By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

Both the boys and girls basketball teams from Coosa Valley have started the 2015-16 basketball season off on a strong foot.

Both the boys and girls teams took on Cornerstone on Nov. 16 in an early season, county-on-county rivalry matchup and both won handily. For the boys, Fisher Williams and Easton Hopkins continued to lead the way for the Rebels with 23 and 21 points respectively while Tyler Warren had 12 as well. The score at the half in the boys’ game was 33-22 before Coosa Valley opened the floodgates in the third quarter, going on a 15-2 run to take a 28-24 advantage. The Rebels won the game by a final of 65-35, and Hopkins, Williams and Warren combined for 86 percent of the scoring.

The girls also had success against Cornerstone, beating the Lady Chargers handily by a final of 40-24. The Lady Rebels did not shoot the ball well in the contest, but implemented a 1-3-1 half-court trap on defense that stymied the Cornerstone attack, and held them scoreless in the third quarter. Kalei Merrifield had 10 points and a whopping 26 rebounds for an impressive double-double while Denise Niven contributed 16 points and Sarah Warren added seven points, 15 rebounds and three blocks as well. Annika Walker had 14 for Cornerstone.

The following night on Nov. 17, the boys and girls took on one of the AISA state powers in Springwood. The girls fell behind early and trailed 31-16 at the half in the face of a tough man-to-man defense, the first time the Lady Rebels had seen a man defense all season. Coosa Valley outscored Springwood in the second half, and clawed all the way back to tie the game at 42 apiece late in the third quarter, but could never quite pull ahead, and fell to 3-1 with the loss via a 52-47 final.

The boys on the other hand handled Springwood with ease en route to a 52-32 win. Hopkins again led the way for the Rebels and finished with 21 while Williams had 14 as well. Landon Harmon had 12 for Coosa Valley, and the three finished with all but five of the Rebels points. Springwood was led McLain Martin who had 14. Coosa Valley moved to 3-1 with the win.