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The Florala Wildcats traveled to county rival Pleasant Home Tuesday night where the boys’ and girls’ teams split to claim 1A Area 2 wins.

Florala 64, Pleasant Home 48
The boys’ squads — both coming in ranked in 1A’s top ten — were in a close one through the first half half, but it was the Wildcats that pulled away in the second half, notching a 61-48 victory.

The two teams each got off to a fast start from beyond the arc, with the Eagles hitting four in the first quarter and the Wildcats answering with three. Tyler Purifoy hit two threes for Pleasant Home while Rayshon Coleman had two for Florala. At the end of the first period, the Eagles held a three-point edge, 18-15.

The outside shooting cooled off a bit in the second period, but Florala’s Dalton Jackson warmed up at his spot under the goal, notching seven points to lead the Wildcats in the second period. The Eagles’ Brody Bryan knocked in a three-pointer and had five total points in the second, to help his team keep pace with the surging Wildcats, which overcame the early deficit to take a 33-30 lead into the half.

The Florala defense tightened up in the second half, leading to turnovers for Pleasant Home. Purifoy hit his second three-pointer of the game for the Eagles, but Jackson continued the hot hand underneath for the Wildcats, scoring 10 in the third to increase Florala’s lead to 51- 40 by the end of the third period.

As the fourth period winded down, the Eagles attempts at three-pointers would not go down. Meanwhile, Noah Bryan hit his fourth three-pointer of the game for Florala as the Wildcats added to its lead, ultimately claiming the 64-48 win.

Dalton led the Wildcats with 23 points with Bryan and Coleman each scoring 14.

The Eagles were led by Purifoy who notched 15 points while Bryan finished with 14.

With the win, Florala improves to 12-1 overall and 3-0 in the area. They came into the game ranked seventh in 1A by the Alabama Sports Writers Association. After the win they moved up a notch to sixth in the poll. Florala will host its other 1A county rival, Red Level, on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

The Eagles, which came in ranked sixth by the ASWA, fell to number nine with the loss. The loss puts their overall record at 11-2 and 1-1 in area play. The Eagles look to rebound with a home game against Kinston on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

Lady Eagles 50, Lady Wildcats 29
After the Lady Wildcats jumped out to an early-game lead, Pleasant Home ramped up the defense and went on to outscore Florala in each of the final three periods to claim a 50-29 Area 2 win.

Three-pointers by Payton Murray and Maci Blount each hit three-pointers to lift the Lady Wildcats to a 12-8 edge at the end of the first period.

Florala hit two more threes in the second period, another by Murray and one by Alyssa Thames. But, the Lady Eagles began to warm up with six different players scoring points in the second period, including Emma Anderson leading with six, for a total of 18, to overtake Florala, 26-19, at the half.

J.K. Clark led the Lady Eagles in the third with six points and Florala’s only points in the period came one two three-pointers, one each from Blount and Thames. But, the second half belonged to the Lady Eagles as they outscored Florala 24-10.

Leading the Lady Eagles was Emma Anderson and Lyla Watson, each finishing with 13 points. Clark added 10 points and Chloe Bush was good for six points.

Blount led the Lady Wildcats with eight points while Murray and Thames each had six points.

With the victory, the Lady Eagles are 7-6 overall and 2-0 in 1A Area 2. They will host Kinston on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

The Lady Wildcats fall to 2-11 on the season with an area record of 1-2. They will host county rival Red Level on Tuesday, Jan. 21.