Russellville varsity girls win, boys fall at home against Fairview
The Russellville High School varsity girls’ and boys’ basketball teams saw mixed results when Fairview came to town on Tuesday night, the Lady Golden Tigers earning a win over FHS but the RHS boys suffering a double-digit defeat.
The Russellville and Fairview girls featured in the first varsity matchup of the night. Led by junior guard Ella Copeland, who recorded 26 points, her 10th 25-plus-point scoring performance this season, the Lady Golden Tigers won by a comfortable 14-point margin in the end, beating the Lady Aggies 66-52.
Russellville led at the end of the first quarter 18-14 and continued to build on its advantage throughout the contest. At halftime the Lady Golden Tigers had moved the margin to eight points; by the end of the third their lead was 11 and they finished strong in the fourth, outscoring Fairview 18-15.
Key to Russellville’s success on the night was the Lady Golden Tigers’ ability to score from all over the court.
“I was excited about our shooting tonight. Our ability to space the floor has been better than it has been,” RHS head coach Jermaine Groce said in his postgame interview on WGOL 100.7 FM.
As Russellville has moved into the back half of its campaign, more focus has been placed on shooting well and shooting more consistently, Groce said.
“The first half of the season, the main thing you want to do is figure out your scheme, figure out what you want to do, and implementing that and making sure everyone is good to go on that,” he said. “What we’ve been able to do here lately is, because we’re not having to allocate time to implementation, we’re able to spend a lot more time on shooting and we’re starting to see the benefits of that.”
In addition to Copeland’s 26 points, guard Sadie Odom hit five three-pointers to give her 15 points—that was a season high for Odom—and senior Laila Hill hit double figures with 10 points.
“Ella came out and was super aggressive, and I think the officials probably let (Fairview) get away with a lot more than they should have. I think she should’ve gone to the free throw line a little more than that,” Groce said. “But she’s tough and she figured out how to get shots up and get to the free throw line. She did a great job being aggressive and tough.
“We had four players that hit a three tonight. Sadie went off tonight and had a great percentage from the field, hitting five threes,” he added. “If you put it all together like we did tonight—Ella’s aggressiveness and scoring and our ability to hit shots from the perimeter—we’re going to be a tough out.”
The win improved Russellville’s record to 12-8 overall.
In the boys’ game, the Golden Tigers’ offensive struggles continued against the Aggies.
The first quarter saw Fairview double up on RHS 12-6 and then take a nine-point, 20-11, lead into halftime.
Russellville’s point total increased in each of the final two periods of play, but not enough to keep pace with the visitors.
“I felt like we just came out really flat,” Russellville head coach Patrick Odom said. “We probably played the best we’ve played all year (Monday) night (against Haleyville), and maybe we were just a little tired but we just didn’t play with the same intensity tonight.
“I knew if we got behind, with the way Fairview plays, it was going to be tough to catch back up. They hold the ball and they move the ball, and we just could never get the game moving at all,” he added.
Junior Tripp Cleveland led RHS with eight points in the loss and Daniel Aycock scored six points.
The defeat drops the Golden Tigers to 4-14 this campaign.
Up next, on Friday, January 16, both the RHS girls’ and boys’ varsity teams will travel south for an area matchup at West Point.