Clinton’s varsity girls held on to their No. 1 ranking in the Eastern Carolina Conference with a 58-40 road win over Swansboro. The Lady Horses are one game up, going into the final weeks of the regular season, with East Duplin, South Lenoir and Northside all tied for second place.

But Friday night, it was all about getting the W as the Clinton girls took on Swansboro.

“I told the girls we had to come into this game focused, and we had to finish,” said coach Chris Owens. “I felt like we did that tonight (Friday). We executed well; we were patient on offense and our defense created turnovers and we were able to turn those into some points.”

Clinton jumped out to a early lead in the first quarter and finished the period up 21-10. Tighter defense in the second quarter. slowed the Lady Horses offense some, but Clinton still took a 33-21 lead into the break.

A strong third quarter showing by the Lady Horses added to the Swansboro deficit, and although they outscored the Clinton girls 11-8 in the final frame, it wasn’t enough to move them out of the earlier hole.

Courtney Pearsall led scoring for Clinton with 20 points. Kristen Glasper added 18 points; Lexus Simpson, 11; Bianca Owens, 5; Tamara Murphy 1; Deasia Edwards, 1; and Tichiana Altman, 1.

Clinton moves to 15-4 overall and 9-1 in conference play. They travel to Topsail Tuesday.

Pink Game

The Horses will host their Pink Game Friday, Feb. 8 during halftime of their game with East Duplin, and Owens encouraged all cancer survivors to come out and participate.

“We want everyone to come out and we want them to wear pink in support of the game, the girls and cancer survivors. We are hoping cancer survivors will come so they can participate in a pinning ceremony we will have at halftime,” the coach added.