GUIN — The Marion County High School Lady Red Raiders and the Winfield City High School Pirates are the 2025 Marion County Basketball Tournament champions!
The tournament began on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and all games were hosted at Marion County High School.
Girls
The girls’ tournament began with two games in the first round between Phillips and Marion County, and another between Winfield and Brilliant.
The Lady Red Raiders defeated the Phillips She-Bears 75-25 to advance to the semi-finals, while the Brilliant Lady Tigers took down the Lady Pirates 73-42.
In the semi-final round, the Lady Raiders faced the Hamilton Lady Aggies, and the Lady Tigers played against the Hackleburg Lady Panthers.
The Lady Aggies fell behind and tried to make a comeback in the fourth quarter but ended up falling to the Lady Red Raiders 62-54.
The game between Brilliant and Hackleburg was a close match the whole way through.
The score was tied at 29-29 with about 3:37 remaining in the third quarter when Brilliant’s Brooklyn O’Mary landed a 3-point shot with 2:00 to go in the third quarter.
The Lady Tigers gained a lead of a few points, but with about 4:20 left in the game, the Lady Panthers tied the game again at 42-42.
But the Lady Tigers pulled ahead once more, holding the lead by a few points to win the game 57-53.
Brilliant advanced to play Marion County in the championship game on Jan. 24.
The game was another hard-fought battle.
The score was tied 33-33 with 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter. The lead shifted a couple of times, before Marion County retook the lead.
The Lady Red Raiders were able to hold that lead through the fourth quarter and won the game 58-47.
In the championship game, Marion County’s Alecia Shack-Donaldson scored 20 points, followed by Bekah Junkin with 14, Jolie Kate Cox with 12, Lily Robinson with 10 and Zella Williams with 2.
Brilliant’s Brooklyn O’Mary and Macy Moore each scored 13 points, followed by Hadlee Sanderson with 9, Aubrey Moye and Laine Johnson with 5 each and Karagan Stanford with 2.
During the tournament, Macy Moore scored her 2,000th career point during the game against Winfield.
Boys
The boys’ county tournament began with first-round matchups between the Brilliant Tigers and Hackleburg Panthers, and the Winfield Pirates and Marion County Red Raiders.
The Winfield Pirates took the lead early against the Red Raiders, leading 31-16 at the end of the first half.
The Pirates held the lead through the second half to win the game 68-46 and secure their place in the semifinals.
The Hackleburg Panthers began the tournament by defeating the Brilliant Tigers 66-33 to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, Hamilton played against Hackleburg and Winfield faced the Phillips Bears.
The Aggies took a 16-11 lead in the first quarter, and they ended the first half with a 41-23 lead. Hamilton kept up the pace and ended up winning the game 71-56.
The Pirates took a 21-5 lead over the Bears in the first quarter and were still leading 39-17 at halftime.
The Pirates continued to hold a comfortable lead over the Bears through the second half to win the game 65-41.
During the game, Winfield’s Slate Gilbert reached over 2,000 career points.
The Pirates and the Aggies played in the championship game on Friday night, Jan. 24.
The Aggies started off strong, taking a 21-13 lead in the first quarter, but the Pirates answered by scoring 25 points in the second quarter to Hamilton’s 10.
A basket from Winfield’s Miles Miles put the Pirates in the lead briefly, before the Aggies reclaimed it with about 5 minutes to go before the half.
Winfield’s Jacob Chism turned things around again with a 3-point shot with about 3:30 to go before the half.
The Pirates would head to the locker room for halftime with a 38-31 lead.
The third quarter began, and the Pirates continued to out-score and out-rebound the Aggies.
The fourth quarter began with the Pirates leading 59-48. The Aggies started to lag behind, and the Pirates won the game 84-63.
Winfield’s Sean Wyers scored 32 points in the championship game, followed by Gilbert with 16, Miles with 14, Chism with 12, Kruz Box with 5 and Silas Rainey with 3.
Wyers also made 15 rebounds during the game, along with two assists and one steal.
The county MVPs were Jolie Kate Cox and Sean Wyers.
Area tournaments begin this week.
The 1A Area 13 Tournament will begin with the girls’ game between Phillips and Vina on Friday, Jan. 31, followed by Marion County’s game against the winner the following day.
The boys’ 1A Area 13 tournament will begin with Vina and Brilliant playing on Jan. 30. Hackleburg will play the winner of that game on Monday, Feb. 3.
Marion County will also play Phillips on Feb. 3.
Dates and times for the 3A Area 10 and 4A Area 10 tournaments have not yet been determined as of the Journal-Record’s press deadline on Jan. 27.
See complete story in the Journal Record.
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