Straughn’s Lady Tigers outscored Opp 20-5 in the third period and went on to beat the Lady Bobcats 47-13 to win Red Level’s 16th annual girls Christmas Tournament Championship on Saturday.

Both teams got off to slow starts in the first half.

Lady Tigers coach Scott Kinsaul said the focus in the third period was to start working hard on offense.

“I was proud of my girls for doing that,” Kinsaul said. “Give all the credit to the girls. They’re the ones who did it.”

With this win, the third-ranked Lady Tigers won the RLS tournament two years in a row and improve to 13-1.

The third period was led by good passing, rebounding and a couple of late 3-pointers for SHS.

Straughn’s Paige Taylor got two points on a drive to start the third, and Emily Wood made a nice pass to tournament MVP Jacie Williamson for a 21-6 lead.

Opp answered as Breanna White drained a 3-pointer to make it 21-9.

Wood later got a steal, and Brentley Armstrong did the rest on a layup to give the Lady Tigers a 23-9 lead.

Wood and Katelyn Kinsaul made two 3-pointers to get way out of reach at 31-9 with less than four minutes to go in the third.

Straughn sophomore Abigail Kelley started the fourth with a 3-pointer, and Harley Adcock answered with a drive up the paint.

Williamson led SHS with 14 points. Kinsaul’s three 3-pointers helped the point guard get to 13 points.

Saquaya Lane led OHS with six points.

“We’re just proud to win it two years in a row,” the Lady Tigers coach said. “We’ve still got a lot of goals ahead of us. This tournament did us real well to help us prepare for area and the next month and a half.”

All-Tournament Team: Shelby Holley, Red Level; Je’Nasia Chentham, Georgiana; AJ Whitfield, Elba; Shakia Brantley, Luverne; Keke Floyd, W.S. Neal; Laticia Crittenden and Alexis Lawrence, Andalusia; Brittany Head and Tori Reisnour, Opp; Katelyn Kinsaul, Paige Taylor and Jacie Williamson, Straughn.

Andalusia 44, W.S. Neal 24

Despite not being able to get into its high-tempo offense Saturday, Andalusia beat W.S. Neal 44-24 for a third-place finish at the 16th annual Red Level girls Christmas Tournament.

The Lady Eagles utilized their “packed” zone defense to slow down the Lady Bulldogs’ offensive attack, giving the game a slow-like pace.

However, AHS kept driving to the bucket and getting easy points for the win. With the victory, the Lady Bulldogs finished the tournament 2-1.

“I thought we got better during the process (of the tournament),” AHS coach Brad Garner said. “I thought all in all it was — even the one game we lost — I thought we played real well in this tournament. It was good for us.”

WSN took an early 4-0 lead, but the Lady Bulldog crawled back to go on a 6-0 run in the first period.

Alexis Lawrence sparked the early run with a rebound and putback to give the Lady Bulldogs a 6-4 advantage and lead they’d never give up.

D’Ashia Johnson made it 9-4 with a pair of foul shots with 1:40 left in the first, and from there, the Lady Bulldogs put the game in cruise control.

In the second half, Laticia Crittenden, who Garner said played some of her best basketball during the tournament, drove the right side of the paint for easy buckets on her way to a 15-point performance.

Shay Thomas led the Lady Bulldogs with nine steals.

In other action,Red Level’s Shelby Holley scored 14 points, and Kayla Hinson added 10 in a 40-39 overtime loss to Georgiana.

The Lady Tigers trailed 9-8 after the first period, 19-16 at halftime and took a 28-21 lead into the fourth period.

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