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The third week in January was full of excitement for Lowndes Academy as their pee wee basketball teams competed in the Morgan Tournament hosted by Morgan Academy. 

The teams traveled to Morgan in Selma Jan. 18 where they faced off in a few riveting mashups with Morgan, Fort Dale, and Lee Scott in order to determine which teams would advance to the championship. 

The peewee boys were not able to come out with the win in their first game against Morgan but won their other mashups with Fort Dale and Lee Scott and battled for the spot to compete in the championship. They faced Morgan Academy again for the championship and were not able to secure the win. 

The team ended with a final score of 22-48 in their match against Morgan, 36-12 against Fort Dale, and 29-28 against Lee Scott before making it to the championship where they ultimately lost with a score of 26-47.

Some of the peewee boys’ highest scorers were Zeke Harrell with 32 points followed by Gunner Hawk and Moxley Marshall who scored 21 and 20 points respectively. Milner Tidwell and Walt Harrell also led the scoreboard with 15 and 13 points respectively. 

Sarah Anna Harrell, assistant coach of the peewee boys team, said she admired the effort that the team played with despite the loss. 

“This group of boys are competitive and fun to watch. They played with grit and determination even down to the last game of the tournament which was our last game of the day,” Harrell said. “I can speak from all 3 coaches that it has been a privilege to coach the Lowndes Academy peewee boys’ program this season.” 

The peewee girls played in an exciting series of games as well, making it to the Championship before losing to Fort Dale.

The team ended with a final score of 24-21 in their first game against Morgan, beating the team in double overtime. Following that game, the girls lost to Fort Dale before winning against Lee Scott and losing to Fort Dale in the championship game. 

Matt Marshall, head coach of Lowndes Academy’s Varsity Girls team, was the organizer for the peewee basketball program and said that the inaugural peewee league has been a success overall. 

“We could not have done this without the help of Hayneville Baptist Church and many community volunteers. Having two gyms has really helped us as well and although I have seen things that I think we as organizers need to improve on and things we could make better, I am pleased with the program and hope to expand to 3rd and 4th coed next year,” Marshall said. “As far as participation in the Morgan tournament, I was overall impressed with our adjustment to playing other schools and love the way we competed. Both boys and girls show a lot of promise for the future and I can’t wait to follow these kids into upper grades and see them progress.”