ADDISON, Ala. — Addison hosted the first round of the 2021 Winston County Tournament Thursday night and both the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs collected wins to advance to the next round. The Lady Bulldogs started it off with a solid, 57-49 win over the Meek Lady Tigers and the Bulldogs closed the night with their third victory of the year over the Double Springs Yellow Jackets, 56-43.
Addison 57 – Meek 49 (varsity girls)
The Addison Lady Bulldogs opened the night playing the Meek Lady Tigers, a team they split with in their two regular season meetings. Meek came in with their dominating senior Center Abby Phillips who promised to be tough to handle in the paint.
Head Coach Bailey West had the Lady Dawgs focused and dialed in to from the start. This was the first time in a while the young Lady Dawgs have started out hot and did not have to play from behind.
The first period was a solid effort by both teams as Phillips scored six points in the opening frame. Addison was led by Bracey “Tiny” Rodgers who had four points of her own. At the end of the first period, Addison held a slim 12-9 lead.
Addison’s defense stepped it up a notch in the second period as they held Meek to only eight points while scoring 16. Addison’s offense came alive as well as the Lady Dawgs went on an amazing 14-0 run on a quality Meek Lady Tiger basketball team. Addison was led by Hadley “Shooter” Butler who drained four out of her five three-point shots in the period. Addison took a strong 28-17 lead into the half. Butler led the Lady Dawgs with 12 points in the half while Meek was led by Phillips who had nine points.
The second half had the Lady Dawg defense playing solid and the offense making crisp strong passes to the open shooter. Addison outscored Meek 18-14 in the third to take a commanding 46-31 lead going into the fourth and final period. The fouls did start to pile up on the young Dawgs as Anna Grace “The Glove” Luker and Gracie “Bug” Manley picked up four fouls apiece.
Meek began their comeback with Phillips, Savannah Smith and Madison Smith leading the way. Meek continued to pressure the Lady Dawgs into some unforced errors and would score on the fast break. Meek’s comeback hopes took a blow when Savannah Smith hurt her ankle with 6:29 to go in the game. Savannah had to be helped off the court and did not return. Hopefully Miss Smith is okay and can return for their area tournament.
After the Smith injury, Addison settled down and closed out the game winning 57-49. Addison advances to play the winner of top-seeded Double Springs versus the fourth-seeded Lynn Bears on Saturday. It was a solid team effort by the young ladies of Addison as six players scored four or more points.
Addison was led by Butler with 15 points and five rebounds. Rodgers had 14 points, three boards, two assists and two steals. Manley had eight points, five boards, three assists and four steals. “Magic” Molly Gilbreath had seven points. Luker had six points, nine boards, three assists and six steals. Lydia “Barbie” Ergle had four points, five boards and three steals. Addyson Smothers had three points, two boards and two steals.
Meek was led by Phillips who had a game high 21 points, eight boards and four steals. Hannah Taylor had 11 points. Savannah Smith had 10 points, four boards and three steals in only three periods of work. Madison Smith had seven points and seven rebounds.
After the game, Coach West said, “As usual, I am proud of my girls. They played with a lot of heart and the defense was solid. Meek’s Phillips is a solid player and Lydia (Ergle) did a good job holding her position and limiting her rebounds. Make no mistake, we won tonight because of our defensive intensity. Our county games seem to motivate our girls and they play better. This was a solid team effort with everyone contributing to the win. I keep telling the girls that we have to do the little things every night to win. We have to hustle, play defense and knock down our throws to win. I believe that we are playing better right now. We lost by two to Falkville last week and they are ranked in the top ten in the state. Looking forward to Saturday and hopefully we can bring home a county championship.”
Addison 56 – Winston County 43 (varsity boys)
Addison was the number one seed in the county tournament and drew the four seed Double Springs Yellow Jackets. Addison had beaten Double Springs both times they met but those two games were the two toughest that Addison played in the county this year.
The game started with Addison playing smothering defense and scoring pretty much at will against the jackets. Addison couldn’t miss and the jackets couldn’t hit anything that they threw up. Logan “Baby Shaq” Wilkins had six points in the period and Eli “Curly” Howse had four points. At the end of the first, Addison led 19-5 and it looked like a rout.
Coach Adam Gray got his Yellow Jackets on the right track and behind the deep threes of Brooks Bonds the jackets began to come back. Bonds had 12 points in the period, to include two long threes. The hot Jackets outscored Addison 22-16 in the period to cut the Dawg lead to a manageable 35-27 halftime deficit. Bonds led the Jackets with 14 first half points. Cannon “TNT” Hiller led the Dawgs with 10 points.
The third period started, and the defensive intensity was smoking. Both teams played extremely hard as shots were contested and no one as driving the lane without ending up on their backside. Neither team could score much as Addison was able to stretch their halftime lead to 44-35 to start the fourth.
Addison’s Wilkins picked up his fourth foul with 7:12 to go in the game and had to sit. Hiller and Howse picked up the scoring in Wilkins absence while Christian “Ice Man” Roberts dominated the glass in the fourth. Addison held on for a 56-43 win to advance to Saturday to play the winner of the Lynn v. Meek game. The difference in this game was Addison’s incredible defense, holding the Jackets to under double digit scoring in three out of the four periods. Addison was also able to knock down 17 of 23 free throws.
Addison was led by Hiller who had 18 points. Howse had 15 points, four assists and five steals. Wilkins had 11 points, three boards and three blocks in limited minutes. Roberts had five points and eight boards. Quentin “Fabio” Barley had two points and five boards.
Double Springs was led by Bonds who dropped in 18 points. Austin “Mr. Everything” Owens had nine points and four boards, Sy Blanton had eight points and four boards, Braden Hudson had six points and two steals.
Following the win, Head Coach Ben Mastin added, “We played well, and I was a little concerned due to us being off for a week. We are still trying to be a great defensive team and make teams earn every point that they get against us. We are slowly getting there. I was very pleased with our effort tonight. I mean it is very hard to beat a team twice in a row but now we have had to play them three times now. We also drew them in the first round of our area tournament in two weeks. Double Springs is tough on us but if we play our game, we can beat anyone. Our boys really want to win this county tournament this year. Double Springs upset us last year at their place and they have had the county second place trophy in the locker room this week. A little motivation is a good thing, and we want to bring the county tournament championship home as well as our regular season county championship that we have already won.”
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