RUSSELLVILLE – Like the Little Engine that could, the Warren East boys’ basketball team is starting to believe.

The Raiders improved to 3-0 Tuesday with another down-to-the-wire victory – a 58-52 win over Russellville.

Warren East won two games last week by four points each, including an overtime win at Logan County on Friday, and continued to show poise down the stretch – rallying from a halftime deficit to hold on and stun the Panthers.

&#8220It’s huge, especially where we’ve been the last couple of years,” WEHS coach Russell Malone said. &#8220We’ve been building up to this moment. We have experience on the floor and I think these kids are ready to experience some success.”

Russellville (1-1) scored 94 in its season-opening win over Fort Campbell, but the Raiders were able to control the tempo and stifle the Panthers’ high-powered offense.

&#8220I just told the guys in the locker room that hard work beats talent any time, especially when talent doesn’t play very hard,” Russellville coach Dennis Pardue said. &#8220I just didn’t think we played very hard tonight. We let them dictate tempo from the start of the game. They got some momentum going and we struggled shooting from the field.

&#8220They did a much better job on the boards. We settled for perimeter shots and our defensive intensity was pathetic. When you don’t come into every game mentally ready to play, sometimes things like that happen.”

Warren East controlled the first quarter and led 11-8 before Russellville’s Josh Kennedy hit a 3 that tied the score.

The Panthers were more aggressive in the second quarter, using a 16-6 surge to build a 27-17 lead.

The lead was still 27-19 at halftime, but Warren East quickly recovered and got the margin down to 29-26 after Shenard Holton picked up a loose ball under the basket and took an uncontested layup with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter.

A Holton free throw tied the score 33-33 three minutes later and the Raiders finally regained the advantage when Jordan Ellis connected on a bucket that made the score 37-35 late in the third quarter.

The game remained close, with Russellville taking a brief 42-40 lead on a 3 from Kennedy early in the fourth.

Warren East answered with five straight to regain the lead, but Russellville rallied and tied the score 47-47 with four minutes remaining.

The Raiders took the lead for good on a 3 by DeAngelo Kirk and stretched the margin to 52-47 with 1:57 remaining on a layup by Holton. Russellville got as close as two points, 54-52, in the final seconds, but the Raiders hit four free throws in the final 38 seconds to put the game away.

Kirk, who finished with 15 points, said last week’s close wins helped the Raiders down the stretch Tuesday.

&#8220Those two games helped us a lot,” Kirk said. &#8220It gave us more confidence at the end of the game tonight.”

Holton added 15 points for Warren East.

Jordan Hinton paced Russellville with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Kennedy added 12 points.

Warren East will host Warren Central on Friday, while Russellville will host Todd County Central.

Warren East 11 8 20 19 – 58

Russellville 11 16 10 15 – 52

Warren East (58) Kirk 15, Holton 15, Ray 9, Ellis 9, Fox 5, Yates 3, Watson 2

Russellville (52) Hinton 13, Kennedy 12, Mayo 10, Meacham 10, Bigbee 5, Sydnor 2

Warren East 76 – Russellville 71 (girls)

The Lady Raiders led by as many as 19 but the Lady Panthers rallied and cut the lead to one before Warren East (3-0) put the game away in the final minutes.

&#8220I’m proud of our kids,” Anderson said. &#8220I’m proud that they battled. They could have folded their tents when (Russellville) made a run at them in the fourth quarter, but they didn’t.”

Warren East broke open a close game in the second quarter with sophomore sensation Ashley Rainey on the bench.

Rainey picked up her third foul early in the second quarter with the score tied 19-19, but Warren East closed the half with a 19-9 run and led 38-28 at the break.

&#8220When Ashley came out, we just had to step up,” said Andrea Moore, who scored six of her 16 points during the run. &#8220That’s what you have to do as a senior. You have to be a leader. Tiasha (Briggs) and I found our shooting and we stuck with it.”

The Lady Raiders stretched the margin to 55-36 after a three-point play by Lauren Mahaney with 3:03 left in the third quarter, but the Lady Panthers comeback began thanks to some solid 3-point shooting.

Russellville (0-3) hit six treys in the second half, four from Nakia Daniel, and the lead was down to 70-69 after a 3 from Chloe Elam with 2:45 left.

But Rainey took over from there. The sophomore forward scored on the next possession and added two free throws in the final seconds to seal the win.

Rainey finished with 18 points, 11 in the fourth quarter, and 10 rebounds.

&#8220I didn’t care how long she had sat, I wanted the ball in her hands,” Anderson said.

While Rainey was impressive down the stretch, Russellville coach Dedra Coslin said it was the Warren East guards who were the difference in the game.

&#8220I wanted to make them to play an outside game,” Coslin said. &#8220I felt like if they were going to beat us, we wanted them to beat us from the outside. They did that tonight. (Moore) knocked down about every shot she took. We did exactly what we wanted, but their guards stepped up and did the job.”

Briggs had 13 points and Keisha Ray added 10 points for the Lady Raiders.

Elam, who has signed to play at Austin Peay, led Russellville with 24 points. Caitlyn Reeves added 20 points and nine rebounds and Daniel finished with 17 points.

Warren East will host Warren Central on Friday, while Russellville will host Todd County Central.

Warren East 18 20 21 17 – 76

Russellville 16 12 19 24 – 71

Warren East (76) Rainey 18, Moore 16, Briggs 13, Ray 10, Mahaney 9, Crabtree 8, Bonds 2.

Russellville (71) Elam 24, Reeves 20, N. Daniel 17, R. Daniel 7, Sydnor 2, Leavell 1.