Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Gary Thomas

Butler County basketball teams are heading into the holiday break, stepping off the hardwood for festivities with their families. Here’s a look back at what happened on the court this week.

Georgiana School Panthers

There’s no place like home for the Georgiana Panthers, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Saturday to Andalusia, 50-47. On Monday, the Panthers walked away with a 62-55 win over the Straughn Tigers. Given the Panthers’ advantage in MaxPreps Alabama Basketball Rankings, coming out 58th while the Tigers are ranked 312th, the result wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Georgiana pushed their record up to 7-and-1 with the win, which was their 19th straight home victory dating back to last season. The wins came mainly to an offensive outburst during that stretch where they were averaging 79 points a game.

On Tuesday, Dec. 17, the Panthers came up short to the Southside Panthers by a score of 63-55. The loss dropped them to 7-2 on the roundball season. In the first AHSAA basketball ranking for 2024, Georgiana is No. 3.

The Panthers will have the home-court advantage in the new year, hosting Greenville on Jan. 4 and Southside on Jan. 6.

Fort Dale Academy Eagles

Over the weekend, the Fort Dale Eagles concluded their Christmas tournament by winning the championship over the Edgewood Wildcats 61-53. Benen Gaston contributed 27 points and Harrison Scott added 11 points. Gaston and Bradford Alford were named to the All-Tournament team.

The Eagles’ men’s basketball program will be back in action Jan. 3, hosting the Lowndes Academy Rebels.

McKenzie School Tigers

McKenzie is 2-and-8 to the Pleasant Home Eagles since 2019. They had a chance to close the gap a little bit when they hosted the Eagles on home court Dec. 17 but fell short by just two points.

Both teams entered the matchup undefeated with McKenzie at 5-and-0 and Pleasant Home at 8-0. McKenzie was set to bounce back beating Highland Home, 45-38, on Dec. 10, but the Tigers didn’t have the best season last year going 9-and-12.

The matchup was another big night for Quay Johnson, who made 16 points and three steals, but that is not enough as the Tigers fell to the Eagles.

In this week’s Alabama Sports Writer’s Association poll for 1A the McKenzie boys are ranked third. The Tigers are on the road in the new year, traveling to Red Level on Jan. 2.

Gary “Gooch” Thomas is a long-time Crenshaw County resident, football fan and freelance writer.