RED BAY — Franklin County got to witness some early basketball action Monday night in the form of the 2012 Lion’s Club Girls Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Red Bay each year.

Participants in the tournament from Franklin County are Belgreen, Phil Campbell and Red Bay, with other schools including New Site, Belmont, Itawamba, Hatley, Haleyville and Muscle Shoals.

The tournament includes two age groups: seventh and eighth grade girls and nine grade girls.

The first game of the tourney was between Belgreen and Haleyville in the seventh and eighth grade pool.

The Lady Bulldogs put the hammer down on the Lady Lions early, amassing a 17-2 lead by the end of the first period.

Belgreen still enjoyed a 20-point lead at the half en route to a 40-24 victory over the larger school’s team.

The next game pitted Hamilton against Phil Campbell, again in the seventh and eighth grade pool. Phil Campbell had trouble getting it’s offense going and fell to the Lady Aggies 41-17.

The final game of the night featuring teams from Franklin County was a match-up between ninth graders from Belgreen and Phil Campbell, and that game proved to be one of the best from the first night of the tournament.

Early on the teams were evenly matched. Neither squad could enjoy the lead for very long before the other went ahead by a point or two.

The Lady Bulldogs and Lady Bobcats were in a dead heat until Belgreen’s Allyson Bragwell, likely the most experienced player on the court after her time playing varsity opponents last season, hit a three-point shot that put her team up 15-12 just before halftime.

The shot ended a tie that had been in place (at one score or another) for almost the entire first and second quarters.

Bragwell followed the three with and and-one that put Belgreen up 17-12 at intermission.

Phil Campbell scored first after halftime on a field goal that cut the Lady Bulldogs’ lead to three points, but that would be as close to the lead as the Lady Bobcats would get in the final 12 minutes of the game.

Belgreen outscored Phil Campbell 20-6 in the second half and left the gym with a 37-18 victory.

The seventh and eighth grade girls for Belgreen actually had one other game on the night.

They played against the Tharptown Wildcats at Belgreen. This meant the team had to leave Red Bay, travel back to Belgreen and play again, then return to Red Bay for the ninth grade game.

Different round winners will continue play Thursday, and the consolation and championship games will be played Saturday.