Sampson's Mikayla Boykin beats Hobbton defenders down the court and to the basket for one of her 18 points on the night. (David Johnson/Sampson Independent)

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Prentice Murphy goes up for a lay-up during Sampson Middle's victory over Hobbton Middle in Wildcat country Thursday afternoon. (David Johnson/Sampson Independent)

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The Hobbton Middle Wildcats hosted the Sampson Middle Dark Horses Thursday with Sampson taking both games. The girls won by 10, 38-28; the boys, 63-29.

Hobbton’s girls kept it fairly close for three quarters before Sampson opened up a large lead in the fourth. However, the Wildcats cut some of that lead off in the final minutes.

Sampson coach Jamie Harper said, “Both teams played hard; it was a well fought game. My girls came through on defense for us. We had a lot of good passes and assists. We had the scoring spread out this game. My centers came through guarding their tall girl, Nina Devone.They did a good job of guarding her. Overall, both teams did a very good job.”

Parenza Best, Hobbton’s coach, said, “Both teams played very hard. They are a tough team to beat. We gave ourselves a chance tonight. I am really proud of my girls. They played well. Other people stepped up for Mikayla (Boykin). Any time you can keep Boykin under 20 points, you have had a good night. I am proud of our team. They played good ball.”

Boykin and Devone shared scoring honors with 18 each. Others scoring for Sampson were Kiera Mabry with 16, and Charica Joyner with 4.

For the Wildcats, others scoring were Mackenzie Williams with 8 and Tylashia Brown with 2.

In the nightcap, Sampson’s boys jumped out to a big lead and never looked back. After one, they had a 17-6 lead and just extended it. At the half, their lead was 20 points at 30-10.

Sampson coach Ron Davis said, “Last year, out of the 16 players we dressed, 13 were eighth graders. We didn’t know exactly what we would have coming into this year. That seventh-grade class has really stepped up. We haven’t missed a beat. It’s real easy to coach when you can just roll the ball out on the court and say, ‘go get it.’ That’s exactly what we’ve done this year. But it is a team effort. They played great defense. We scored off our defense. It is a style of play this program wants to do from the middle school to the high school. It’s just a lot of fun to coach.”

For the Dark Horses, Raheem Skinner led all scorers with 20 points. Prentice Murphy added 14.

For the Wildcats, Omar Farrior had 12 with Ervin Custillo chipping in 3.

Hobbton and Midway Middles with play a make-up game from earlier Tuesday at Hobbton. Sampson will host Roseboro-Salemburg on Thursday next week.