The Fort Dale Academy varsity basketball teams were back to their winning ways at the Faith Academy Christmas Tournament last weekend.

The girls captured the tournament championship while the boys lost to the host team by three points.

In the girls first round game against Mobile Christian, the Eagles sailed to a 58-42 win.

Senior Melissa Gilbert scored a game high 23 points and snatched 10 rebounds.

FDA's Jami Barlow had 16 points and four steals in the win.

FDA varsity coach Reggie Mantooth said the girls had a great weekend.

"Our girls played harder and with more intensity. Hopefully, we will continue to play that way,"

Mantooth said.

Junior guard Meredith Moseley scored nine points after hitting four shots in a row from the field.

After the win against Mobile Christian, the Eagles went to work on Faith, which is the No. 3 ranked team in the state.

The Eagles came out with a 12-6 run in the first period against the Rams.

After two periods of leading by single digits, the Eagles jumped on Faith with a 25-10 run to end the game.

Gilbert and Barlow had 20 points each and Eagle senior Abbie Gardner scored 11 for the win.

Barlow led the team with 10 steals and Gilbert had seven steals.

Gardner also contributed with six steals in the ballgame.

"Our pressure defense was able to create a lot of steals and turnovers," he said. "That helped us to

wear them down."

For her individual efforts, Barlow was named MVP of the tournament. Gardner, Gilbert and Barlow made the all-tournament team.

"We played the best game of the year versus the No. 3 ranked team (Faith) in the state," Mantooth said.

The boys lost a close game to their No. 3 ranked counterpart in last Saturday's championship game.

Before that game though, the Eagles beat Mobile Christian 68-52.

Adam Crenshaw led the team

with 17 points with nine coming off of free throws.

From the line, the Eagles shot 66 percent from the charity stripe.

Sumpter McGowin added 12 points and Marshall Watts scored 11 points in the win.

Mal

Winters went five for 11 from the field for 10 points.

"The boys played a good solid game against Mobile Christian," Mantooth said.

In the championship game, the Eagles lost to Faith 64-61 in a nail-biter.

Charles Mitchell led all scorers with 29 points after going 12 of 15 from the field.

The Eagles shot 12 of 20 from the free throw line.

"The Faith game was close and very intense," the coach said. "It has become a big rival game for us.

We played hard but we just had some defensive breakdowns."

Mitchell and Watts made the all-tournament team.

"I thought the team gave a good effort," Mantooth said.

The Eagles will play at Morgan Academy on Jan. 4,

at 4 p.m.