The Selma Times-Journal

SOUTHSIDE &045; The Southside High School Panthers took their first steps toward returning to the 4A State Championship game Friday by whipping the St James High School Trojans 61-29 in the first round of the AHSAA Class 4A Area 4 tournament.

The Panthers went to work early pressuring St James the entire length of the court and coasted to an 18-2 advantage after one quarter of play.

Sloppy play in the second quarter on the part of Southside allowed the Trojans to get within eight.

But the Panthers recovered and took a 13-point lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Panthers continued to pressure the ball defensively in the second half.

On offense they packed the ball inside and built a whopping 42-24 lead by the end of thethird quarter.

St. James just didn’t have the answer in this contest. They only scored five points in the fourth quarter.

Jeffery Anderson topped all scorers with 18 points for Southside.

Kendrick Fairs added 11 points. Landon Eley scored 10 points for the Trojans.

The Panthers will face Brewbaker Tech on Monday at 7 pm for the 4A Area 4 championship.

In other regional basketball action, R.C. Hatch victimized the Billinglsey Bears while the Keith Bears outlasted Marbury to earn a finals berth.

Maplesville 62

Thorsby 31

The Lady Devils jumped out to an early lead over the Lady Rebels and they never let it go.

The devils opened with two (back to back) three pointers from number 12.

With 5:46 left in the first period, number 42 gave the rebels their first point (from the free throw line).

The devils finished the first period on top 22-5.

The rebels finally hit double digits with just over a minute left in the second.

However, Daphne Green gave the devils their biggest lead of the game, 40-10, hitting from the free throw line just before the half.

The devils continued their streak ending the third period up 55-17 and finishing 62-31.

Jamie Deloach led the way for he devils with 15 points along with Daphne Green adding 14 points and K. Bell adding 10.

Amber Robinson led the rebels with 9 points along with Ashlin Hiyler who scored 8.

Keith 55

Marbury 53

Despite Marbury’s effort, Keith held on for a 55-53 victory.

At the end of the second period Keith was up 29-22 but it was the second half of the game that kept Marbury fans on the edge of their seats.

At the end of the third period number 3 for Marbury sunk a three pointer to put them within two (37-35).

Number 40(Keith) started the fourth period with (back to back) three pointers.

Late in the fourth, after several trips to the free throw line from both teams, Keith was up 54-52.

With 12.5 seconds left in the game #1(Marbury) was fouled and made one of his two free throw attempts putting Keith’s lead at just one.

There was still hope for Marbury when #24(Keith) missed one of his two free throws, but a missed three pointer at the buzzer secured a win for Keith.

Keith was led by Lee with 16 points, James who scored 10, and McGuire with 7.

Marbury was led by Warren with 22 points and Browder with 18.

R C Hatch 103

Billingsly 47

R C Hatch knocked off Billingsly with ease on Friday night scoring 103 points to Billingsly 47.

Number 23 hit a three pointer at the buzzer to put Hatch up 34-16 at the end of the first period.

Billingsly scored only seven points in the second period putting Hatch up 58-23 at the half.

Hatch continued to outscore Billingsly through the third period ending it ahead 86-29.

F. Sullivan led Hatch with 21 points along with P. Johnson who had 15.

Brown added 13 and E. Sullivan added 10. Massey led Billingsly scoring 12 points, Bailey added 10, and Manning added 7.