Franklin County Times 2009 All-County Girls Basketball Team

 

Published: Friday, March 13, 2009 4:34 PM CDT

sbeard@franklincountytimes.com

Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

First Team members include Amber Smith, Belgreen; Morgan Duncan, Red Bay;

Whitney Sharp, Red Bay;Erin Reynolds, Russellville;Tasha West, Russellville.

Tharptown’s Hollie Hines was named the Offensive Player of the Year while Phil Campbell’s Jessica Taylor was named the Defensive Player of the Year. Belgreen’s Shuana Humphries was named the Coach of the Year.

Second Team members include Martha Billingham, Belgreen; Kirsten Sharp, Red Bay; Kendra Baker, Tharptown; Chelsea McCluskey, Tharptown; Jesse Norwood, Vina.

Honorable Mentions include Katelin Barber, Belgreen; Caitlin Stancil, Phil Campbell; Whitley Yocum, Phil Campbell; Britan Bolding, Red Bay; Amber Elliot, Russellville.

THS Lady Wildcats End Season With Loss At Hazlewood

Hazlewood – The Lady Wildcats prepare for Thursday Nights game against the Hazlewood Lady Golden Bears.
Photo by Renita Flannagin

Hazlewood – The Tharptown Lady Wildcats lost their bid to advance in the Sub State Tournament on Thursday night with a 66- 61 finish against Hazlewood. The game started with a thunderous performance as the Wildcat girls conducted a “Shock and Awe” campaign scoring 23 points to Hazlewood’s 10. Kendra Baker scored 12 points in the first period with Hollie Hines adding 7. Also scoring 2 apiece were Chelsea McClusky and Laken Barnett. The half ended with Hazlewood coming back into the game 30 to THS’s 31.

The second half turned into a shoot out with the lead changing hands several times. But in the end it was the Lady Bears beating Tharptown by 5. (66 – 61)

Scoring totals were:

Kendra Baker: 24, Hollie Hines: 14, Chelsea McClusky: 14, Laken Barnett: 6, and Chloe Lane: 3.

Hazlewood – Kendra Baker scores 2 of her 24 points against the Golden Bears.  Photo by Renita Flannagin

Third season the charm as the Lady Wildcats make school history with sub-region berth

Scot Beard

sbeard@franklincountytimes.com

THARPTOWN - Before the start of the season, Tharptown varsity girls basketball coach Chad Green hoped the AHSAA realignment would benefit his team.

Last season the Lady Wildcats competed in an area featuring Hazlewood, one of the premier girls programs in northern Alabama, and R.A. Hubbard, another strong team.

With Tharptown competing in the sub-regional round of the playoffs this season, it looks like the past competition paid off.

Green didn’t want to rely solely on the past to help his team, so he challenged them throughout the season.

“We played a tough schedule this year,” Green said. “We went to the Russellville Tournament at the first of the year. We lost both games, but we knew those games would prepare us for the season and the playoffs.”

The Lady Wildcats used that experience to build a strong season and earn the second seed in the Class 1A, Area 15 Tournament. They defeated Speake, one of the preseason favorites to win the area title, in the semifinals to clinch Tharptown’s first trip to the sub-regional round.

The Lady Wildcats played at Hazlewood last night but the game was concluded too late for today’s edition of The Franklin County Times.

The win against Speake set up a finals showdown with county rival Belgreen, which defeated Tharptown twice during the regular season.

Senior Laken Barnett said the Lady Wildcats were on a mission against Belgreen.

“We were trying to give them a good game,” Barnett said. “We haven’t ever played our best when we played them. We wanted to play our best and show them who we really were.”

Mission accomplished.

Although Belgreen prevailed in the end, Tharptown took the Lady Bulldogs to two overtimes and only lost by three points.

Another senior, Hollie Hines, helped push the game to the first overtime when she hit a pair of free throws with less than 10 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game.

Hines, who has scored more than 1,000 points during her career with the Lady Wildcats, is also one of the team’s top rebounders.

“She is a beast down low,” Green said. “One coach called her an Amazon woman – we call her our bruiser.”

Hines said she doesn’t worry about her numbers as long as Tharptown is earning victories. She also thinks the game against Belgreen sent a message to other teams the Lady Wildcats will face during the playoffs.

“If we play hard Thursday night, we can come home with a win,” Hines said. “Anybody is beatable.”

Green thought the Lady Wildcats had a good chance at beating Hazlewood because Tharptown is playing its best basketball of the season right now. He also likes the Lady Wildcats chances if they do upset third-ranked Hazlewood.

“At Wallace State we will likely face familiar opponents – Belgreen, Hackleburg and Hubbertville,” Green said. “We’ve played almost all of them during the regular season so we know what they are going to do.”

Part of this season’s success can be attributed to the team coming together and gaining confidence in each other.

Senior Lauren Scott said the squad has gelled this year and is playing more like a team.

“I think we realized we can do it,” Scott said. “In past years we haven’t been so confident and really believed in ourselves.”

Green agrees, saying he has seen quite a change during the last few seasons. He said two years ago the team was getting its feet wet and last year they were still learning.

“This year you can see the girls on the bench cheering for the other girls and standing up giving them high fives as they are coming off the court,” Green said.

While the team chemistry has helped, Green said having each player fulfill her role is why Tharptown has gone this far.

“It can’t be all superstars and all-stars, you have to have some girls take charges and step in there on the boards,” Green said. “You have to have everybody do their job to be a successful team.”

Green said the players coming off the bench have been very good at fulfilling their roles this season. He said the bench players are not the same type of player they are replacing, but they do their job.

“Elly (Valdez) isn’t going to come in and score 25 points, but she is going to hound you defensively all over the court,” Green said.

While the seniors have worked hard to get the Lady Wildcats where they are today, the juniors are dedicated to continue building a strong tradition for girls basketball at Tharptown.

“(The seniors) have taught us how to work together as a team,” said Chelsea McCluskey, one of the Lady Wildcats leading scorers.

While the future looks bright for the Lady Wildcats, it is this team that made history by becoming the first squad at Tharptown to reach the sub-regional round of the playoffs.

Senior Gaby Gomez thinks the squad’s sense of team and its hard work are what she will remember when she thinks of this season.

“Everybody gets along and plays hard,” Gomez said. “They try their best on the court and try to prove everybody is wrong to think we can’t make it.”

Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

Cheerleaders? We Got Em!

Belgreen - During the Area Tournament game on Saturday night, the Wildcat crowd had no regular Cheerleaders due to the fact that most of them were dressed out as Basketball players. (Pretty + Tough + Multi Talented = Tharptown Girl) But not to fear, Christy Dill and the Youth League All-Star Cheerleaders in to save the day! These little girls dispensed a SUPER SIZED dose of good ‘ole Wildcat Spirit, leading the crowd in cheering the Varsity girls on in their battle against Belgreen. I vote we dress them out in their Youth League outfits and send them to the next round!

THS Varsity Girls Go Toe To Toe With Belgreen

2008-09 Varsity Lady Wildcats with their Area 15
Runner Up Champions Plaque – Photo by Renita Flannagin

Belgreen – The Tharptown Wildcat Girls traded blows with Belgreen for 4 regulation periods, and 2 overtimes on Saturday Night. In the end it was the Belgreen Bulldogs who prevailed to win the Area 15 Tournament 68 – 65. The Tharptown team played with more determination and grit than I’ve seen all season. Giving a heroic effort were Hollie Hines, Chelsea McClusky, Kendra Baker, Heather Hatton and LaTosha George. But after Hollie and Chelsea fouled out, it was veteran Laken Barnett along with Kendra Baker who led the team in overtime. Also playing significant roles in overtime were Jessica Myrick, Elly Valdez, and Autumn Hatton.

Congratulations to the girls for a great season, and winning the Region 15 Runner Up trophy. Go Wildcats!

Laken Barnette, Elly Valdez, Hollie Hines, Kendra Baker
and Chelsea McClusky take the court on Saturday - Photo by Tim Flannagin

Varsity Boys fall to Phillips 70-29

Seniors Mackinley Flannagin and Tyler Cagle in action
against Phillips. Photo by Renita Flannagin

Excerpt from FCT Article by Scot Beard scot.beard@franklincountytimes.com

Phillips 79 – Tharptown 29

The Phillips defense shut out Tharptown in the first quarter on its way to a 79-29 victory against the Wildcats in the Class 1A, Area 15 Tournament semifinals.

The No. 2-ranked Bears jumped out to a 14-0 lead after the opening period and pushed its advantage to 34-10 at halftime.

Scoring for Tharptown were Jacob Parker (8), Tyler Cagle (8), Manny Ricardo (6), Mackinley Flannagin (5) and Wade Berryman (2).

Andy Pounders scored 17 for Phillips.

Lady Wildcats Down Speake 61-53

Chelsea McClusky shoots free throws against Speake
in Thursday nights game. – Photo by Tim Flannagin

Belgreen – After a slow paced start, the Tharptown Lady Wildcats turned the heat up on the Speake Lady Bobcats to win 61-53. The Wildcats were able to neutralize Speake’s  Kylee Black through out the first half as they slugged it out on the court. Black eventually fouled out in the 4th period leaving the center action to a dominating Hollie Hines. Sealing the deal was Chelsea McClusky who scored 17 of her 28 points in the 4th period. This included 10 points at the free throw line. Scoring was as follows:

5- Chelsea McClusky – 28

30- Kendra Baker – 6

2- Heather Hatton – 2

3- Hollie Hines – 15

21 – LaTosha George – 2

22 Elly Valdez – 8

Tharptown will meet Belgreen for the Championship game on Saturday at Belgreen’s gym.

Varsity Girls to Meet Speake in the Area 15 Tournament

Belgreen – The THS Varsity girls will meet the Speake Varsity girls in the first round of the Area 15 Tournaments on Thursday night at 7:30 in Belgreen High School gym. The girls are 1-1 against the Bobcats, and are looking for a chance to advance to Hanceville. Come out and support them, and be prepared for an exciting game!

Tharptown Boys Down Vina 68 – 30

Trevor Hallmark shoots in Tuesday’s game against
Vina. Photo – Renita Flannagin

Bear Creek – The Tharptown Varsity Boys squad advanced to the Semifinal round of the Area 15 tournament on Tuesday night by beating Vina 68-30.  The THS squad looked at ease during the game as Coach Odom tried several different line-ups against the Red Devil team. Overall, it was a productive night with every player on the Wildcat team scoring. The shooting breakdown was:

Manny Ricardo – 6

Matt Austin – 8

Jacob Parker – 12

Trevor Hallmark – 10

Mackinley Flannagin – 6

Tyler Cagle – 8

Wade Berryman – 4

Brandon Cothrum – 4

Drew Ergle – 8

Wesley Borden – 2

Join the Boys as they meet Phillips (1) in the semifinal round on Friday Night at 6:30 in the Phillips High School Gym

The Varsity Boys Can Check Beating Red Bay Off Their “To Do” List

Tharptown – The Tharptown Varsity Boys have struggled with Red Bay for a long time. So long in fact, that Seniors Mackinley Flannagin and Tyler Cagle have never played on a team that can claim a win against the Tigers. And to be honest, courtesy of some really questionable referee calls (or more precisely, a lack thereof) in the 3rd period of Friday nights game, it looked like they’d finish their careers without that item completed. But after falling behind by 6 points, the Wildcats rallied to beat the Tigers 82 – 72 giving them good momentum going into the Area Tournaments next week. Manny Ricardo lead the scoring with 25 points, followed by Jacob Parker 21 points, and Trevor Hallmark 17 points.  Also scoring were Tyler Cagle 6, Matt Austin 4, Mackinley Flannagin 3, Drew Ergle 3, and Wade Berryman 3.