By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



On Monday night, Fultondale won the battle of the Wildcats, as Fultondale’s girls and boy’s basketball teams took turns whipping Hayden at home.



Fultondale girls 49, Hayden girls 35

Hayden led 10-6 after one quarter, but then the home-standing Lady Wildcats went on a 27-2 run against the visiting Lady Wildcats.

Fultondale held Hayden scoreless in the second quarter and didn’t allow another Hayden point until less than six minutes remained in the third quarter. By that time, Fultondale was in complete command with a 21-point lead at 33-12.

“They went on a cold spell and we played pretty good defense,” Fultondale head coach Richie Busby said of the run. “We controlled the boards and made our shots, they didn’t play bad, but we were just playing well.”

Britani Howell led Fultondale (3-4) with 14 points, including three 3-point shots. Krissy Freeman added 11 more, including two 3-pointers. Diamond Stanley had eight points. Helen Lee scored six points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Haley Hill scored four. Sarah Park and Chelsea McCombs scored three points each.

Tiffany Myrick led Hayden (3-3) with 12 points. Krista Stricklin had nine. Terri Sharp, Sam Niblett and Haley Daniel all scored four points. Melissa Stricklin scored two points.



Fultondale boys 53, Hayden boys 39

The home-standing Wildcats held only a three-point lead after one quarter, but then they went on a 23-7 run to settle the issue.

“We had too many turnovers in the first quarter to really get any offense going,” Fultondale head coach Phillip Lawson said. “We settled down in the second quarter and started making our shots. We ran the offense in the second quarter and Josh Tarwaters’s shooting was important for us.

“Also, for Hayden, it was basically one-and-done on their offensive end. Just about every shot they missed in the second quarter, we came away with the rebound.”

J.D. Hood led a balanced Fultondale (7-4) scoring attack with 11 points, followed by Josh Tarwater with 10.

Tarwater scored eight points during the second quarter run, including two 3-point shots. Tarwater also handed out two assists.

Chris Brown scored nine and pulled down seven rebounds. R.J. Sanders scored six and grabbed seven boards as well.

Dra Talley scored four, but had a big impact on the outcome with a game-high 14 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Christian McCollough scored seven, Chris Preston scored three, Sharod Smith had two points and two assists and Taylor Minor scored one.

Hayden slipped to 3-3. The visiting Wildcats were led by Owen Hargett with eight, followed by Sean Davis and Cody Butler with six each.

Josh Piteo and Terrell Parker scored five each. Ryan Davis, Blake Daniel, Nick Hardy and Matthew Stewart scored two points a piece.



Tabernacle girls 53,

Hope Christian girls 37

The Lady Torches trailed 10-9 after one quarter on Monday night, but they then went on a 21-4 game-deciding run to grab a 30-12 lead.

“This was one of our best performances of the season so far,” Tabernacle assistant coach Phillip Coleman Jr. said. “The Lady Torches played with lots of intensity and the coaches couldn’t be more proud of them for their effort.”

Junior Candace Coleman led the way with a double-double as she scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Coleman added five assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

Meghan Hallice had a double-double as well with 18 points and 11 rebounds. She had an assist and blocked five shots.

Kari White scored seven and grabbed three rebounds, Anna Kaetz had three points, Savannah Harper had two points and Heather Zassoda had tow points, two rebounds and two assists.

The Lady Torches improved to 8-2 on the season.



Tabernacle boys 47,

Faith boys 20

The Torches won their opening conference game of the season with an easy win over Faith.

“Our guys played really well tonight,” Tabernacle head coach David Corbett said. “They did a real good job of pressuring the ball. We went into this game hoping to improve trapping and putting pressure on the ball. I saw some of the improvement I wanted to see. Our defense was the key to this win.”

T.J. Hallice led the offense with 12 points, followed by Daniel Whaley with eight points. Steven White and David Hays scored four points each.

Hallice grabbed five rebounds, Whaley had three steals. White collected seven rebounds and Hays had a steal.



Tabernacle boys 60,

Hope Christian boys 53

Last season, Hope Christian scored 80 points on the Torches on Tabernacle’s home court. During the 80-point outburst, Hope’s Adam Davis poured in 31.

This season, the Torches had vowed not to let those big numbers happen again on their home floor.

On Monday night, Tabernacle’s Whaley, Hallice and freshman John White combined to hold Davis to only 14 points, as the Torches won their eight straight game.

Hallice began the game with the hot hand sinking his first three 3-point attempts. Hallice would finish with a game-high 24 points.

White scored 11, Whaley added 10, James Winfield scored nine and Landon Ingle scored eight.

“Landon and John were great on the boards tonight for us,” Corbett said. “London came up with all the loose balls off the boards and John grabbed several clutch rebounds when we needed them.”