No. 1 Scottsboro downs No. 2 Guntersville to close in on area title
Wildcats collect 31st consecutive win at Hambrick Hall
Story By Jason Bowen
Scottsboro girls basketball head coach Brandon Childers describes two-time all-state center Izzy Nelson as “different.”
The junior was a difference maker Tuesday as the top-ranked and defending Class 5A state champion Wildcats took a big step toward winning another regular-season area title.
Nelson scored 34 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as No. 1 Scottsboro defeated visiting No. 2 Guntersville 68-54 in a Class 5A Area 14 matchup at Hambrick Hall.
“Izzy is different,” Childers said. “She plays in the post, she plays guard, she plays all spots, she guards all spots. Tonight, she was just different than anyone on the floor.”
The win extended the Wildcats’ home-winning streak to 31 games.
Scottsboro (15-2, 4-0) needs just one more area win, Friday at Arab or Jan. 16 at home vs. Fairview, to clinch the area title and the right to host next month’s area tournament.
“To host (the area tournament) for a third year in a row would be huge,” Childers said.
Scottsboro has handed Guntersville (19-2, 2-2) its only two losses of the season. After erasing a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit to win 60-59 at Guntersville Dec. 12 — Nelson made the go-ahead free throw with 5.6 seconds remaining in that Scottsboro victory — the Wildcats seized the lead for good in the third quarter during Tuesday’s rematch and held off one last Guntersville run down the stretch before closing the game on a 10-0 run of its own.
“We know there are ups and downs in basketball. We had to push through and overcome. We just keep going no matter what happens,” said Nelson, who surpassed the 1,000-career point mark during the win.
Caroline Dawson finished with 14 points and Tatum Shelton added 11 for Scottsboro while Abigail Shelton had four, Ella White three and Mia Martin two.
“Izzy led us, but it was a team effort from a lot of kids,” Childers said. “I thought our defense, especially in the second half and especially the fourth quarter, was big.”
Freshmen Bristol Cook, Addison Reese Hammond and Avery George scored 15, 13 and nine points respectively for Guntersville while eighth-grader Kenna’d Buie also had nine.
“It was a great game between two great teams,” Childers said.
Guntersville closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to carry a 20-15 lead into the second, but Scottsboro took a 32-30 halftime lead thanks to Tatum Shelton’s putback with just under a minute remaining in the second quarter.
Trailing 35-34 midway through the third quarter, Scottsboro took the lead for good thanks to a 10-0 run that featured 3-pointers from Dawson and White and two-point baskets from Nelson and Abigail Shelton.
Scottsboro led 49-40 entering the fourth quarter and briefly led by double digits after a Nelson free throw, but Guntersville cut the Wildcats’ advantage to 54-52 after Hammond’s basket with 3:04 remaining.
But as Guntersville struggled to do most of the night, it couldn’t keep Nelson from driving to the basket, and her right-handed layup pushed the Scottsboro lead back to four. Martin and Grace White then forced a Guntersville turnover leading to two Nelson free throws and six-point Scottsboro lead, and Martin and White later forced another turnover on a trap in the backcourt, sparking the Wildcats’ game-sealing scoring run that saw Nelson score eight points, including six of which came from the from the foul line, and two Dawson free throws in the final seconds.
“Push on the point guard — that’s our game,” Nelson said. “Grace, Ella, Mia, they’re perfect at it. It really affects the game when they do that.”
