Red Boiling Springs Opens Basketball Season on Winning Note

Red Boiling Springs got their basketball season underway last Tuesday night with the Boys and Girls claiming victories over different teams.

The Lady Bulldogs won big over Daniel Academy 55-25 while the Bulldogs defeated Aaron Academy 63-52.

The Lady Bulldogs were playing their first game under new head coach Dustin Mckinney who took over the helm replacing Larry White who retired after 39 years. The Lady Bulldogs were on the attack early with their full court pressure defense and junior point guard Hannah Smith knocking down 2 long 3 pointers helped the Lady Bulldogs to a first quarter lead of 14-3. The Lady Bulldogs kept the defensive pressure helped them to a 24-19 lead at halftime with Daniel Academy used their height advantage to outscore the home team in the quarter and the Lady Bulldogs saw their lead cut to 5 points. Smith had 11 points at the break with Mckenzie Hix helping out with 8 points. The Lady Bulldogs were forced into 8 turnovers in the first half and they were having trouble with the aggressive style of play and easy baskets by the Lady Eagles.

The third quarter proved to be the turning point for the Lady Bulldogs as Maggie Isenberg and Kaitlyn McCarter coming alive with 12 points between them plus Cayley Tuck scored a late basket and claimed 6 boards to boost the Lady Bulldog lead to 38-23 after 3 quarters of play.

The Lady Bulldog bench got into the scoring column in the 4th quarter with Macy Raines scoring 4 points while Bailey Morgan and Tamara Murphy plus Amber McCarter each had 2 points. The Lady defense was the big factor in the final quarter resulted in some easy points. Abby Tuck came off the bench at the point guard and although she failed to score her running the offense and 2 steals aided the Lady Bulldog effort.

The Boys game was a close contest as the kids from Aaron Academy gave the Bulldogs all they could handle the entire game and held a 1 point lead after the first quarter 15-14. Alex Mullinex had made two 3 pointers while Chance Asberry and Zane Roberts each had a 3 pointer to keep the Bulldogs within striking distance. The Bulldogs came alive in the second quarter with Senior Nick Deckard scoring 11 points and post Brince Crouch adding 5 points and Mullinex stayed hot with 4 points as the Bulldogs put 20 points on the board to take a halftime lead 34-27.

Aaron Academy came out strong in the third quarter and their pressure defense and rebounding allowed them to outscore the Bulldogs 11-10 to send this game to the final quarter down only 6 points. The Bulldogs managed only 3 baskets in the quarter plus 4 free throws to keep this game close. The outcome of this game could go to the team that had kids in better shape. That was the bulldogs. The Bulldogs managed only 2 baskets in the 4th quarter but hit 13 out of 17 free throws and claimed the boards by a wide margin as they won the game with their defense and free throws.

The Bulldogs had a balanced scoring attack led by Alex Mullinix with 21 points followed by Nick Deckard with 15 and Brince Crouch with 12 points. Zane Roberts finished with 9 points and Chance Asberry had 6 points.
             
The Bulldogs would play a second game Tuesday night against McClain Christian winning 62-24. Brince Crouch led the Bulldogs in scoring with 22 points.

Red Boiling Springs will hit the road on Saturday traveling to Webb High School with the games starting at 1 pm. The Bulldogs have 3 straight games on the road after Saturday before returning home on November 25th to face Clay County.