The Fort Dale Academy Eagles soared past the Greenville Academy Tornados this past Friday night at a jam-packed FDA gym

At the "Nest", the Eagle junior varsity and varsity teams' combined efforts resulted in a four for four sweep.

In the boys' game, the Eagles (11-5) jumped out to an early 10-0 point lead in the first quarter en route to an 83-50 win over the Tornados (0-14).

FDA Senior forward Marshall Watts led the charge with his first triple-double of the season.

Watts had 15 points, 10 steals and 11 rebounds against the crosstown rivals.

GA's Josh Beverly led the Tornados in scoring on the other side.

The Eagles ran

the court and press edthe young Tornado team during the whole game.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was 24-6.

GA varsity boys' coach Steve Whittington said FDA has a great team.

"They have a very talented team at Fort Dale," Whittington said. "Our players were overmatched."

The Tornados went up against their rivals without two of their starters due to the flu and academics.

"Although we lost, I'm proud of the way our players hustled," the coach said.

As the game progressed, the lead grew.

Juniors Adam Crenshaw had 10 points and Adam Hollis had 12

along with 10 rebounds.

The Eagles went 17 of 22 from the charity stripe.

FDA coach Reggie Mantooth was pleased with the win.

"I thought we played well and our guys did a good job shooting the free throws," Mantooth said.

n The FDA varsity girls (13-3) defended their home court in a 69-52 win against a feisty GA team that gave a good account of itself.

Both clubs traded baskets during the first quarter after GA took a brief 4-0 lead.

After an 11 point advantage at the end of the first period, the Eagles extended the lead to 14 at halftime.

In the beginning of the third, GA cut the lead back to 11 before FDA senior guard Melissa Gilbert stole the show.

Gilbert extended the lead to 17 after nailing two back-to-back three pointers.

Besides going 50 percent from beyond the arc, she had 21 points and 12 rebounds on the night.

On two different occasions, the Tornados battled back to cut the margin to within 10 points but the Eagles put GA away in the fourth.

GA varsity girl's coach Gary Wayne Bowen said the girls played well.

"We played them close for the most part but let the game slip away in the fourth," Bowen said.

With the help of junior guard Meredith Moseley, the Eagles downed GA by 17 when the final buzzer went off.

Moseley had a game high 24 points while going 10-17 from the field. Senior forward Abbie Gardner led the team with a season high 14 rebounds.

n The junior varsity FDA girls defeated the JV Lady Tornados 36-19.

FDA's Laura Skipper had a game high 14 points and teammate Marcey Adams had 10 points in the win.

GA was led by 12 points from Ginger May.

Kelly McGough and Tracy Weldon each had two points.

In the game, the 7-4 Tornados traded baskets with Eagles during the first half. At halftime, the score was 12-11 in favor of Fort Dale. The Eagles then outscored the Tornados in the second half 24-8 for the win.

n

The JV boys' game also came out in favor of the Eagles. FDA won handily by the score of 63-22.

FDA's Justin Pierce led all scorers with 18 points and Ty Langston dropped in nine points.

On GA's side, they were led by six points from Kyle Salter.

With the win, the JV Eagles qualified for the state tournament.

They will play Marengo Academy at 10:50 a.m. on Saturday at Hooper Academy in a single elimination tournament.

The Tornados will be in action on Friday night Jan. 21 against Mobile Baptist starting at 5 p.m.

"Our players are young but they are getting the experience that will help us to be better in the future," Whittington said.

The Eagles will host Lowndes Academy on Friday night as well with tip off is set for 4 p.m.