By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

We had a strong slate of basketball games on Tuesday, Dec. 4, across Shelby County. Below are recaps from each of the games.

Boys

Spain Park 41, Clay-Chalkville 51

Spain Park led by six at the end of the first quarter, four at halftime and one at the end of the third quarter, but Clay-Chalkville was able to end the final quarter by outscoring the Jags 22-11 to pick up a 51-41 victory. The Jaguars are now 2-6 on the season after a difficult schedule early in the season.

Pelham 39, Homewood 57

After beating Leeds 76-61 a night earlier, Pelham struggled offensively, possibly due to fatigue, against Homewood and fell by a final score of 57-39. The Panthers are still off to a solid start this season and currently sit at 5-3.

Shelby County 63, Pell City 59

The Shelby County Wildcats have shown some positive signs early in the season and plenty of improvement from last year, and that continued on Tuesday with a 63-59 win against the Pell City Panthers. The Wildcats are now 3-2 overall through five games.

Girls

Spain Park 43, Clay-Chalkville 21 

The defending state champions are looking like a title-contending team yet again this season after a 43-21 win against Clay-Chalkville. Through nine games, the Jaguars have now dropped just one game this season and continue to improve with the difficult schedule they are playing. Sarah Ashlee Barker posted 10 points for Spain Park.

Pelham 55, Homewood 46

The story of the last few days has been the Pelham Panthers’ girls basketball team—a squad that has struggled the last few seasons. Those struggles were still there early this season under first-year head coach Crosby Morrison, but the team has shown tremendous growth in a short period of time during the last three games.

Pelham was able to pick up the first win of the Morrison era last Friday by taking down Jacksonville 48-18. The Panthers came back on Monday and lost a tough 66-65 game against the Leeds Greenwave, but have now bounced back with a 55-46 win against a solid 6A Homewood team.

The Panthers were able to take a 31-26 lead into the half and a 42-37 lead at the end of the third quarter. They never wavered in the fourth quarter, knocking down clutch shots and free throws to pull away for the nine-point win. Myriah Tate led the way with 16 points, while KK Tomlinson posted 10 points for two double-figure scorers.

Pelham is now 2-5 overall after winning two of its last three games and coming within a point of a three-game win streak.