By Staff
Tigers lose third straight, Lady Tigers also fall
Nick Johnston, Hartselle Enquirer
Athens holds the top spots in both Class 5A boys and girls basketball.
It showed why Friday night.
Both Hartselle teams traveled to Athens and lost, including the Tigers' 66-52 defeat and the girls' 61-36 loss.
With the loss, the Tigers are now on a three-game losing steak heading into Tuesday night's tilt with Coffee. No information was available from the game by press time.
Athens 66, Hartselle 52
Richard Hendrix is said to be one of the best sophomores in the state. Against Hartselle, he notched a triple-double with 25 points, 18 rebounds and 10 blocks.
That, combined with Hartselle's 30 percent shooting, made for a long evening for head coach Johnny Berry and his Hartselle Tigers.
The Tigers never led in the contest, trailing 17-8 at the end of the first quarter and 30-18 at halftime.
Hartselle trailed by as many as 19 at the beginning of the fourth quarter but rallied to within nine points on Gary Speegle's layup at the 4:41 mark. Speegle's follow-up dunk 1:19 later cut Athens' lead to 10, but he could get the Tigers no closer.
Marlon Chapman led Hartselle with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Zac Ward scored 17 points and had eight rebounds. Speegle ended the night with eight points.
Hartselle shot 1 for 20 from the three-point line.
Athens 61, Hartselle 36
Girls
Athens led 33-6 with 3:55 remaining in the first half before an 8-0 run by Hartselle got the Lady Tigers into double figures. Hartselle trailed 34-14 at halftime and 48-21 by third quarter's end. Hartselle trailed by as much as 29 in the second half.
Shan Jones led the Lady Tigers with 13.