Christopher Yow

For the FCT

MOULTON — The Russellville Golden Tigers used a sharp-shooting first half to jump out to a large lead and held off a furious Lawrence County rally to pick up a 62-53 area win on Friday night at A.W. Todd Coliseum.

Russellville’s Jackson Smith and Caleb Robison combined for 43 points, including nine shots from behind the arc to lead the way for the Golden Tigers.

While the first quarter seemed to be going back and forth, Russellville used a 7-0 run near the end of the quarter to pull ahead 20-15 at the end of the one.

Smith and Robison began their shooting exhibition in the quarter, and the Red Devils’ defense could not find an answer.

The second quarter was much of the same as Russellville built a 12-point lead by halftime.

Russellville was content with the lead it held in the third quarter and began to stall their offense a bit, but four more three-pointers kept Lawrence County from mounting any come back.

Russellville had knocked down 10 treys in the game’s first three quarters and led 53-40 going into the final period.

Lawrence County was not going away quietly, however, as the Red Devils marched back behind Gabe Vernon.

With 2:54 left in the game, Vernon drained a long three to cut the Golden Tigers’ lead to 56-51.

That’s as close as the Devils would come.

Although Russellville struggled to put the game away at the free throw line, Lawrence County threw up desperation shots from behind the arc and couldn’t find the range.

Robison led the way for the Golden Tigers with 23 points and Smith added 20.

For Lawrence County, Vernon poured in 22 points, followed by Jesse Childress with nine.

Lawrence Co. 73, Russellville 44 

Adrien Coffey scored 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds and nine steals to help Lawrence County to an area win.

An early cold spell hit the Lady Devils, but behind a high-pressure defense, Lawrence County had an 11-5 advantage going into the second quarter.

Poor shooting then turned to sharp shooting as Lawrence County began the quarter on a 10-2 run.

Rachael Childress put in 14 of her game-high 31 points in the quarter, including sinking three shots from beyond the arc in a row.

Coming out at halftime, Russellville showed signs of life, but Lawrence County kept pouring on the pressure and held a 53-33 advantage going into the final quarter. Lawrence County totaled 21 steals in the game.

Whitney Woodard added nine points, all from beyond the arc. Tori McDaniel had eight steals and seven assists for Lawrence County. All but one Lady Devil scored.

Leading the way for Russellville was Rachel Garrison with seven three pointers for 21 points.