HANCEVILLE – Lane Horton Gymnasium on the campus of Hanceville High School was full of eager hoops fans ready to cheer on their Hanceville Bulldogs Thursday night.
Hanceville 46, Pennington 19 (Boys)
RJ Evans was unstoppable, dropping in 16 points on the way to a 46-19 pounding of the J.B. Pennington Tigers.
“He doesn’t know what he is doing always,” said head coach Daniel Wakefield, with a smile, about his standout sophomore. “But he plays hard, he throws his body around and he is rebounding well. He is averaging a double-double for the year. For a sophomore, I don’t know what else we can expect from him.”
Evans led Hanceville on a 12-0 run to open the game, scoring nine points including the first seven of the game, forcing an early timeout by Pennington to try and stem the bleeding. However, the strategy did not work as the Bulldogs continued to pour on the pressure to take a 17-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Pennington started the second quarter with a deep three from Jackson Bullard and looked as if they were going to cut into the Bulldog lead, but the stingy Hanceville defense quickly put a stop to the Pennington momentum, holding the Tigers to just six points in the quarter, leading to a 13-point lead at the half.
Hanceville came out of the locker room strong, going on a 7-2 run and prompting a Tiger timeout. The Bulldogs again played lockdown defense, holding Pennington to just the one bucket in the frame, going up by 25 and putting it all but out of reach.
Pennington continued to play hard in the fourth but Hanceville held strong and cruised to the 46-19 victory, picking up momentum as they get ready to host their annual Thanksgiving Tournament.
Pennington 66, Hanceville 23 (Girls)
Darby Hamm controlled the game in the paint for Pennington, scoring 25 and collecting a pair of blocks, helping Pennington to the victory.
Both squads looked to be evenly matched in the early going, swapping baskets up and down the floor, but it was the Lady Tiger defense that was the difference in the quarter as they recorded back-to-back-to-back steals that turned into six points at the end of the quarter. This flurry led to a 21-12 first quarter lead and they never looked back.
Karmen Johnson scored the first points of the second quarter to pull Hanceville to within seven but Pennington answered with 11 straight to go ahead 18 midway through the frame. The action went back and forth for the last four minutes, with the Lady Tigers taking a 40-21 advantage to the halftime break.
The third quarter was unkind to the Lady Bulldogs as they were held scoreless while Pennington added 17 more to go ahead by 36 and ensure the fourth quarter would be played with a hot clock. The Lady Tigers went on to win the contest by a 33-point margin, 66-23.
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