Warriors will now have to shift their focus to the Cullman County Basketball Tournament. West Point will take on Cold Springs at Tom Drake Coliseum Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
(19-4) West Point 72 – Russellville 34 (varsity girls)
The Lady Warriors took all of the drama out of this matchup almost immediately. They jumped out to an 18-8 lead in the first few minutes and led things 25-13 at the end of the opening frame. West Point created a lot of problems for Russellville on the defensive end, converting turnovers into easy baskets and stretching their lead to 48-20 by halftime.
The Lady Tigers could not do with anything with the Lady Warriors on either end of the floor and West Point carried a 62-32 lead into the fourth quarter. With the clock running, the home-standing Lady Warriors pulled away to another area win 72-34.
10 different players scored for West Point in the win, led by Miriam Oldacre with 17 points. Maci Hamby and Lexi Shadix followed with nine points, Sheridan Bowers and Mackenzie Carter posted eight and Kyler Hembree finished with seven. The Lady Warriors will have a little time off now before their appearance in the Cullman County Tournament on Thursday at 6:15 p.m.
Other Friday night scores:
Cullman 60 – Jasper 59 (varsity boys)
Cullman 63 – Jasper 45 (varsity girls)
Hanceville 75 – JB Pennington 60 (varsity boys)
Hanceville 48 – JB Pennington 39 (varsity girls)
Holly Pond 45 – New Hope 21 (varsity girls)
Good Hope 63 – New Hope 56 (varsity boys)
Good Hope 50 – Ashville 35 (varsity girls)
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