Staff Reports

The North Jefferson News



HANCEVILLE — Nicole Russell scored 23 points, with a dozen of the them in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to stop Hanceville, which defeated Corner 65-52 Thurdsay night in the Yellow Jackets’ season opener.

Corner stayed within striking distance most of the way, down by just four points at intermission and eight after three quarters.

But LaSheena Nation, Hanceville’s high-scoring senior who already scored 62 points in the first two games of the year for the Bulldogs (1-2), took command in the late going. She finished with a game-high 24 points.

The teams got off to a decidedly slow start, with Hanceville up 8-6 after a sleepy first period.

The memontum picked up as Nation and Russell each found their respective paces.

But this time was different from the two previous outings for Nation, as she had help from Emilee Thomas and Kattie Arnold. Thomas scored 12 points and Arnold chipped in 10 for the Bulldogs.

By the midway point of the third period, Hanceville was starting to pull away.

Russell saved her best effort for the stretch drive, and helped her cause by hitting 11 shots in 18 attempts from the free throw line. But it wasn’t enough to catch the Bulldogs, who stretched the margin to double digits not long into the final quarter.

Russell also pulled down six rebounds and totaled five steals for the game.

Katelyn Geddings also scored 10 points, and Mandy Slatton added nine more, six of them in the final quarter.

The game was the first of four over a span of nine days to open the 2008-09 season for the Yellow Jackets.