Athens' Marqueze Bone looks for his shot as Drew Beddingfield reaches in to defense in the Golden Eagles' 72-52 victory on Tuesday night.

Athens coach Stace Tedford wanted his team to be focused on defense in Tuesday’s game against West Limestone. His players got the message, as the Golden Eagles took an early lead and never looked back in a 72-52 victory.

“We hadn’t played in a week, and for us to be good, we’re going to have to be good on defense,” Tedford said. “West Limestone has some really good shooters, and we knew if we let up for a second, their shooters would keep them in the game. We wanted to mix up a lot of the looks we gave them and keep them off balance.”

West Limestone took an early 5-4 lead before Athens started flexing its muscles. The Golden Eagles had the advantage down low and consistently out-rebounded the Wildcats on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.

The Eagles took a 20-8 lead after one quarter, and only some hot shooting in the second quarter kept West Limestone in the game at all, as Athens led 36-26 at halftime.

The Wildcats had closed the score to 38-30 three minutes into the third quarter before the Athens defense and Chandler Leopard combined to blow the game open.

Leopard started the barrage with three consecutive 3-pointers before the Golden Eagles had two consecutive steals that turned into layups.

Leopard then hit his fourth consecutive 3-pointer, which gave Athens a 58-36 lead after three quarters.

“If you can be solid defensively and do a good job there, it can lead to transition shots,” Tedford said. “We do well shooting in transition. Chandler got going there and went on a 12-0 run by himself, but that started because we were playing good defense and rebounding.”

Athens (7-2) had very balanced scoring, with five players scoring in double figures, led by Leopard’s 12 points.

Isaiah Gilbert, Marqueze Bone, Tyquan Gilbert and Tyler Williams all scored 10 points for the Golden Eagles, which will play in the Pepsi Tournament at Austin High School this weekend, taking on James Clemens at 8 p.m. Friday and Decatur Heritage at 5 p.m. Saturday.

West Limestone (9-3) was led by Drew Beddingfield with 15 points and Braden Tuten with 10.

Athens girls 60, West Limestone 20

Athens had no problems with West Limestone on Tuesday night, as the Golden Eagles raced out to an early lead and were never challenged.

Athens led 16-8 after one quarter and took a 32-10 lead into the halftime locker room after holding the Wildcats to just two points in the second quarter.

Athens (9-4) was led by Jakayla Bridgeforth with 15 points, while Olivia Patton chipped in with 11 and Alexis Woods added eight.

Cassidy Winter led West Limestone with 12 points, while Carlie Winter added five.