The Russellville Golden Tigers and Lawrence County Red Devils met Jan. 8 in Moulton for a regular season Class 5A, Area 15, basketball matchup, and the RHS varsity boys came away with a 61-54 win.

The road victory for Russellville gets the Golden Tigers off to a strong start in the area that contains only three schools, with West Point joining RHS and LCHS to form the group jockeying for post-season positioning.

“Anytime you can start your area play with a road win, it’s a great way to start,” said Russellville head coach Patrick Odom. “That’s always a difficult place to go play. They always play us tough over there, so getting off on the right step in area play was good.”

Russellville and ASWA seventh-ranked Lawrence County began the contest tied 10-10 after the first quarter of play. RHS took a 29-26 advantage into the half and led by six going into the game’s final period.

Seven Golden Tigers scored in the win. Brooks Scott led the way with 17 points, and he was followed in double figures by Boots McCulloch with 14, Chandler Dyas with 13 and Jeb Bishop with 10. Nathan Brockway added four points, Conner Warhurst had two and Eli Gipson scored one.

After the win over Lawrence County, Russellville was quickly back on the court the next night with a road game against Florence High. After defeating the 7A Falcons to open the season by a point, RHS fell this time by a 72-63 final score.

RHS (8-4) led by two after one quarter of play, but Florence outscored the Golden Tigers 18-13 in the second period to take a 33-30 advantage into halftime. FHS held a slim two-point lead going into the fourth quarter, and during the final period, Russellville jumped ahead by a 61-59 score with just more than two minutes remaining in the contest. However, the Falcons finished the game with a 13-2 run down the stretch to get the victory.

Dyas led the scoring with 26 points. Bishop had 15, and Gipson added 14. McCulloch and Scott rounded out the scoring with four points apiece.

The Russellville girls dropped to 1-10 on the season with a 66-27 loss at Lawrence County, followed by a 49-36 defeat the next evening at Florence.

Avery Watts led Russellville in scoring versus Lawrence County with eight points. Anna Beth Oliver and Jayna Poss had six points each, and Jenna Whitfield added three. Maddy Green and Leah Rushing rounded out the scoring with two points apiece.

Against the Lady Falcons, RHS got 10 points from Poss. Whitfield had nine, Fallin Cox scored five, Watts had four, Rushing and Green pitched in with three apiece, and Jacey Moore scored two.