ADDISON, Ala. — The Falkville Blue Devils brought their men’s and women’s teams into Stephenson Gym to play the Addison Bulldogs on senior night Thursday night. The girls game promised to be a good one because The Falkville Lady Devils were 16-8 and defeated the Lady Dawgs earlier in the season. That loss was one of only two that the Lady Dawgs suffered all year as they brought their stellar 18-2 mark into the game. The game wasn’t as close as promised due to the fact that the Lady Devils were shorthanded three of their five starters, two due to the flu and one to injury. Addison’s Lady Dawgs won the game 57-44. The Lady Dawgs improved to 19-2 and will host their area tournament Monday night. The boys game should have been a run-away and it was. Addison was more talented, and it showed as the Bulldogs raced out to a big early lead and won going away, 73-38. Addison improves to 12-12 and will travel to Red Bay to play in the area tournament Tuesday.
Addison 57 – Falkville 44 (varsity girls)
Addison hosted the Falkville Lady Devils in a matchup of what was supposed to be two evenly matched teams. Addison was looking for revenge as Falkville was one of only two teams that defeated the Lady Dawgs all season. Falkville was suffering from illness and injury as three of their five starters were out. It was senior night at Addison and the fans got to see what turned out to be a great show of sportsmanship between the teams occurring at the opening tip. Addison Senior Amylia Cleghorn suffered a knee injury at the Winston County Tournament last week and then reaggravated it at practice Monday. Cleghorn will probably miss the rest of the season with the knee injury. Addison Coach Frank Graham and Falkville head man Jonathan Lacey agreed to allow Cleghorn to score a basket on the first play and Addison would allow Falkville to score a layup to tie the game. After Cleghorn’s made basket and a Falkville follow up score, a timeout was called and Cleghorn left the court for possibly the final time in her Bulldog uniform to a rousing ovation.
The Lady Dawgs got off to a slow start and only led 12-11 at the end of the first period. The Lady Dawgs then started to apply pressure to the undermanned Lady Devils and dominated the second period 20-8 to take a 32-19 halftime lead. The third period began with Addison playing a lot of the young ones and were outscored 15-13. The Lady Devils never quit and fought gamely till the end.
Addison ended up outscoring Falkville 12-10 in the fourth to end the game by a score of 57-44. You have to give Falkville credit for playing tough, but tonight belonged to the Lady Dawgs
Playing their last regular season home game were Addison seniors Amylia Cleghorn, Kaylee Brummett, Macey Butler and Savannah Manley.
After the game, Coach Graham said, “This was a great group of Seniors and they will be missed. We played well tonight but gave up the baseline way too much. We are going to have a lesson on where the baseline is and how to cut it off. I really appreciated Coach Lacey allowing Amylia to score on senior night. She has meant a lot to our team and if she can’t play, she will be missed. We only shot nine out of 30 from the free throw line so that has got to improve.”
Addison was led in scoring by Senior Savannah “Nanner Belle” Manley with 17 points, Callie “The Enforcer” Crider had 11 points, Macey “Homecoming Queen” Butler and Bracey “Tiny” Rodgers each had 10. Crider, as usual, led in rebounding with 14, Manley had 10 boards and Kaylee “I can score from anywhere” Brummett chipped in eight.
Other stat lines; Crider had 11 points, 14 rebounds, an assist, two steals and a block. Brummett had six points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. Butler had 10 points, four boards, four assists and a steal. Manley had 17 points, 10 boards, three assists and a block.
Shorthanded Falkville was led by Junior Makenzie Veal with 11 points and nine rebounds. Senior Abby Speegle had 17 points and five boards.
Addison improved to 19-2 and will host the Area Tournament starting next Monday. Addison will host as the number one seed and will contend with Red Bay, WCHS and Sulligent.
Addison 73 – Falkville 38 (varsity boys)
Addison hosted Falkville in a game that was a mismatch on paper and it turned out to be a mismatch on the court. Addison couldn’t really celebrate senior night since they have no seniors on the roster. Addison came out red hot and outscored Falkville 23-14 in the first period. The second period was probably the best defensive quarter that Addison has played all year.
The Bulldogs pressed the ball, denied the lane and dominated the glass. Addison seemed to feed on the crowd and their defensive stops led to easy baskets on offense. A highlight play of the year for the Dawgs was a second period Aaley oopunk from Cannon “The Sniper” Hiller to Logan “Baby Shaq” Wilkins. The crowd went nuts as well as the team. The period was dominated by Addison and the halftime score was 47-22.
The second half started out and it was a pretty even third period. Falkville’s Avery Miller, a rising sophomore, came out of his shell and scored nine of his 11 points in the quarter. Addison was clearly ahead 65-36 to start the fourth period. Addison got contributions from 11 players in the third quarter.
The fourth period was a horrible period for the Blue Devils as they only scored two points. Addison only scored eight but cruised to win the game easily, 73-38.
It was a complete game by Addison, possibly the best that they have played all year as they improved their record to 12-12. After the win, Head Coach Ben Mastin said, “We got off to a good start. We are building habits that will help us on Tuesday and for the future. We did the right things tonight, offensively, defensively in all phases. We knocked down 17 of 20 free throws and that is nothing but concentration. If we show up with this type of effort, I feel real good about our chances on Tuesday.”
Addison was led by Eli “Curly” Howse who scored a game-high 20 points. Logan “Baby Shaq” Wilkins had 14 points, Jessie “Rooster” Brock had 11 points. Wilkins led in rebounding with 10 and Quentin “Moto” Barley had eight boards.
Several interesting stat lines; Wilkins had 14 points, 10 boards, an assist and a steal. Howse had 20 points, two rebounds, five assists and a steal. Hiller had six points, three rebounds and two assists. Barley four points, eight boards and a steal. Christian “Silent Assassin” Roberts had six points, three boards and two assists.
Falkville was led by Sophomore Avery Miller with 11 points and Senior Gage Ruiz who had nine points and four rebounds.
Addison will travel to Red Bay to play in the area tournament on Tuesday. Addison will play Sulligent (Addison is 0-2 against the Blue Devils) while Red Bay hosts Winston County.
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