By James Dubuisson | Special to the Advertiser

For five years, Thorsby High School girls basketball teammates Sharonda Cooper and Amanda Hubbard have been teammates and best friends, on and off the court.

You always see them in the school hallways, at the lunch table laughing and leading the Lady Rebels together on the hardwood.

And on Friday night, the explosive tandem played their last home game together, against Fayetteville High School.

Cooper, a junior, outscored the Lady Wolves of FHS all by herself in the first quarter with 9 points as the Lady Rebels took a 14-6 lead into the second quarter.

THS extended its lead to 24-9 in the second quarter.

Not to be outdone by Cooper’s first quarter performance, Hubbard, a senior, dropped three 3-pointers in the third quarter.

After Hubbard’s 9 points, the Lady Rebels led 36-15 after three quarters.

THS would then finish off the Lady Wolves in the fourth.

The tandem finished the game with 41 total points, with Cooper scoring a game-high 27 and Hubbard finishing with 14, 12 of which came off her four 3-pointers.

“I love her so much, and I’m really going to miss her,” Cooper said. “I wish we could have one more year together. She is really my sister, and I love her to death along with the other seniors.”

Hubbard and the other senior basketball players and cheerleaders were honored in between the girls and boys games.

Unlike the girls’ game, the THS/FHS boys game was closely contested.

The Wolves would leave Thorsby with the victory, 75-71.

After one quarter of play, the Rebels led 20-19. They were led by junior Jace Maddox’s seven points and senior Andrew Farris six points.

The Wolves would then jump out to a seven-point lead in the second quarter, leading 42-35, and the game seemed to be over after the third quarter, as FHS extended its lead to 13 at 58-45.

But the Rebels were not done yet, as they scored the first eight points of the fourth. The Rebels stayed close to the Wolves for the rest of the game. They even made it a one-possession game with little time left on the clock.

Farris tried a 3, and the ball seemed to slow down as it sailed through the air and found the center of the cylinder.

The Wolves still led by three, though, and the Rebels needed to foul. With 2.7 seconds remaining, FHS junior Steven King stepped up to the line needing to make his first shot and intentionally miss the second.  He did exactly that.

The Rebels were led by Farris’s 22 points, sophomore Parker Bryan’s 15 points and Maddox’s 14 points.