Eagles, Lady Eagles prep for state
Published 6:49 pm Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Fort Dale head basketball coach William Johnson knows if both his teams take care of business one challenge will still remain:
Beating Lee-Scott Academy.
While both FDA’s boys and girls have been, for the most part, dominant against the competition on its schedule, Lee-Scott has swept Fort Dale each time the two teams have met. Lee-Scott beat the Eagles 62-52 in Greenville and 55-50 in Auburn. The Lady Eagles fared little better, losing to the Lady Warriors 56-45 in the first meeting and 57-51 in the second.
“They present match-up problems for us, with both teams,” said Johnson. “They have the best teams in the state. We know to win state we’re going to have to, at some point, figure out a way to beat them.”
The Eagles are secured a spot in the final eight by virtue of its second-place finish in region play, said Johnson, but will play for seeding in state during the regional tourney at Huntingdon next week. The Lady Eagles, third in the region, will have to win one tournament game at the regional tourney in order to make the final eight, said Johnson.
The last two games have presented little challenge. Fort Dale’s boys beat Hooper 69-50 led by Luke Hutcheson’s and Stuart Matthews’ 17 points each. Dustin Till added 10. Against Glenwood on Monday, four players posted double-figures scoring: Hutcheson had 17, Shanks Simmons had 12, and Matthews and Till each had 10.
In the girls’ games, Abbey Martin had 19 to lead the Lady Eagles to a 70-48 win over Hooper. Murphy Middleton added 18.
In FDA’s 56-45 win over Glenwood, Middleton led with 14 points, Martin had 13 and Emily Boulware scored 10.
Fort Dale hosts Tuscaloosa Academy on Saturday. Tip-off is 2 p.m.