By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
Pinson Valley
Boys: The fourth-ranked Indians improved to 10-3 on the season with wins over Center Point and sixth-ranked Thompson (in 7A) this week.
On Tuesday, Pinson traveled across town to take on the Center Point Eagles, who are currently sitting at 0-12. The Indians walked away with a 49-37 win over the Eagles at the end of the night. Clyde Walters and Quay Lynch led with 14 points each while Amari Bowens had 11. Walters added nine rebounds, six assists and three blocks, Lynch had three rebounds and three steals and Bowens got six rebounds.
After 6 days off, the Indians were back at The Reservation to take on a tall task in sixth-ranked 7A Thompson Warriors. Pinson ended the night on the winning side of things with a 55-47 win over the Warriors. Walters had 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Lynch had 17 points, five rebounds and two steals and Austin Conner had 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the game.
The Indians will play in the West Kentucky Hoops Classic in Princeton, Kentucky against Hamilton Heights (eighth-ranked team in TN) and Ben Davis (defending state champions in Indiana) on December 21 and 22 as Darrell Barber and his boys continue to play the best of the best in basketball in the nation.
Girls: Coach Gills and her girls continue to play better than the 2022 team with a few struggles, but overall, they find themselves doubling the three-win total from last year with a 6-6 record as it stands now.
The Lady Indians started last week at Center Point where they walked out of the gym with a 37-25 over the 2-9 Eagles. Senior Aniya Brown finished the game with 15 points, five rebounds and a steal while Khameriya Riley, also a Senior, had 10 rebounds in addition to six points and three steals.
The second game of the week for the Lady Indians would end in a 49-34 loss to the 14-3 Homewood Patriots in their gym.
The Lady Indians will participate in the Oak Mountain Lady Eagles Christmas Classic this coming week where they will take on the 10-4 Central Falcons and 1-9 Hayden Wildcats.
Leeds
Boys: The Greenwave had a bit of a tough week, finishing 1-3 with losses to Oak Mountain, at Gardendale and at Tuscaloosa County. They did travel to Remlap and pick up a win over Southeastern on Friday night, however.
Leeds lost to Oak Mountain 66-39 on Tuesday in a game that saw Grayson Ford lead the way with 12 points in 13 minutes to go with Gavin Bowlin’s 10 points. Tabari Davis led with four rebounds in the loss.
The Greenwave would get little rest as they traveled to Gardendale on Thursday and came home with an 83-53 loss.
The third game of the week would bolster better news for Leeds as they traveled to Southeastern and brought back a 74-57 thrashing of the Mustangs on Friday night. Bowlin (17), Antwan Perry (15) and Ford (13) led the scoring while Perry and Jaelyn Felder had four rebounds each.
The week ended with a hard-fought battle in Tuscaloosa as Leeds took on Tuscaloosa County and dropped a 5-point heartbreaker 61-56. Ford led the way with 13 points and nine rebounds and Davis added 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Greenwave sit at 6-6 before heading into The Husky Holiday Tournament this week, taking on 7A Helena on Tuesday.
Girls: Coach Gulock’s girls struggled through three tough games this week, dropping all three and falling to 3-10 on the season heading into the holiday break.
On Tuesday, they took on Oak Mountain in a 52-29 loss. Thursday was a trip to Gardendale in which the Greenwave lost 51-34 followed by a Friday night trip to Southeastern that saw the Leeds ladies fall 46-33 to the Mustangs.
The Lady Greenwave will get a break before taking on Glencoe in Leeds on December 29.
Springville
Boys: Coach Brandon Easterwood and his boys seem to be hitting their stride just before the long break for Christmas and New Years as they scored back-to-back wins this week, one being a big one over their area rivals, Moody. They have now won five of their last six games and they are 9-6 on the season.
Tuesday night, the Tigers traveled to Corner and picked up a 52-31 win over the Yellow Jackets in their home gym.
Friday night was rivalry night, and the Tigers took it seriously, jumping all over the Moody Blue Devils and winning 72-48 in Moody’s house.
Springville will enjoy a long break before their next game at Geraldine on January 2.
Girls: Not to be outdone by the boys, the Springville girls won all of their games this week, going 3-0 with wins at Corner and Moody and a home win on Monday against Gadsden City.
Tuesday, the Tigers headed over to Corner and whipped the Yellow Jackets 55-19. Friday night, just like the boys, it was rivalry night in Moody and the Tigers handed the Lady Blue Devils their first loss of the season, 54-44. Springville’s ladies hosted the Gadsden City Lady Titans on Monday and won that one 45-42 to keep the streak alive.
Warren House’s ladies are playing great ball right now, winning five of their last six to improve to 7-6 on the season. They will head to Mountain Brook this week to play the Spartans on Friday.
Moody
Boys: The Blue Devils came into the week on a bit of a hot streak and that hot streak continued through the first game of the week but came to a screeching halt in the second as the 411 Boys went 1-1 in their two games this week, which also happens to be their region record as it stands now.
In game one of the week, Moody traveled up 411 to Saint Clair County to take on the Saints in the first region game of the season. The Blue Devils brought home a 53-50 victory to start the region slate off 1-0.
Game two was not so kind to the Blue Devils as they ran into a red-hot Springville Tigers team and dropped the rivalry game 72-48.
The 5-5 Blue Devils and Coach Chad Bates look to rebound before the Christmas break when they welcome Guntersville on Tuesday night.
Girls: The Moody girls started the season 9-0 and ranked in the top five in 5A girls basketball. They had a pretty good will, going 1-1 with a blowout win over Saint Clair County to open region play and a loss to rivals Springville on Friday, their first loss of the season.
Tuesday, the Lady Blue Devils traveled to take on the Saints of Saint Clair County and they clobbered the home team 77-15 to improve to 9-0.
Friday night, the Moody girls suffered the same fate that the boys did. A loss to Springville. The Lady Blue Devils fell to the Lady Tigers 54-44 on their home court.
Moody will lick their wounds and look to bounce back as they play in the Cavalier Holiday Tournament at John Carroll Catholic where they will face off against McAdory.
