By Staff
Lady Tigers nearly get win over Lady Eagles
Both Hartselle basketball teams fell to Athens Friday night at the Pettey Center.
The girls, fresh off a 61-36 area win over Cullman, could not hold a slim lead in the fourth quarter and fell to the Lady Golden Eagles 44-40. The boys, feeling the effects of not having leading scorer Keith Rodgers and athlete Nikita Stover, lost 54-37 to Richard Hendrix and the Eagles.
Athens 44, Hartselle 40
Girls
Hartselle led 21-17 at halftime, but a rough stretch in third quarter allowed the Golden Eagles back in the contest.
"There was a stretch in the third quarter where we went from four up to four down," head coach Greg Adams said. "They were playing pressure defense, but I was pleased with the way our team played."
Lauren Drake, who scored 17 points and 22 rebounds against Cullman, scored 13 points and had 13 rebounds against Athens. Shan Jones also had 13.
Athens 54, Hartselle 37
Hartselle jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and was tied with Athens at 14-all before the "wheels fell off," according to head coach Johnny Berry.
"Our game plan was slow it down and frustrate Athens," Berry said. "We did pretty good for a while, but started getting away from it in the second quarter."
Athens scored 13-unanswered points to end the first half and outscored Hartselle 32-10 in the second and third quarter.
Samuel Massey led Hartselle with 11 points, while Rodgers sat the bench. At first report, Rodgers would miss three weeks with a severely sprained ankle, but could be released as early as this week.