Russellville’s varsity basketball teams made lengthy road trips to Jasper and Winfield recently and came away with a win and three losses.

Nov. 27, the RHS boys defeated Jasper by a 67-63 score. The two teams played a close, exciting game throughout, and with the help of a 10-10 night at the free-throw line by Devin Buckhalter, the Golden Tigers came out on top. The senior was clutch down the stretch from the charity stripe by making all four of his free-throws in the final quarter.

Lucas McNutt led Russellville in scoring with 23 points. Buckhalter had 20, and Chandler Dyas also scored in double figures with 15. Will Bonner scored six points for RHS, and Caden Parker added five. Dyas was Russellville’s leading rebounder with nine.

Winfield was the scene for Thursday night’s game against the Pirates, and RHS fell to 2-1 on the season with a 60-54 loss.

Russellville trailed by only two at the half and also at the end of the third quarter. The Golden Tigers were able to take a 50-49 lead on a McNutt bucket with 3:47 left in the game but Winfield was able to regain the lead and hold on for the victory.

Buckhalter and Dyas were the leading scorers for RHS with 17 points each. McNutt finished the game with 10, while Bonner, Parker, Jeb Bishop, Brooks Scott and Jamaal Hubbard had two points apiece.

“We had an opportunity to win, but we didn’t take care of the basketball well enough,” said Russellville head coach Patrick Odom. “I think we finished the night with 20 or 21 turnovers. Credit them, they played well, but a lot of it was just poor decision-making and sloppiness with the basketball. Those are the things you’ve got to correct early in the year.”

Varsity girls

The Russellville girls played a close game at Jasper but came up a little short on the scoreboard, 49-42. The Lady Golden Tigers led the Vikings 9-3 at the end of the first quarter and trailed 18-16 at the half.

Madison Murray led RHS in scoring with 21 points. She was followed by AJ Taylor (6), Autumn Logan (6), Lexie Glass (5), Krista Sikes (2) and Chalea Clemmons (2).

The Lady Golden Tigers (1-5) struggled shooting the basketball Thursday night at Winfield. RHS had no field goals in both the second and third quarters on their way to a 56-22 loss. A four-point second period and a three-point third were just too much to overcome.

Murray was leading scorer for Russellville with seven. Logan had five, Fallin Cox scored four, Glass and Lauren Hammond added two each and Sikes and Taylor scored a point each.

“I feel like our kids are playing really hard right now,” RHS head coach Corey Thomaston said. “We’ve got to really clean up some things on the offensive end of the floor. We’ve got to do a better job of valuing possessions.

“This is a tough week. Three games on the road, three long road trips in four days, and fatigue was definitely a factor for us tonight, but we’re not going to make excuses.

“We’ve got to continue to fight to get better,” he added. “We’ve got to have individuals elevate their performances if we’re going to get to a point where we can compete, and I fully believe that we can.”