By James Dubuisson | Special to the Advertiser

The Thorsby High School basketball teams played host to Jefferson Christian Academy on Jan. 7.

The girls played first, and it was a close one, as the Lady Rebels pulled out the victory, 33-29.

The majority of the points scored were put up by THS guard Sharonda Cooper and JCA guard Jennice Monosky, as they scored 22 points and 20 points for their respective teams.

The Lady Rebels took a 6-5 lead into the second quarter, and the game was still close at the end of the first half, as THS led 16-13.

All 13 of JCA’s first-half points were produced by Monosky, and 12 of the Lady Rebels first-half points were scored by Cooper.

The Lady Rebels led 26-22 at the end of the third quarter.

The Lady Eagles’ fate was sealed when Monosky picked up her fifth foul of the game early in the fourth quarter.

THS and JCA scored 7 points apiece in the fourth.

The boy’s game began as a closely contested game, but the Rebels pulled away and won, 65-27, in what could be their most impressive win of the season.

The first quarter ended with the Eagles leading 16-14.

As the second began, Rebels coach Ryan Powell was forced to change from a full-court press defense to a half-court defense because the amount of fouls his team had picked up in the first.

The Rebels’ half-court defense held the Eagles to only three points in the second quarter.

THS’s offense was just as effective as its defense, scoring 24 points in the second quarter to produce a 38-19 lead at the half.

The Rebels’ advantage grew to 28 by the end of the third quarter, and THS kept that 28-point lead for the rest of the game, as both teams scored seven points in the fourth.

Most of the Rebels’ fourth quarter production came from sophomore guard Houston Daniels, as he scored all five of his points in the quarter.

The Rebels’ got help from their entire roster, as 11 Rebels scored in the game. Senior Andrew Farris (15 points) and junior Jace Maddox (11) were the only Rebels with double-digit scoring totals.

JCA’s Alex Coggins scored a game-high 24 points. No other Eagle player scored more than three points in the game.

THS’s two teams look to carry the momentum gained in the games into the Chilton County tournament, which will be played this week at Chilton County High School.

At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, the Thorsby boys will play the winner of Wednesday’s Maplesville-Isabella game.

Thorsby’s girls will get the winner of Tuesday’s Jemison-Maplesville game at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

Both Rebels teams received first-round byes in the tournament.

By James Dubuisson | Special to the Advertiser

Thorsby High School’s basketball teams faced off against Dallas County
High School’s squads on Thursday afternoon.

The boys game was no contest as the Hornets of DCHS defeated the
Rebels, 59-35.

Andrew Farris was the high scorer for the Rebels with 11 points, including a couple of 3-pointers.

The Lady Rebels fared slightly better than their male counterparts but still lost, 44-21.

The score was 11-10 at the end of the first period in favor of the Lady Hornets, who took a three-point lead into halftime, 21-18.

The Rebels’ leading scorer on the season, Sharonda Cooper, did not play for most of the second half due to an illness.

The Lady Hornets took advantage of this by shutting out the Lady
Rebels offense in the third quarter.

DCHS held the Lady Rebels to only three points in the final stanza.

THS freshman Megan Sanchez and Cooper, a junior guard, accounted
for most of the Lady Rebels points with 7 apiece.

DCHS junior Takeela Mixon led her team with a game-high 24 points.

THS’s boys and girls have one more game before the Chilton County tournament next week, as they will face Jefferson Christian High School Friday night.

Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Thorsby.

By James Dubuisson | Special to the Advertiser

The Thorsby High School varsity boys and girls teams lost to Francis Marion High School on Friday night.

Both games were one-sided in favor of Francis Marion.

The FMHS girls ran away with the game in their 44-24 win over the Lady Rebels.

THS junior guard Sharonda Cooper led all scoring with her 14-point performance.

The boys game was even more one-sided than the girls. The Rams defeated the Rebels 71-22.

Francis Marion senior LaDarius Tabb led the game with 15 points.

The Lady Rebels go into the holiday break with a 4-5 record, while the boys have a 5-4 record.

The Rebels next games will be on Jan. 3 as they host Fayetteville High School.

By Stephen Dawkins

Isabella connected on 19 of 21 free throw attempts—including many late in the game after Thorsby’s best player this night had fouled out—and took a 45-41 win at Thorsby.

The contest may have been between the two best girls basketball teams in Chilton County. Thorsby won last year’s county tournament, and Isabella showed how much improvement it has made in coach Jared Day’s first season, improving to 7-1 overall and 1-1 in area play on the year.

Visiting Isabella led for most of Tuesday’s game, but every time the Mustangs seemed on the verge of pulling away, Thorsby senior Amanda Hubbard would drain a crucial 3-pointer, giving her team new life.

Hubbard (17 points) and Sharonda Cooper (10), a junior, combined to score most of Thorsby’s points, but Hubbard fouled out with several minutes left to play and Isabella’s stifling defense won the game.

With Hubbard out, IHS shifted to a Box-and-1 defense, with Chasity Williams jumping into passing lanes and not allowing Thorsby to get the basketball inside the 3-point arc.
Williams recorded five steals.

“She was the difference in the game,” Day said about his sophomore guard.

Much like Cooper and Hubbard dominated Thorsby’s scoring, Isabella’s Smith (14 points) and Amber Wyatt (15) accounted for most of their team’s points.

The two senior post players took all but two of Isabella’s free throw attempts.

Still, the game was tied with as little as 4:23 remaining in the fourth period, and the hosts (4-3, 1-2) took possession of the ball with a chance to tie the game, down by three points, with 26 seconds remaining.

The Isabella defense forced an off-balance 3-point attempt, and two Wyatt free throws sealed the victory.

By Stephen Dawkins

Thorsby improved its area record to 2-1 with a 59-17 win over rival Isabella on Tuesday, showing continued improvement in the first season under coach Ryan Powell.

The Rebels (5-4) had little trouble with the visitors, using an aggressive defense to create fast break opportunities and easy baskets.

Isabella was down, 38-13 at halftime, and didn’t score a point in the third period until a runner in the lane by freshman Dequerrius Tally with 19 seconds remaining on the clock.

With the loss, the Mustangs fell to 1-7 overall and 1-2 in area play.

Thorsby, meanwhile, gained more confidence in Powell’s system.

“I feel like the guys are really starting to buy in,” Powell said. “It took us a while to learn what we wanted them to do. Most of all, they play hard. These guys, they’ve just got to expect to win.”

THS senior Andrew Farris scored a game-high 17 points, and classmate Marcus Bray was right behind with 16 points.

Both Parker Bryan and Cody Carroll scored 10 points for Thorsby.

Senior Austin Haigler led Isabella with eight points.

The Thorsby Rebels varsity boys and girls’ basketball teams traveled to Fayetteville on Nov. 19 and earned their first wins of the season.

The girls played first, pulled ahead of the Wolves early and won, 46-41.

The Lady Wolves caught up to the Lady Rebels in the second half thanks to the effective shooting of senior Samera Nix, who scored all 12 of her points in the second half.

The Lady Rebels (1-1) were up by 3 with 6 seconds left in the game, when Sharonda Cooper stepped up to the free throw line and made her two free throws.

Cooper and Amanda Hubbard both had a game-high 14 points.

The boys’ game went into overtime, where the Rebels won, 79-76.

The referees were involved the whole game, calling a total of 59 personal fouls combined on both teams.

The Rebels (1-1) took advantage of these calls in overtime, where they hit nine out of 11 free throws.

Parker Bryan led the Rebels by scoring 21 points.

The Rebels’ and Lady Rebels’ next games will be their first home games, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 29 against Holtville.

It will also be the first game for the Rebels B-Team.

By James Dubuisson | Special to the Advertiser

PLANTERSVILLE – Thorsby High School’s boys and girls varsity basketball teams lost at Dallas County on Monday in the first games of the season played by local teams.

The DCHS boys team controlled the entire game, leading 49-7 going into the half and defeating the Rebels by 50 points in a 74-24 rout.

Thorsby’s girls fared better in their defeat.

They led most of the game, but were down 41-40 with a minute left in the game.

The hosts were able to squeak out the victory, 45-40.

Sharonda Cooper led the Rebels by dropping 15 points on the Hornets. She also had four blocks.

The varsity teams’ next games will be played in Fayetteville beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Isabella’s boys and girls play at Verbena on Tuesday in the next games involving local teams.

Other local squads—including Billingsley, Chilton County, and Jemison boys and girls teams—will begin their season on Friday.

By Stephen Dawkins

The coaches in Corey Clements’ life had a great influence on him.

Clements resigned as Thorsby’s basketball coach after five seasons but hopes he left the same kind of impression on his players.

“Probably the most important people for me growing up were my dad and the people that coached me,” Clements said.

Clements, 34, said he decided to resign so he could spend more time with his 3-year-old daughter, Molly.

“You miss a lot,” Clements said. “The thing about basketball that’s different than football is it’s two or three nights a week, and you’ve got five teams using one gym so you might not be done with practice until late.

“There were times, when we would play on Thursday and Friday, that I would put [Molly] to bed on Wednesday and not see her again until Saturday. That gets old.”

The resignation was accepted by the Chilton County Board of Education at Tuesday’s meeting.

Clements said the decision was still difficult because of all the benefits of the position, such as meeting new people. Clements said his favorite part of the job was getting to spend time with the players and be a part of their lives, as his coaches were his life.

Clements also struggled with the decision because he has been a part of Thorsby basketball for so long. As both a player and coach, Clements has been involved with the program for 18 years.

“It makes it real hard,” he said. “You think about all the people you played with and all the kids you coached. Maybe I’m just sentimental, but it still meant a lot to me to see that maroon and white jersey.”

Clements will still be a fixture at the school, teaching and coaching golf and football.

So, there will be more opportunities for Clements to impact the lives of students like the coaches he remembers so well: Barry Barnett, Clements’ youth league baseball coach for eight years; Jerry Stephens; Marvin Green, Clements’ first high school basketball coach; current Thorsby principal Russ Bryan; and Russell Ricks, who coached Thorsby baseball and basketball during Clements’ senior seasons.

“I loved my coaches, and I hope that the kids will feel that way about me.”

By Stephen Dawkins

One of the best seasons ever for the Thorsby girls basketball program ended Thursday with a 48-43 loss to Ohatchee in a Northeast Sub-Regional game.
Thorsby couldn’t have asked for more: two talented teams playing a back-and-forth game in front of a large, vocal home crowd.
“I thought these girls gave this community something to be proud of,” Thorsby coach Ab Argent said after the loss. “We’re glad the crowd showed up, and I don’t think the girls disappointed them.
“Our girls fought their rear ends off. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
The Thorsby fans that gave the team an ovation when it emerged from the locker room probably shared Argent’s sentiment.
The Rebels (21-2) faced large deficits at several points of the game but fought back each time.
The visitors went on a 10-0 toward the end of the first half and led 22-13, but Thorsby’s Sharonda Cooper scored five points in four seconds to get Thorsby back in the game.
Cooper, with 18 points, and Amanda Hubbard, with 15 points, did most of the damage for the hosts.
Thorsby led 29-26 at the end of the third period, but Ohatchee (24-6) took a 46-40 lead with 52 seconds remaining in the game on a strong drive by Jasmine Crook that resulted in the bucket and a free throw.
Hubbard drained a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to keep hope alive, but a free throw by Ohatchee’s Laneshia Anderson iced the victory.
Crook, who scored a game-high 25 points, and Anderson, who dominated the paint most of the night, posed problems for Thorsby.
“We knew coming in we couldn’t let 23 and 34 (Crook and Anderson) beat us,” Argent said. “Late in the game, we just couldn’t…Big-time players step up in big-time games, and that’s what they did.”

By Stephen Dawkins

Thorsby’s girls on Saturday used clutch play late to overcome a sluggish start and defeat Shades Mountain Christian, 33-28, in the championship game of the Class 2A, Area 9 basketball tournament.

The win gives Thorsby the right to host Ohatchee in a regional game beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Thorsby, hosting the tournament because it went unbeaten in area play during the regular season, failed to score in the first period but held its visitors to only two points in the second period.

“I think we may have been pressing a little bit,” Thorsby coach Ab Argent said. “Our girls weren’t in any kind of rhythm.

“Give them credit, now, I think we got their best shot. We showed some heart there coming back.”

The score was 9-0 Shades after one period but 13-11 Thorsby at halftime and was close the rest of the way.

Shades Mountain retook the lead on a Hannah Wainwright jump shot with 4:26 remaining in the final period, but Thorsby responded and led by as many as five points late in the fourth period, on a free throw by Sharonda Cooper.

Thorsby (21-1) would still need three crucial rebounds and two even more important free throws—all in the last 12 seconds—by Nicole Barrett to seal the win.

Shades Mountain (14-14) had the basketball down 31-28 with 9.7 seconds remaining, but a 3-pointer was missed and Barrett eventually grabbed the loose ball.

Barrett, who didn’t play last year and comes off the bench this year, also rebounded a missed Thorsby free throw with 1.6 seconds left, was fouled and then made both shots from the charity stripe to put the game away.

“The thing is, I tell them all the time, ‘There’s going to come a point where somebody has got to step up and help this team,’” Argent said. “I always tell them, ‘You don’t know who it’s going to be.’”

Amanda Hubbard—who was named to the all-tournament team along with teammates Johnna Doody, Ashlin Hilyer and tournament Most Valuable Player Sharonda Cooper—was Thorsby’s leading scorer with 11 points.

Cooper scored nine points.

Wainwright led Shades Mountain with eight points.

Now, the Rebels are preparing for Ohatchee, who has won more than 20 games this season.

The Indians rely on the inside-out combination of post player and 6-footer Laneshia Anderson and guard Jasmine Crook, who is the defending Class 2A state champion in the 200 Meters.