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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor 

TUSCALOOSA – Both Thompson’s boys and girls basketball teams were able to turn defensive games into their favor on Tuesday, Jan. 11, picking up area wins against Tuscaloosa County.

It marked bounce-back victories for the Warriors, as both teams lost to Hoover to open area play Jan. 7.

This time around, however, they counted on their defense to travel to Tuscaloosa with them, and it paid off.

In the boys game, Thompson and Tuscaloosa County combined for five first-quarter points, which set the tone for a low-scoring game, but the Warriors used that to their advantage throughout the night and were able to grab a 36-31 victory.

It was a game that saw neither team able to gain much offensive steam throughout, which meant very few lengthy runs, as the two defenses shined throughout.

That led to not only a low-scoring first quarter that saw the Warriors fall behind 5-2, but a low scoring first half.

Thompson was down 8-6 late in the second quarter, but with 2:18 left, Tre Adolphus buried a 3-pointer to give the Warriors the lead at 9-8.

That led to a back-and-forth stretch of lead changes throughout the final 2:15 of the first half and into the third quarter.

But after falling behind 18-17 in the third period, Thompson had one of the best offensive spurts of the game when Justin McKnight and Adolphus hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Warriors their largest lead of the game at 23-18.

In a game where Thompson’s defense was already shining, that became too much for the Wildcats to overcome, as Thompson went on to maintain the lead the rest of the way en route to the 36-31 win.

The girls game was slightly different, but both defenses shined for much of the game.

The only difference in the game was the number of runs put together by each team.

Thompson, however, set the tone for the matchup with a fast start in the opening quarter.

The Warriors jumped out to a 9-0 lead at the end of the opening quarter, which forced the Wildcats to battle from behind the rest of the game.

They were able to claw back into the game on multiple occasions, but playing with the lead, Thompson was able to sustain their runs and eventually capitalized on an impressive second half to put away a 34-30 victory.