Russell Basketball Opens Season with Split
Girls: Stockton 41, Russell 40
Boys: Russell 75, Stockton 10
The Russell High School girls basketball team opened the 2022-2023 season at home at Amos Morris Gym in Russell on Friday, December 2 with a 41-40 loss to Stockton.
Stockton led 5-3 after one quarter. The game was tied 14-14 at halftime. The Lady Broncos pulled ahead 27-19 after three frames, but the Lady Tigers reclaimed the lead in the fourth quarter by shooting 13-of-18 from the free throw line. Russell sophomore Kelvie Reeves hit a three-point basket at the buzzer, but Stockton escaped with the 41-40 win.
Reeves and sophomore Aubrey Birney led the Lady Broncos with 11 points each. Junior Harlee Donovan followed with eight points. Nine Russell girls scored.
Sophomore Brin Muir led Stockton with 12 points. Sophomore Brooke Kephart followed with 10 points.
Russell was 13-of-26 from the foul line and Stockton was 18-of-25.
The Lady Broncos outrebounded Stockton 29 to 27 overall, but Stockton finished with 10 offensive boards to Russell's nine.
Russell committed 23 turnovers and Stockton had 25 turnovers.
The Russell girls fall to 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the Mid-Continent League.
Friday's boys opener was much more lopsided as Russell won 75-10.
The Broncos led 32-0 after one stanza, 54-0 at the half and 64-8 after three quarters. The fourth period was played with a running clock.
Senior Jackson Cross led Russell with 13 points and a couple dunks. Sophomore Camden Backhus followed with nine points. Senior David Pummell and junior Thomas Pummell each scored eight points. In all, 15 Russell boys played and 13 scored.
Russell outrebounded the Tigers 29 to 19 overall and six to two on the offensive glass.
Stockton had 23 turnovers compared to Russell's nine.
The Russell boys improve to 1-0 overall and 1-0 in the MCL.
The Russell girls and boys next open play in the Amos Morris Classic basketball tournament on Monday, December 5 at Amos Morris Gym in Russell. The girls play St. John's-Tipton at 6:30 PM and the boys play St. John's-Tipton at 8 PM. Catch both games on KRSL AM 990, 98.1 FM and KRSL.com.