After finishing the 2005-26 season with a Final Four appearance, Reggie Mantooth's Fort Dale Lady Eagles got off to hot start this week by downing a pair of Warriors in Sparta Academy Monday night and Lee-Scott Academy Tuesday night.

In Monday night's game at Sparta, the Lady Eagles took advantage of a 31-24 halftime lead and held on for the 56-50 win over the home Warriors.

Michelle Hulick was the leading scorer for the Lady Eagles with 14 points while Jennifer Pouncey and Tyler Manning each finished with 11 points.

Morgan Pouncey also added nine points and Abbey Martin came off the bench to add four.

For Sparta, E. Palmer had 12 points and H. Kendrick had 11 points while K. Godwin finished with nine.

In Tuesday night's home opener against the Lee-Scott Warriors, the Lady Eagles and Warriors fought down to wire with Fort Dale holding on for the win, 40-35.

With the Lady Eagles carrying a 21-14 lead into the second half, the Warriors came out of the locker room determined and pulled the game to a 25-25 tie going into the fourth period.

While the Lady Eagles scored only eight points in the first period, 13 points in the second period and four points in the third, the Fort Dale offense exploded in the final period for 15 points.

The Pouncey's lead the Eagles offensively with Morgan leading Fort Dale with 14 points and Jennifer finishing with 13 points. Jennifer also had a team-leading five steals while also pulling down four rebounds.

Tyler Manning had six points, four rebounds and three steals while Michelle Hulick had four points, five rebounds and four steals.

Varsity

The Fort Dale Eagles varsity basketball team dropped to 0-2 Tuesday night as the Lee-Scott Warriors became the second Warrior team of the season to down the Eagles by opening a 32-9 halftime lead before earning the victory, 65-30.

It took the Eagles five and half minutes into the ballgame before they scored their first point and they never recovered from that point.

Lee-Scott opened a 16-2 lead in the first period with a lot of help from the Eagles as Fort Dale committed 15 turnovers. The Eagles would go on to turn the ball over a total of 31 times in the game.

Leading the Eagles offensively was Bobby Martin with five points, although the junior fouled out of the game just 45 seconds into the second half. Martin also finished with four rebounds.

Senior Cory Causey and sophomore Kendall Gibson each finished with four points apiece, with Gibson also finishing with three steals.

Junior Davis Watts was the team's leading rebounder with seven.

For the Warriors, Aaron Bethune was the leading scorer with 16 points while Cyprus native Stamatis Makris finished with 10.

In the opening game of the season Monday night at Sparta Academy, the Eagles also struggled offensively in the first half, scoring only 19 points, and fell to the Warriors, 55-49.

The Warriors, too, struggled in the first half and took only a seven-point lead into the locker room.

Davis Watts was the leading scorer for the Eagles with 18 and junior Bobby Martin finished with 10. Senior Cory Johnson also added five points for Fort Dale.

For Sparta, Chris Cinereski was the leading scorer with 13 points while J.R. Williams had 10 points. Ethan Johnson added nine points for the Warriors.

JV

The Fort Dale Academy junior varsity boy's basketball team opened up the season 2-0 this week with dominating wins over Sparta Academy Monday night and Lee-Scott Academy Tuesday night.

The JV Eagles opened up a 32-11 third period lead over Sparta in the season opener Monday and never looked back as Fort Dale rolled to victory, 40-19.

Shanks Simmons and Mathew Burkett were the leading scorers for Fort Dale with eight points apiece while Todd Burkett and Dustin Till each added six points.

Drayton Rodgers was the leading scorer for Sparta with 13 points.

In the JV Eagles' home opener Tuesday against the Lee-Scott Warriors, Fort Dale took advantage of Todd Burkett's two second-period three-pointers to open up a 23-8 halftime lead and hung on for the win, 35-29.

Burkett finished the game as the Eagles' leading scorer with 12 points while Cory Folds added seven points. Shanks Simmons had five points for the Eagles and Luke Hutchenson and Dustin Till each had three points.

For the Warriors, Trey Moreman was the leading scorer with 11 points and Sam Lowles had seven points in the losing effort.