Hamilton, Winfield win county tournament

HAMILTON — The Hamilton Lady Aggies and the Winfield Pirates both claimed victory in the Marion County Basketball Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 27.
The tournament took place over three days after last week’s icy conditions interrupted the schedule.
The girls’ tournament began with Phillips playing against Winfield and Marion County playing against Hamilton.
The Lady Red Raiders played the Lady Aggies on Saturday, Jan. 20. The Lady Aggies won that game 75-48.
The Lady Pirates defeated the Phillips She-Bears 71-46 on Wednesday, Jan. 24.
The Lady Pirates advanced to play the Hackleburg Lady Panthers on Saturday, Jan. 27, but fell to the Lady Panthers 52-38.
The Lady Aggies defeated the Brilliant Lady Tigers 72-28 on Saturday, Jan. 27.
In that game, Aubrey Sorrells led the Lady Aggies with 20 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 block and 5 steals.
Emily Jones scored 14 points along with 5 assists, 10 rebounds and 1 steal.
Jordan Parker scored 16 points along with 4 rebounds.
In the final round, it all came down to one final game between the Lady Aggies and the Lady Panthers.
The Lady Aggies took off to an early lead, holding it at 43-8 going into half time. They kept up the pace in the second half and won the game 76-28 to win the tournament.
For the Lady Aggies, Jordan Parker led in scoring during the final round with 20 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 block.
Aubrey Sorrells was next with 18 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 block and 5 steals.
Emily Jones was next with 15 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals.
The boys’ tournament began on Saturday, Jan. 20, with a game between the Marion County High School Red Raiders and the Brilliant Tigers, which the Raiders won 69-39.
The other first-round game took place on Wednesday, Jan. 24, between the Winfield Pirates and the Phillips Bears, which the Pirates won 89-57.
In the second round, Hackleburg entered and faced the Raiders on Saturday, Jan. 27. The Raiders won 78-63 to secure their spot in the final round.
Winfield advanced to play the Hamilton Aggies in the second round, and after a hard-fought game, the Pirates won 63-56 to secure their spot in the final round.
Against the Aggies, Winfield’s Slate Gilbert scored the most points with 22, along with 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.
Sean Wyers scored 17 points along with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
Preston Nelson scored 15 points, along with 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
For the Aggies, Kelton Battle scored the most points with 20 in total, along with 8 rebounds.
Kevin McBride scored 6 points and made 6 rebounds. Dylan Frederick also scored 6 points and made 2 rebounds.
Spencer Tyra, Mason Holloway and Joshua Webb scored 5 points each. Holloway also made 1 rebound.
Josiah Autry scored 3 points.
The Pirates and the Raiders played later that night for the championship in what would be a close game.
The Pirates were ahead 31-26 at half time, but the Raiders tied the game 33-33 a few minutes into the third quarter.
The lead changed hands again and again as each team would get a few good shots in from behind the 3-point line, or a good layup, or in one case, a dunk from Marion County’s Tye Madison.
With 4:11 left in the game, the score was tied 50-50. Winfield’s Kruz Box sank a 3-point shot with 2:57 remaining to give the Pirates a 53-50 lead.
The Pirates held on their lead, but the Raiders stayed only two or three points behind, until the final minute of the game.
With under a minute to go in the game, a series of fouls gave the Pirates plenty of chances to score on free throws, which gave them some breathing room as the buzzer sounded on a 67-57 victory for the Pirates over the Raiders.
For the Pirates, Slate Gilbert led the way in the final game for total points scored with 21, along with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal.