Both the Lady Red Hawks and Red Hawks had stumbled slightly since beginning their seasons strong.
The girls had alternated wins and losses prior to their 2-0 start, meanwhile, the boys had gone on a three-game losing streak after theirs.
Friday night at Portland the Lady Red Hawks pulled it together in a big way. While it took the boys an extra game.
A thirty-point victory 59-29 at Portland followed up by a twenty-eight-point victory over Spring Hill 61-33, Head Coach Russell Wilson looks as if he has his girls rounding into form.
Brianna Burgess scored twenty-plus in both games, proving that she has figured out a way to get points despite being the opposing teams’ defensive focus.
Meanwhile, Freshman Kendall Bryant and Alessia Nesbitt have come on in a big way.
Both have helped cause double-digit turnover totals for the opposing side in back-to-back games.
Nesbitt put up seventeen points facing the Lady Raiders of Spring Hill, while Bryant scored ten in both of the last two games.
Anyone who has seen the Freshman play prior to their time beginning at Creek Wood knew they were more than capable of being this good.
Under no circumstances however did anyone think they would be this good, this quickly.
Their accelerated growth has been a huge boost for the Lady Red Hawks.
Especially when you consider that all of this positivity these past two games, is occurring in the absence of one of their best players.
Laura Nichols has been unavailable and her timetable to return is unknown.
Meanwhile, on the guys’ side, it took an extra game, but the Red Hawks got right as well in a big way.
After a rocky start to the year, the Red Hawks twenty-four point victory hosting the Raiders of Spring Hill could not have come at a better time.
Coming off a three-game losing streak, this team needed a convincing victory.
They had struggled with getting into foul trouble, Jamison Ford was fighting off a nagging ankle injury, and no one was showing any level of consistency outside of veteran PG Jace Herrell.
That all changed Monday night.
Ford came off the injury strong.
He started the game, scored 14 points (7 in each half), and helped cause over 15 turnovers, which led almost always to points on the other end.
Meanwhile, the Red Hawks played a fairly clean game foul-wise well into the fourth quarter, no one had their fourth until the game was in hand and Head Coach Charles Taylor began emptying his bench.
Finally, while Herrell once again proved he is this team’s best player, with 19 points and near double-digit assists, it was Tanner Lampley who provided some much-needed consistency.
Lampley hit a three in each quarter in key moments to not only give himself 12 points, the third Red Hawk in double figures, but also to cut off or slow Spring Hill runs that could have been bigger than they were.
Tuesday night we will find out whether these get-right games were products of lesser opponents or Creek Wood figuring some things out.
Both the Red Hawks and the Lady Red Hawks will take a long bus ride down to Summertown to face off with 7-0 teams that challenge you in every facet of the game.
Tip-off is at six pm with pre-game beginning around 5:45 on 1260 WDKN.
