By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
Pinson Valley
Boys: The Pinson Valley Indians’ boys basketball team broke even this week, moving their record to 8-3 on the season, but losing three of their last four games, albeit the losses were all to top teams with a combined record of 28-3 thus far in the young season. Coach Darrell Barber is known for scheduling tough opponents for his team in preparation for a deep playoff run and 2023 is no different. The teams Pinson has lost to are Yazoo City (MS) who is 11-0, Paul Bryant who is 10-1, and Woodward Academy (GA) who is 7-2. In all of these games, Pinson has had a chance to win at the end with the Woodward game even going to overtime. So, when you see that Pinson has lost three games and three of their last five, there is no reason for panic. They are playing big-boy basketball.
Pinson did pick up a win over Huffman on 12/5 by a score of 67-54 in Huffman’s gym. No surprise, Clyde Walters, who has been a scoring machine this year, led all scorers with 16 points in the game. Jayden Lewis had 14 and Austin Conner added 11 for the Indians in the win. Walters also had seven rebounds, five assists and three blocks to go with Conner’s seven assists that led the Indians.
Pinson traveled to 0-9 Center Point on Tuesday night where Walters and Lynch led the Indians with 14 points each and Bowens added 11 to help the Indians to a 49-37 win.
They host 9-2 Thompson on Friday.
Girls: The Lady Indians had a bit of a tough week, losing both of their games. The rebuilding continues as coach Tamara Gills and her girls fight each game to get better.
The week started with a trip to 7-4 Huffman where the Lady Indians walked away with a 46-14 loss, their second-lowest output of the season. Next up was a 3-7 Fairfield team that saw Pinson almost get the job done but come up just a little bit short in the end, dropping the game 49-41.
On the season, Raven Lewis is leading the Lady Indians in scoring (17.4 PPG), rebounds (6.1 RPG), assists (2 APG) and steals (3.3 SPG).
Pinson starts the week on Tuesday with a trip to Center Point to take on the 2-7 Eagles, followed by another road trip to take on the 12-3 Homewood Patriots on Thursday.
Leeds
Boys: The Leeds boys started the week off strong by traveling to Lincoln (1-9) to take on the Golden Bears and walked out of the gym with a 66-51 win. Junior, Grayson Ford, led the Greenwave with 14 points on the night, followed by Chris Burge with 11 and Ronald Miller with 10. Ford had six rebounds followed by Burge with five and Ronald Miller with four. Ty Bedell had four steals to lead the team.
The second game of the week did not go the way of the Greenwave in a hard-fought rivalry game at Springville. The Tigers edged out Leeds 43-42. Will Thomas led the Greenwave with nine points followed by Bedell and Tabari Davis with eight each. Davis led in rebounds (6), assists (3), and steals (5).
Leeds now sits at 5-3, already eclipsing their 4-win total from last season. They will start the week on Tuesday with a home game against Oak Mountain, who is currently 5-7, followed by road games against Gardendale (5-4) and Southeastern (2-5).
“It wasn’t the cleanest game (Lincoln),” said Coach Jeremiah Millington. “But we did enough to come away with the win. We played Etowah the night before and won 51-37 so we rotated a lot of guys early in the Lincoln game because of back-to-back games. We defended pretty well. Need to do a better job of not fouling because a majority of their points came from the free throw line. Springville was a very competitive, back and forth game. We had a chance at the end with six seconds left to tie the game but missed a free throw. Defended really well, but there are areas we can improve on defense. I am very proud of the fight we showed and I believe we will learn from those mistakes we made down the stretch. Coach (Brandon) Easterwood and Springville did a great job preparing, so hats off to them.”
Girls: The Lady Greenwave had a tough week with games on the road at Lincoln and rivals Springville. The 6-6 Golden Bears won a close one against Leeds, stealing the 37-33 win on Tuesday night. Three nights later, Leeds traveled to Springville and lost 68-24 to the 4-5 Tigers.
Leeds now sits at 3-7 on the season. This week’s games will be on Tuesday night at 5-5 Gardendale and Wednesday night at 5-5 Southeastern before the Christmas break.
Springville
Springville Basketball Head Coach Brandon Easterwood addresses his team.
Photo by: Johnny Sanders
Boys: The Tigers went 2-0 this past week defeating Saint Clair County 64-47 and Leeds 43-42 to give them a 2-0 start in region play. Springville’s boys are 8-6 overall on the 2023 season. Monday night, the Tigers traveled to Clay Chalkville where they dropped their second game of the year to the Cougars, this time 60-39. They rebounded Tuesday night at Corner by winning 53-31.
Springville will travel to Moody on Friday night for a big rivalry game against the Blue Devils.
Girls: Coach House’s Lady Tigers went 3-1 on the week and started the region schedule 2-0 beating both Leeds (68-24) and Saint Clair County (89-12) to pair with a loss at Clay Chalkville on Monday by a score of 64-38 and beating Corner on Tuesday night. Springville’s ladies are now 5-6 on the 2023 season after winning three of their last four games.
The Lady Tigers will travel to Moody with the boys on Friday for the big rivalry game.
Moody
Boys: The Blue Devils did not start the week off too great, dropping a tough one at Oneonta 74-62, but recovered well with three straight wins to end last week and start this one off. It started at Calera on Thursday, where Moody won a hard-fought game 67-64. Chase Jackson exploded in this one, putting up 25 of the 67 points in the game for Moody. Briquon Lambert and Josiah Dozier added 10 each to help the Blue Devils in the win. Moody welcomed Donoho the next night and got the 63-47 win. This time Lambert jumped on the 20-plus club, putting up 27 points on the night to go with 14 from Jackson in the win. Tuesday night, Moody traveled to Saint Clair County in the first region game of the season and walked away with a 53-50 win. Lambert led the way once again, along with Blaine Burke. Each player had 10 points on the night. The Blue Devils are now 5-4 on the season with a monster game coming up Friday as they host rivals Springville.
“We have been up and down to start the year,” said head coach Chad Bates. “We need to find a way to be more consistent throughout each game we play. Guys are figuring out their roles. We just need to maintain our composure and play as a team.”
Girls: Becca Davis’ Lady Blue Devils, ranked fifth in the state by the Alabama Association of Basketball Coaches, continued their reign of terror this week, winning all four of their games. It started last Tuesday at Oneonta where the Blue Devils won 62-24. Tori Pyles led Moody with 16 points to go with Serenity Rutledge’s 14 and Jayla Whitsey’s 11. Two nights later, the ladies took the long trip down I-65 to Calera and continued their winning ways with a 75-36 win. Pyles led once again, this time with 21 points. Whitsey and Tarryn Woodall added 15 each and Rutledge scored 10. The next night, Moody hosted Carver and whipped the Rams 64-15. Rutledge would lead the way this time, scoring 21 followed by Whitsey with 12. Moody opened region play Tuesday night at St Clair County and promptly walked away with a 77-15 win. Once again, Serenity Rutledge led the Lady Blue Devils, this time with 24 points. Pyles followed with 17 and Whitsey with 11.
The Lady Blue Devils are 9-0 on the season and now 1-0 in region play. Most of those 10 wins have been absolute blowouts, outscoring their opponents by an average of 66-31 and allowing under 20 points in four games.
“We are thankful for the success that we have enjoyed so far this season,” said Coach Becca Davis. “Our goal as a team is just to get better each day and not focus on wins and losses. We have weaknesses that must be addressed and corrected if we want to reach our goals in February.”
