The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Jan. 23, 2023

Wendell Hart

14 YEARS AGO
JAN. 22, 2009

The Lady Warriors, ranked No. 3 in the AISA in the latest Alabama Sports Writers Association prep basketball poll, whipped region rival South Choctaw, 66-29, last Thursday night in Toxey.
Erica Palmer, a junior, led Sparta with 15 points, three rebounds, five steals and a block. Mallory Kendrick followed with 14 points, five rebounds, two steals and five assists. BreAnna Pate finished the game with 12 points, three rebounds and four assists.

Sparta Academy’s varsity boys basketball team snapped a 10-game losing streak last Thursday night by whipping region rival South Choctaw, 55-40, in Toxey.
Senior Mason Black led the Warriors with 23 points, nine rebounds, a steal, a block and an assist. Devlin Crosby followed with 12 points, three rebounds, a steal and an assist.

Steven Hamby, 12, bagged his first deer while hunting Monday morning near his home in Castleberry. Hamby, a sixth-grader at Conecuh County Junior High School, brought the deer down with one shot from a 20-gauge single-shot shotgun just after dawn on Monday. The 11-point deer weighed around 170 pounds. Hamby is the son of Paul and Mary Hamby of Castleberry.

29 YEARS AGO
JAN. 27, 1994

The Hillcrest High School varsity basketball team is pictured with their first year coach, Keith Nettles. The Jaguars will host the annual Hillcrest Invitational Tournament beginning tonight at Hillcrest High School. Pictured are Derrick Rudolph, Roger Rudolph, Terry Holt, Lavon Lyman, Charles Thomas, Jason Boykin, Coach Nettles, Isaac McMillian, Marlon Tolliver, Ray Rudolph, Chris Watts, Gary Betts and Sherman Grace.

Members of the Sparta Academy varsity boys basketball team are Casey Grant, Adrian Mitchell, James Johnson, Larry Wright and Nicholas Jones, Coach Keith York, Sandy Salo, Britt Ward, McPherson Cook, Andy Clanton, Aaron Albritton and Brian Gorum.

Members of the Sparta Academy varsity girls basketball team are Aundria Griffin, Janet Kendrick, Valerie Griffin, Carla Grimes, Kelly Booker, Nann Castleberry, Nikki Jones, Joy’l Lowman and Rachel Bohannon. Their coach is David Mallory.

Allen Pettis and Connie Pettis, both of Castleberry, proudly show off this huge buck that they killed the first day of deer season. The deer was a 10-point, which had a 16-inch spread and weighed 175 pounds. It was killed near Castleberry.

44 YEARS AGO

JAN. 25, 1979

The girl Warriors were champions of their part of the annual Sparta Academy Invitational Tournament held in the school gymnatorium here Friday and Saturday.
Friday, the Warrior girls downed the Vol girls of Monroe Academy in easy fashion, 34-24. Sparta’s girls had even less trouble in the championship game as they outshot the Tornado girls of Greenville Academy, 38-20, to win the title on Saturday.
(Cathy) Cope, (Angie) Driver and (Melissa) Thacker were all named to the all-tournament team.
(Other players on Sparta’s team that year included Mary Claire Robinson, Cathy Johnson and Julie Saunders.)

The Lyeffion High Yellow Jackets defeated the Uriah Bulldogs, 56-55. Scorers for the Jackets were Adrian Woods with 25 points and 13 rebounds, Eric Finklea, nine points; James Riley, eight points; Donald Lee, seven points and five rebounds; Ricky Hall, four points and Ricky Johnson, three points.

The Conecuh County High School Blue Devils defeated the Southern Normal Cyclones, 65-64, on Jan. 9.
Scorers for the Blue Devils were William Griffin, 26 points, three rebounds; Ronnie Sanders, nine points, 16 rebounds; Henry Sanders, seven points, 15 rebounds; Curtis Scott, six points, six rebounds; Robert Moye, four points, four rebounds; Paige Stokes, 13 points, 11 rebounds.

59 YEARS AGO

JAN. 23, 1964

The Evergreen Aggies captured the Conecuh County Basketball Championship Saturday night in Evergreen as they whipped a strong Lyeffion squad, 63-48, in the finals of the county tournament. The Aggies succeeded Castleberry, the defending champions.
Ronnie Jackson with 18, Scott Cook with 13 and Joe Sasser and Larry Ellis with 10 each were the bellwethers of the Aggie offense. Sid Lambert and Kenny Harper had six each.
Pat Brown had 11 and Sam Williams 10 to lead the Yellow Jackets. They were followed by Garrett with nine, Norwood with seven, Smith with five and Daniels with four.
In the first round Friday night Evergreen clobbered Repton, 46-13, despite the Bulldogs’ stalling tactics. Ronnie Jackson had eight for Evergreen while Davis Robinson led Repton with four.
Lyeffion downed Castleberry, 53-44, Friday night to gain their slot in the championship battle. Pat Brown pumped in 17 and Sam Williams and Donald Garrett had 12 and 11, respectively, to pace the winners. Castleberry’s top scorers were Donald Sawyer with 11 and Larry Heaton with 10.
All-tournament team members were Scott Cook, Ronnie Jackson and Joe Sasser of Evergreen and Pat Brown and Danny Norwood of Lyeffion.

74 YEARS AGO

JAN. 27, 1949

The Evergreen High Aggies went on a scoring binge Tuesday night in Frisco City and recorded their highest total of the season cracking the Whippets, 51-35. Coach Wendell Hart’s cagers played by far the best offensive ball of the season.
John Greel Ralls, playing his second game at the pivot post, continued to show improvement. His total for the night was 16 (points).
Dickey Bozeman found the range on his jump shots in the final two periods and sacked up six field goals after getting only one in the first half. Bozeman had 16 points to tie Ralls as the Evergreen leader.
Billy Mudge Lee hit for 10, Guerry Moorer made four and Gwyn Daniels three. Bobby Frank Snowden made only two points, but his basket was the ‘big one’ that took the Aggies across the 50 mark for the first time this season.
Big Ollis Tanton, towering 6’5” and a little bit more Frisco City center, was the Whippet offense. Tanton led the scorers for the evening with 18 points, 14 of them coming in the last half.
(Other players on Evergreen’s team included John Law Robinson and Jack Cunningham.)