Both varsity teams picked up their first wins of the season with impressive wins at LAMP on Tuesday. The games begin a busy week of basketball as both teams play on Thursday and Friday as well.
The Lady Eagles never trailed as they led 7-0 after a quarter and scored the first eight points overall in the game. The stingy ACA defense had 24 steals on the night that led to 35 Tiger turnovers. LAMP’s first points came from the free throw line with 6:47 left in the second as they only made two shots from the field in the first half. Despite the dominant defense, the Eagles lead at the break was only seven points, 19-12. The offense heated up in the third as they outscored LAMP 22-6 in the period. Adalyn Newkirk scored ten in the quarter to lead the charge. The dominance continued in the fourth as the final basket of the night by Mary Rachel Hunt gave ACA its biggest lead of the game, 54-22. The bench scored 11 of the 13 points in the final frame.
Adalyn Newkirk led the offense with 15 points along with six rebounds and two blocks. Addison Smith had an all around good game with 12 points, nine rebounds, eight steals, and five assists while Campbell Hammett finished with seven points, seven steals, and four rebounds.
The boys game was not a thing of beauty, at least offensively, but the Eagles did enough and held off a LAMP comeback in the second half. Christian Snipes scored all six first quarter points as ACA led 6-2 after one. The Alabama Christian defense forced the home team to miss all seven of their shots in the period. In the second, the points continued to be hard to come by as Beau Gainey scored the first four to give the Eagles a 10-4 lead midway through the period. Snipes scored the last four to build a 14-4 lead with just over two minutes left in the half. However, LAMP managed to score twice in the final 43 seconds to cut the lead to 14-8 at the break. Much like the girls game, a half of dominance defensively did not equate to a commanding lead.
ACA got off to a good start in the second half as a Noah Shack bucket put the visitors up 23-11 with just over five minutes left in the quarter. LAMP responded with their best run of the night as they outscored the Eagles 12-2 over a four minute span to cut the lead to 25-23. ACA, and sometimes the officials, helped the cause as the Eagles were whistled for five fouls in the stretch. Mason Henry hit a three with less than a minute to go in the third to give his team a 28-23 advantage heading to the fourth. The final quarter belonged to ACA as they outscored LAMP 16-8. for a final margin of 44-31.
Christian Snipes was the game’s leading scorer with 17 points and led the team with eight rebounds and four assists. Mason Henry finished with eight points and four rebounds while Alex Heilman contributed seven points and five boards.