It’s that time of year again -- fair is in the air!
Meanwhile, another fan favorite, the preseason 5-6 grade elementary basketball tournament, continued at Eastside where Warren County Middle School girls, Dibrell boys, and both Centertown teams earned wins to advance in the bracket.
Leading the pack in game one, Warren County Middle School girls took on Dibrell. The Lady Pioneers hit the gas in the first period leading 8-1 and didn’t stop until a 32-5 victory after four quarters.
Samantha McCormick was top scorer for the Lady Pioneers with eight, Rosa Terrazas had six, Kinslee Grissom, Lydia White, Bella Bain and Mary Grace Martin all contributed four, and Kyra Perkins hit for two points.
Sara Davis scored all five points for Dibrell.
Game two had the Dibrell Wildcat boys against the WCMS Pioneers. While both teams had a close third period, Dibrell stayed steady winning the contest 51-32.
Dibrell was propelled by a monster first half where the Wildcats zipped up and down the floor. The Pioneers were sluggish from the start and could never catch up.
Matthew Young led Dibrell’s scoring drive with 20 points, followed by Nathan Elrod, 13, Jeremy Boren, six, Garrison Randolph, five, Drathan Dixon, four, and Landon Morris with three points.
Pioneer scorers were Logan Earls led with eight, Sawyer Seymour with five, Jason Jacobs and Kaden Rutledge had four apiece, Evan Watts had three, and Wesley Sherrell, Owen Clark, Grady Burnette and Jax King all had two points.
Aggressive defense by both of Centertown’s boys and girls teams resulted in wins against Hickory Creek. The Lady Warriors took a commanding 25-4 halftime lead sealing the 30-14 final score. A similar scenario led to the Warriors final of 29-22.
“It went better than expected,” said Centertown girls head coach Kelly Eckenrod. “We still have to work on our defensive and inside fundamentals.”
Scoring leader Madison Johnson hit for 16 of the Lady Warriors’ total points. Alyssa Mosley had seven points, Krista Chisam three and Addison Johnson and Liberty Simmons both added two points.
Hitting for the Lady Hawks were Hailey Simpson with five points, Jayla Crabtree and Isabella Pennington each with four, and Paige Sweeton had one point.
The Centertown boys were victorious too.
“We like to play and have fun,” said Warriors boys head coach Rex Crabtree. “We’re just scrappy.”
Ashton Griffith provided some of the scrappy play, bucketing 15 of the team’s total. Also scoring were Aiden Miller with 9 points, Baler Melton and Tyler Adams, both with two points, and Ethan Roach hit from the line to add one more.
Scoring points for the Hickory Creek boys were Alex van Vuuren with nine, Easton Denning, four points, Korey Smith shot for three points and Brax Hopkins and J.P. Toney both had two points.
“We just couldn’t quite pull it out,” said Hickory Creek boys head coach Mike Denning. “We got off to a slow start.”
Tournament action continues tonight beginning at 4 p.m. at Eastside Elementary.