Butler County Magnet School held its first annual Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament, and head coach Kirk Norris was pleased with the turnout.

“We were glad to see everyone who came out to our new facility this week,” Norris said. “We had four teams this year in the tournament, both boys and girls, and next year I hope we can expand that to 8 teams.”

Highland Home School, St. Jude, Booker T. Washington Magnet School and Butler County Magnet School participated in the two-day tournament.

On Monday, the 4A St. Jude girls defeated the Lady Squadron 70-30, followed by another loss for HHS as the Flyboys of Highland Home fell to St. Jude, 71-51.

In the third game on Monday, the Lady Panthers of BCMS lost to BTWM, 42-35.

Finally, BCMS defeated BTW, 53-36. Leading scorers for the Panthers were Victor Marshall with 16 points, LaCory Savage with 10, and Adrian Paige dropped in 8.

On Tuesday, Nov. 24, the Lady Squadron of Highland Home beat the Lady Panthers of BCMS, 48-45, in the consolation game.

The score was tied 45-45 until HHS dropped in two points in the final 20 seconds in the game; a foul was called and a free throw put HHS over the top for the win.

The leading scorer for HHS was Cornika Gipson with 16 points, while Butler County’s leading scorer was Melissa Betts with 12 points.

In the boys’ consolation game, 4A Booker T. Washington defeated HHS 67-65 in overtime.

The leading scorer for BTW was Anthony Williams with 27 points, with 7 of those being 3-pointers. The leading scorer for 2A HHS was Antawine Harris with 18 points.

It came down to the St. Jude ladies going up against Booker T. Washington in the girls’ championship game on Tuesday. St. Jude came out on top winning the tournament in a 59-49 victory. The leading scorer for St. Jude and tournament MVP was Taylor Sippial with 19 points.

In the boys’ championship game, St. Jude overpowered BCMS in a heavy 62-36 loss, giving St. Jude the tournament championship title.

The leading scorer for the Panthers was Victor Marshall with 10 points. Alfernee Simpson had 15 points, and Courtney Brooks had 12.

The girls’ All-Tournament team consisted of the following: BCMS- Melissa Betts; HHS –Cornika Gipson; BTWM-Jennifer West and Destine DeRamus; and from St. Jude-Brittney Wingfield and Kasemea Ashbourne.

The tournament MVP was Taylor Sippial from St. Jude.

The boys’ All-Tournament team consisted of the following: HHS-Antawine Harris; BTW-Chris Samuel; BCMS-Victor Marshall and Adrian Paige; and for St. Jude-George Price and Alfernee Simpson.

The MVP was Courtney Brooks from St. Jude.

“The St. Jude Pirates are ranked 10th in Class 2A,” Norris said.

“All the teams enjoyed coming, and we look forward to having everyone plus even more back next year,” he added.

The Panthers’ next game is Thursday, Dec. 3, at Flomaton, with the B team starting at 4:30 p.m., followed by the varsity girls and varsity boys. Presently, the BCMS Varsity boys’ season record is 3-1, and the girls are 0-4.