By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
RAGLAND – The Saint Clair County basketball tournament tipped of on Monday night at Ragland High School for both the boys and the girls. In the first round of the girls tournament, the Springville Tigers drew the Ashville Bulldogs and Springville absolutely dominated the lady Bulldogs, winning 71-17 to advance to round 2.
Springville’s Farrah Hawkins laying it up in traffic.
(Photo by Johnny Sanders)
Springville wasted little time doing away with Ashville, matching the Bulldogs’ game total in the first quarter by scoring 17 points to Ashville’s 7. Farrah Hawkins scored 6 of those points along with Audrey Talton’s 5 to put the lady Tigers up by 10 after one quarter of play.
Springville’s defense would get even tougher in the second quarter, allowing just 2 points, both free throws, in the period. Led by Ava Vaughn’s 6 points in the second, followed by Kinsley Tate’s 4, Springville would put up 18 points in the quarter and take a 35-9 lead into the halftime break.
Not much would change coming out of the locker room as the Springville Tigers continued to smother Ashville on the defensive side of the ball. The Bulldogs only managed 4 points in the quarter. Springville was so dominant that Ashville didn’t hit double digits on the scoreboard until the 5:15 mark of the third quarter. On the offensive side, the lady Tigers would explode in the third, putting up 28 points. Abby Byrd and Olivia Carroll would continue their late-season surge and put up 8 points each to go with 6 from Bella Bullington in the period. Springville had the game well in hand headed into the fourth quarter, leading by 50 points, 63-13.
Offensively, Coach House would call off the dogs in the fourth quarter for Springville. The defense would continue to dominate, only allowing 4 points in the quarter. Springville would get 8 points in the final frame with Leah Bowdon, Raelan Williams, Kinsley Tate and Ava Vaughn all contributing.
The lady Tigers had 5 players in double digits, led by Abby Byrd with 12. Kinsley Tate, Farrah Hawkins, Ava Vaughn, Olivia Carroll all had 10 points each in the dominating win.
“The team did a great job on the boards and played with a lot of energy,” said Springville Coach Warren House. “It was a good start for our team in the tournament.”
We will see if this momentum can continue Thursday night as the Tigers travel to Moody High School for the second round of the tournament against the top-seed St. Clair County Saints. The Tigers swept the regular season series with the Saints, beating them 56-40 on December 9 and then 71-51 on January 6.
