BY NOAH GRIFFITH
FOR THE OBSERVER
SMITHS STATION –– The Smiths Station Panthers began the year of 2026 by hosting Northside, Georgia,for an afternoon of basketball on Saturday, Jan. 3. The boys pulled out a hard-fought victory and the girls dropped a back-and-forth contest in overtime.
Both teams will enter area play Friday, Jan. 9, with a matchup at Opelika. Here’s a recap of each team’s games.
Boys
The Smiths Station boys outlasted the Northside Patriots for a 58-48 win on Saturday. After also beating Jordan on Friday, the Smiths Station boys improved to 12-5 heading into area play.
Northside kept it a tight game throughout, but Smiths Station pulled away by outscoring the Patriots 22-15 in the fourth quarter. When Northside made it a one-point game by knocking down a mid-range two to begin the fourth quarter, Smiths Station senior Mykel Edmund splashed back-to-back three-pointers to drown out the Patriot comeback.
After the game, Smiths Station head coach Armon Ingersoll discussed his connection to Northside head coach Greg Johnson, noting their familiarity with one another meant they both knew what to expect.
“That was a tight game. Coach Johnson does a great job at Northside — we coached together at Central-Phenix City,” Ingersoll said. “He knows me and I know him well, so (schematically) it was a good two to three zone matchup.”
Ingersoll added that when defenses know how to contain opposing offenses, games often become even more of a mental challenge than normal. He credited his team for sharp decision-making and free-throw shooting to help seal the victory.
The Panthers went nine-for-11 from the free-throw line, which proved crucial in closing out a tight win.
“We had to be patient on the offensive side of the ball,” Ingersoll explained. “It’s a mental game, especially when we’re playing against the zone with no shot clock. Just being able to think and process to make adjustments — I thought our guys did a good job of that down the stretch.”
Scoring came slowly out of the gate, as the Panthers led just 14-9 after the first quarter and 21-15 at halftime. Senior Robert Shoffler hit an early three-pointer to stop a 5-0 Northside run to begin the game, but both sides struggled to find consistent offense after that.
While points were hard to come by for just about everyone, it was a different story for Smiths Station junior Jayden Peabody. He led all scorers with 18 points on eight-for-13 shooting, including three-of-eight from beyond the arc.
Ingersoll noted that Peabody, the team’s leading scorer, often draws heavy defensive attention and game planning and challenged someone else from his team to step up to add another scoring threat. Shoffler and junior Jarquez Williams answered, scoring 11 points apiece. Williams finished five-for-six from the field, while Shoffler’s 11 points came on a three-for-14 shooting night.
“Peabody’s one of our guys we have to lean on for free throws and play making down the stretch,” Ingersoll said. “It’s good to have other guys add balance to our offense.”
The win marked an important tune-up for the Panthers as they enter area play in Class 7A, Region 4. Smiths Station travels to Opelika on Friday before returning home for area contests against Auburn, Central and a rematch with Opelika.
Smiths Station carries a three-game win streak into what Ingersoll described as basically “another season.”
“We have to take this game and build on it,” Ingersoll said. “Opelika is a really good team. Coach [Wesley] Button does a really good job up there, and we’re on the road next Friday. We’re looking to go in and compete.”
Girls
The Smiths Station girls fought hard but ultimately lost to Northside in overtime, 66-63. The Panthers fall to 3-12, while the Patriots improve to 6-7.
It was an evenly-matched game throughout, as it went to halftime tied at 25 and the fourth quarter ended with a tie at 51. Senior Erica Robinson nearly ended the game with a buzzer beater from close range for the Panthers in regulation, but the ball hit just barely too hard off the backboard and rolled off the front of the rim.
“Our girls left it all on the floor. I can’t ask for anything more out of them,” said head coach Dewayne Welch. “Only thing I could say about this team is we’re very young, playing eighth and ninth graders, and so that decision making in a hostile game isn’t quite there yet, but they play hard.”
In the third quarter alone, Smiths Station took the lead and Northside retied the game four different times. It remained a back-and-forth stalemate until Smiths Station rallied to create some separation with a 50-44 lead after a free throw by Asia Davis with 3:16 in the fourth quarter.
From there, Northside outscored Smiths Station 7-1, with the help of six points from Jelayna Stewart. A late in-bound turnover gave Northside the ball with 12 seconds to go, but after a Northside miss, the Panthers got the rebound with a few seconds to go. Robinson rushed down the court and got a floater off right before time expired, but it had a little too much on it. The miss forced overtime.
After building a multi-score lead a few minutes earlier, going to overtime was a letdown for a team that Welch said was “worn down.” The coach also noted that Davis, one of their key starters, had been out all week with the flu.
“[Davis] ran out of gas there at the end,” Welch said. “That kind of hurt us, but my hat’s off to her. She came back yesterday, and I’m just glad she gave an effort as long as she could.”
After taking over with 16 points in the second half, Robinson fought hard to lead the Panthers to victory in overtime. She scored six of Smiths Station’s 12 points in overtime, including a last-second steal and lay up on the other end. Still, it wasn’t enough, as Northside’s Aiyana Conyers and Quianna Hunter teamed up for 15 points in overtime for the win.
Robinson led all scorers in the game with 33 points, while eighth grader Serenity Foster dropped 14 points, and both Davis and Ava Deloach added six.
“Robinson is kind of our leader. I’m really hard on her because I want her to be an extension of me out on the floor, like the coach of the court,” Welch said. “She’s going to give everything she’s got, and she did that today. She came up big in some areas.”
Like the boys, the girls are preparing to open area play in Class 7A, Region 4 when they travel to Opelika on Friday. This season thus far has been a learning process for the Panthers, but they hope to take the lessons they’ve learned and put together a strong ending to the season.
“This was good for us to see where we are as far as how we measure up before area play,” Welch said. “We knew this season was going to be tough, and we knew it would come with some growing pains. The important thing is to learn a whole lot and play hard, and that’s what they did today.”
