The Hobbton Wildcat girls won their game against Pender Monday night while the boys and the JV lost close ones. The girls had a blowout with a final of 51-18. The varsity boys lost a barn burner 56-54. The JV lost 61-56 in a game closer than the score.
The girls’ game was no contest. The young Pender girls just couldn’t make it work. Even with guard Michaela Wilson out sick, Hobbton jumped out to a 14-4 lead during the first quarter. At the half, they had extended the lead to 25-7. The Wildcats outscored Pender 10-3 in the third to take a 35-10 lead. In the fourth quarter, Hobbton put in the subs for playing time and Pender was able to catch up a little. The Lady ‘Cats still out scored Pender 16-8 in the final quarter.
Hobbton coach Alphonso Hooper said, “I was unsure how things would go tonight with Michaela (Wilson) out. I told our freshmen and sophomores they were going to have to step up, and they did. Sasha came out on fire and I told the team somebody else was going to have to step up. When they started double teaming Sasha (Martin), some of the other girls started getting shots.
“My hat goes off to the team. They played hard and I felt like we controlled the boards. In the second half, Casey Hobbs really played big for us as far as rebounding and scoring. One of my freshmen, Benady Cerda ,stepped up really big and got a lot of rebounds. She plays rough no matter what. Pender is young and scrappy. They played well.”
For the Wildcats, Martin had 24 points, 9 assists and 8 steals. Hobbs had a double -double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Hannah Warren had 6 points and Shavonia Bell contributed 5.
Wildcat varsity coach Jeff Byrd said of the boys’ loss, “You have to make the foul shots. We played hard all game and it came down to foul shots. We didn’t make them.”
The boys hit about 40 percent from the charity stripe; however, right at the end they missed four big ones that could have tied or won the game. With 8.6 seconds left, Pender had a 1-point lead. Hobbton had two chances at the foul line and missed all 4. Hobbton had a 3-point lead, 18-15, after the first quarter. Pender was up by 3, 31-28, at the half.
The third quarter was a big one for Pender as they outscored the Wildcats 15-7 to take a 46-35 lead at the end. In the fourth, Hobbton made a run and got close but could not hold on.
The Wildcats had a balanced scoring attack. Jonathan Faison had 15 points. Donald Farrior had 10. Rashad Davis and Kyle Newsome had 9 each with Arell Owens rounding it out with 8.
JV coach Alfonso Hooper said about his JV team, “We have been working hard at playing as team. When we went to Pender, they beat us by about 40 points. The last couple of days we worked hard on breaking the press. We were able to break their press. We also started playing as a team, five guys playing together. Where we are now is playing hard and playing together. We had three crucial turnovers down the stretch. Who knows, that could have made the game. In the third quarter we were down by 1 point and we turned it over. I am real proud of my team. We didn’t fold. They played hard until the end.”
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