By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
Pinson Valley
Boys: The Indians started the season off with a packed schedule that tapered off here in the last weeks of the year. Pinson played just one game this week, an area game against cross-town rivals who are playing very good basketball right now, the Clay-Chalkville Cougars.
Earlier in the season, the Indians and Cougars met on Clay’s home court in a game that ended in a 59-45 loss for the Indians. This week, they boys from Pinson looked for revenge.
Unfortunately for Pinson, they would come up just short as Clay would pull out a two-point 60-58 win.
In the game, Camron Frost led scoring for the Indians with 21 points to go with eight rebounds. Austin Coner had 18 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals and Clyde Walters had 13 points, fourteen assists and seven rebounds.
The Indians are now 15-10 overall and 2-2 in the area, good enough for second place. They will close out the regular season by welcoming the Center Point Eagles to the Reservation on Thursday as they begin to prepare for the post season.
Girls: The Lady Indians continued to struggle this week, dropping their lone game to the Clay-Chalkville Cougars by a score of 50-26.
Now sitting at 8-13 on the season with an 0-4 record in the area, good enough for third place, the Lady Indians have improved from last season’s 3-20 mark.
Coach Tamara Gills looks to be turning the ship in the right direction after just one season at the helm.
They will also close out the regular season against Center Point on Thursday and another one against the Eagles on Friday night.
Moody
Boys: The Blue Devils were coming off of a pretty long losing streak leading into this week so these boys were hungry for a win. Not only did they get that win, they got back-to-back wins in games against Winterboro and Calera.
The week did start with a road loss at Briarwood on Tuesday night as Moody took one on the chin by 40 points, 77-37.
On Thursday, the Blue Devils welcomed Winterboro, a 1A team from Alpine, Alabama, to their gym and beat the 12-8 Bulldogs 73-57.
The second game of the week came at home as well with Calera visiting on Monday night. Moody go the win over the 6A Eagles 43-39. Blaine Burke led the team with 14 points and Bradley Blaze added 10.
Moody is now 7-17 overall but 1-5 and in fourth place in the area.
They will travel to Mortimer Jordan Tuesday do take on another set of Blue Devils before hosting Vincent on Thursday and traveling to Leeds on Tuesday in round one of the area tournament.
Girls: What a season for the Lady Blue Devils. In the past week (January 21-27), these girls have made history. They have set a new single-season record for wins (22), had their second 1,000-point scorer in school history (Jayla Whitsey) and had two players offered scholarships to play college basketball (Tori Pyles and Kendall Stephens). Quite the week for these young ladies.
Oh, and they played a few more games this week as well. On Tuesday, they traveled to Briarwood Christian and walked away with a 52-42 victory on the road. Tori Pyles had 16 points, five rebounds, three steals and an assist in the win.
Next up was Winterboro coming to Moody and the Lady Blue Devils whipped up on the Bulldogs 67-32. Pyles had 15 points, seven assists, five steals, and four rebounds in the game for Moody.
The final game of the week came against the Calera Eagles and that one ended the way most of Moody’s games have this season, with a Lady Blue Devil win. This time, it was 53-21 Moody.
The 411 Girls are now 24-2 overall and 5-1 in the area, sitting atop 5A Area 11.
They look to keep up their winning ways as they travel to Mortimer Jordan (20-4 in 6A) on Tuesday in what should be a great game. They will host Vincent on Thursday before closing out the regular season on Saturday morning by hosting Saint Clair County.
Leeds
Boys: The Greenies Had a pretty good week this week, splitting the two games they played.
Leeds opened the week on the road at Hueytown, a game they lost 47-37 to the Golden Gophers.
Staying consistent with the rest of the season, the Greenies bounced back in their second game of the week and whipped Lincoln by 32 points, 86-54.
Leeds is now 12-12 on the season and sitting at second in the area with a 4-2 record.
They will host Gardendale on Thursday before a showdown with Moody on Monday to begin the area tournament.
Girls: The Lady Greenwave continued to struggle, but put up a fight, despite a very young team this year. This week, the Girl Greenies dropped games to Spain Park and Hueytown, both on the road.
Leeds now has an overall record of 4-20 and 2-4 in the area. They are third in 5A Area 11 heading into the final week of the regular season.
They will face Gardendale on Thursday before heading to Springville on Saturday morning to begin area tournament play.
Springville
Boys: The Tigers are looking to finish strong this season as the postseason approaches. This past week, they welcomed Corner for senior night and Plainview two nights later, splitting the two games.
First up was Corner on Tuesday night. Springville’s seniors would go out as winners in their last regular season game in the Purple Palace, beating the Yellow Jackets 75-47.
Next was a game against the defending 3A state champs, Plainview. Despite great defense by the Tigers, Plainview was able to eek out a three-point win, besting Springville 38-35 on Thursday.
The scheduled game at Etowah on Saturday was cancelled.
Springville is now 17-9 overall and perfect in the area, sitting at 6-0 and in first place.
They will travel to Fort Payne Tuesday night before opening the area tournament against Saint Clair County on Monday night at home.
Girls: The Lady Tigers have had a bit of an up and down season, starting off with a tough schedule that led to a slow start, but they have since played pretty good basketball, even picking up a win against Moody’s girls on the season.
This week, Springville played two games and the results were the same as the boys, a split between the two.
The first game was a senior night whipping of Corner. The girls beat the Yellow Jackets 64-22 with stifling defense.
The next game was against Plainview and the results were way different as the Tigers dropped the non-region contest 65-30.
Springville is even at 13-13 overall and 4-1 in area play. The are second in the area.
In the final regular season game, Springville’s ladies will head to Fort Payne Tuesday night before starting area play against Leeds on Saturday.