The Tharptown Wildcats and Red Bay Tigers both picked up easy first-round area tournament wins Monday night. Tharptown defeated Sheffield 78-28 to advance to play Hatton in Class 2A, Area 16 semifinals Wednesday at Hatton, while Red Bay defeated Sulligent 51-23 to advance to play Addison in the Class 2A, Area 13 finals Friday night at Red Bay.

Tharptown 78, Sheffield 28

The Tharptown Wildcats had no problems with the Sheffield Bulldogs in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A, Area 16 tournament Monday night.

Tharptown jumped out to a 23-5 first quarter lead and sailed to an easy win. The Wildcats led 42-10 at halftime and 59-15 at the end of three quarters.

The game was marred by 65 fouls – 36 on Tharptown and 29 on Sheffield.

Brooke Daily and Gracie Montgomery led Tharptown with 12 points each. Both players scored eight points in the first quarter. Shaylee Wieting followed with 10 points. Kaitlyn Simmons and Jaiden Gaston had seven points each. Aly Vandiver and Adrianna Borden scored six points each. Autumn Montgomery added five points. Macy Petree and Catie Dawson scored three points each, while Madison Vandiver and Taylor Cameron added two points each.

Red Bay 51, Sulligent 23

Mallori Miller hit three three-pointers in the first quarter to help get the Red Bay Tigers off to a quick start and lead them to 51-23 win in the Class 2A, Area 13 semifinals Monday night.

Red Bay led 18-6 at the end of the first quarter and 29-8 at halftime. The Tigers led 39-15 at the end of three quarters.

Miller led Red Bay with 16 points. Reagan Kuykendall added 12 points, going eight-for-10 from the free-throw line. Destiny McCollister followed with 10 points. Macy Faulkner contributed seven points, Cassidy Kuykendall three points, Mackenzie Hester two points and Sarah Williams one point.

REGULAR SEASON GAMES

Tharptown 74, Cherokee 6

The Tharptown Wildcats held the Cherokee Indians to two field goals in a 74-6 route Saturday afternoon.

Tharptown shut out Cherokee in the first quarter 20-0 and led by as much as 33-0 in the second quarter before the Indians hit their only field goal of the first half. Tharptown led 43-3 at halftime and pitched another shutout in the third quarter, outscoring Cherokee 19-0 to extend their lead to 62-3.

Mars Hill 36, Red Bay 33

The Red Bay Tigers had every opportunity to put away the Mars Hill Panthers Friday night but couldn’t find a way to win in the end, losing 36-33.

Red Bay held Mars Hill to one field goal in the fourth quarter. On the flip-side, the Tigers could only muster up one field goal themselves. Neither team was able to score in the final minute and a half.

Red Bay led Mars Hill 12-8 at the end of the first quarter, but Mars Hill came back strong, outscoring the Tigers 16-5 to take a 24-17 halftime lead. The Panthers maintained their lead 33-26 going into the fourth quarter.

Red Bay outscored Mars Hill 7-3 in the final period of play but couldn’t catch up.

Macy Faulkner and Lila Blackburn both scored eight points to lead Red Bay. McCollister added seven points, Reagan Kuykendall five points, Miller two points, Cassidy Kuykendall two points and Kaylee Mitchell one point.