Athens splits close games in basketball home opener

Published 5:55 am Thursday, November 16, 2017

The Athens Golden Eagles played a couple of nail-biters with Hartselle on Tuesday night, with the girls team squeaking out a 46-44 win while the boys fell in a tough defeat, 69-68.

Athens led just about the whole way in the girls game, taking a 14-8 lead after the first quarter, but Hartselle hung close and chipped away at the lead for the remainder of the game.

Athens led 22-17 at halftime and 31-26 after three quarters. However, Hartselle finally found some offense in the fourth, scoring 18 points in the final frame. The Golden Eagles were able to score enough to hold off the Tigers and take the hard-fought win.

Jakayla Bridgeforth led Athens (1-0) with 13 points, while Alexis Woods scored 12, with six of those being in the fourth quarter. Hartselle was led by Moriah Taylor and Anna Mathis, who both scored 11 points.

The boys game was also a tight affair, but the Golden Eagles couldn’t replicate the girls’ success and fell in a 1-point game.

The loss spoiled a great night for Athens’ Cameron Turner, who led the Eagles with 24 points. Tyler Williams also had a big night for Athens (0-1), scoring 19 points, while Marqueze Bone had 10.

Hartselle’s Brody Peebles led all scorers with 26 points while teammate Trace Hill scored 21 for the Tigers (2-0).

Athens next plays Friday at Decatur. The girls game will begin at 6 p.m., while the boys game will tip off at 7:30.