By Staff
Tigers' Rodgers passes 1,000 career points
Charles Prince, Hartselle Enquirer
FLORETTE – For the last half-dozen games of the regular season, the fortunes of the Brewer Lady Patriots and the Hartselle Lady Tigers appear to be like automobiles.
The Brewer vehicle running as smoothly as after a tune-up to five straight wins, while the Hartselle vehicle appeared to be leaking oil and over-heating as they suffered four losses in five games.
Both vehicles continued to run the same way Friday night at Brewer as the Lady Pats humbled the Lady Tigers, 66-43.
"Our girl's are playing real hard right now," Brewer coach Ricky Allen said.
"That's why we're playing so well lately."
The first period was a competitive one as both teams raced up and down the floor and combined for 37 total points.
Hartselle trailed 18-16 with only three seconds to play, when Brewer's Andrea Crawford took an inbound pass and dribbled just past half court and fired a desperation heave as the buzzer sounded.
The ball bounced on the rim and fell in for a three-point basket and a 21-16 lead.
The Lady Pats built a 34-24 lead at halftime and continued to pull away in the second half thanks to four-of-five shooting behind the three-point arc and an aggressive full-court press, which created turnover after turnover and took Hartselle out of the game.
After three periods, Brewer had a commanding 52-36 lead.
The victory upped the Brewer record to 16-10 heading into the Area 14 tournament. Hartselle slipped to 18-8 and suffered their second loss in two weeks to Brewer.
The Lady Pats had whipped the Lady Tigers in the finals of the Morgan County tournament Jan. 22.
Crawford paced Brewer with 25 points, while Andrea Persle added 15 and Courtney Scott scored 10 more.
Nichole Hayes added eight, while Nichole Lavender and Heather Childers scored three each and Michelle Tillman scored two.
Lauren Drake scored 17 points to pace Hartselle, while Mary Virginia Reeves had 13 and Jessica Andrews had 11. Lauren Davis added two for the Lady Tigers.
Patriots 59,
Tigers 48
Brewer picked up win No. 20 as they whipped Hartselle on the night Tiger senior Keith Rodgers passed the 1,000-point mark.
The Patriots were paced by Matt Nielsen with 25 points, while Austin Mooney added 10, Matt Cobbs nine, Derrick Black eight and Travis Boyd with seven more.
Rodgers scored 22 to lead Hartselle, while Daxton Maze added 12, Eric Norwood, Jackson Holmes, Chase Lusk and Gary Orr all scored three and Alex Thompson scored two points.
Hartselle slipped to 7-19 on the season.