The Red Bay Tigers had to wait a long time before they got to play their first game. When they finally did, they made the most of it, beating county rival Belgreen 55-43.

Red Bay’s original schedule had a Dec. 3 start date, but some COVID disruptions pushed the start date to about a week later.

Red Bay led Belgreen 17-15 at the end of the first quarter and maintained a 28-26 lead at halftime.

The Tigers started putting some separation between themselves and the Bulldogs in the second half. Red Bay outscored Belgreen 12-9 in the third quarter. Braden Ray’s eight fourth–quarter points helped Red Bay secure the lead and the win.

Braden Ray led all scorers with 21 points. Andrew Ray and Lane Shewbart scored eight points each. Jalen Vinson added seven points, Carson Corum five points, Hunter Burks four points and Aiden Quinn two points.

Collin Bonner led Belgreen with 18 points scoring – 16 of those points in the second and third quarters. Scout Bragwell and Will Donahoe added five points each. Isac Willingham got three points, and Austin James scored one point.

Later in the week, Red Bay easily beat Carbon Hill 66-43.

Red Bay took control of the game early behind 10 first–quarter points from Andrew Ray. Ray hit two three–pointers in the first quarter, with an additional three-pointer coming from Jalen Vinson and Carson Corum. The hot shooting led the Tigers to a 22-12 at the end of the first quarter.

Red Bay extended the lead to 36-20 at halftime and 53-33 in the third quarter.

Ray and Landon Glover led Red Bay with 12 points each. Vinson, Corum and Shewbart added nine points each. Gage Bays and Quinn scored four points each. Jayden Anderson had three points, and Hunter Burks and Braden Ray added two points each.

GIRLS

The Red Bay girls team is off to a solid 2-1 start under new coach Darby Lindsay. The Tigers got wins this past week over Russellville and Belgreen and lost a double overtime game to Sulligent.

The Tigers got the season off to a late but winning start with a 53-49 win over Belgreen.

Emma and Destiny McCollister led the Tigers with 13 points and 11 points respectively.

Red Bay led Belgreen 13-12 at the end of the first quarter and extended that lead to 34-30 at halftime. The Tigers kept expanding their lead in the third quarter, taking a 46-39 lead.

Others scoring for Red Bay were Madaline Ledbetter with eight points and Cassidy Kuykendall with six points.  Jaycee Vinson, Macy Faulkner and Kirsten Scott scored five points each.

Kaley Chandler and Emma Dempsey led Belgreen with 19 points and 18 points respectively. Noelle Willingham added eight points, and Felicia Campos and Morgan Vandiver scored two points each.

Red Bay fell to Sulligent in an area matchup 47-46 in double overtime.

Red Bay jumped out to a 14-8 lead in the first quarter. The Blue Devils chipped away a little bit at a time for the remainder of the game. Sulligent outscored Red Bay 11-8 in the second quarter to cut Red Bay’s lead to 22-19 at halftime. The Blue Devils trailed by two points at the end of the third quarter 27-25 and tied the game at 35-35 at the end of regulation.

Both teams scored seven points in the first overtime but pulled off the one–point win in the second overtime.

Emma McCollister led Red Bay with 12 points. Destiny McCollister and Madeline Ledbetter scored 11 points each. Macy Faulkner added seven points, and Cassidy Kuykendall had five points.