Brewer heads to regional
By Staff
Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
FLORETTE - When Brewer needed a little spark in its sub-regional game against Russellville Thursday night, they didn’t have to look far.
Kendra Jones scored a career-high 28 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Lady Patriots to a 73-43 rout of the Lady Tigers to secure a spot in the Northwest Regional at Wallace State-Hanceville.
The win was the 15th-straight victory for Brewer, now 27-2 overall.
Russellville finished its season with an 8-19 record.
The Lady Patriots were coming off an emotional overtime win over Hartselle in the area tournament just three days earlier and that also contributed to the team’s slow start in the sub-regional game with the Lady Tigers.
Natasha West led Russellville with 26 points, including 14 in the first half. Victoria Taylor finished with nine points.
Russellville, with two sophomores and a freshmen in the starting lineup, struggled against Brewer’s up-tempo offense.
Bostick believes Brewer could be the team to beat in the northern half of the state this season.
Brewer led 17-13 at the end of the first quarter.
Brewer limited Russellville to just four points in the second quarter and broke the game open with a 12-2 run that pushed the Lady Patriots’ advantage to 14 points at the half.
Jones had 14 points in the opening two quarters for Brewer.
Megan Hormel chipped in with 11 points, all in the second half. The senior also had a hand in plenty of trips down the floor with passes to set up Jones for easy scores.
Russellville trailed 31-17 at the half, with 14 of the Lady Tigers’ points coming on West’s hand.
Jones and Hormel didn’t account for all of the Lady Patriots’ offense. Brewer got points from eight of its 11 players who dressed for the sub-regional game.
Morgan Crawley and Krista Hughes both finished with seven points, while the Lady Patriots got six points each from Heather Steelman and Britney Kent. Chelsey Smith added five points.
If Russellvile had any hopes of getting back into the game in the third quarter, those thoughts were dashed when Brewer jumped out to score 13 of the first 17 points in the second half.
Hormel and Jones both scored two baskets during the run, while Kent added a 3-pointer as the Patriots extended the lead to 21 points.
