Lady Horses stumble in season opener

Fans packed the stands for the opening night of the ‘24-‘25 Clinton basketball season Monday night, and first up were the Lady Dark Horses. After a quick first score, the game ultimately slipped away from Clinton, as they fell 64-38 to the visting East Bladen Lady Eagles.

Things got off to a slow start after Clinton won the opening tipoff, moved down the court, and scored the game’s — and the season’s — first basket. The teams traded possession of the ball with forced and unforced errors, and the game stayed locked at two points apiece until Phoenix Everett received a shooting foul on a layup attempt several minutes later.

Everett went 1-for-2 on her free throw attempts, and the Horses quickly got the ball back on their own end afterwards. This set Ciara Stuart up for a three-point shot, and the Lady Horses quickly grabbed a 6-2 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Stuart added two more half a minute later on a layup, as Clinton continued to put the pressure on offensively. Defensively, though, they found themselves in foul trouble early as Stuart got two fouls in the first quarter and her teammates added a couple of their own, including Rubi Davila. 3:24 showed on the clock, and so did seven fouls for the hometown Horses.

The Eagles reeled things back in quickly, and tied things up with three minutes to go in the first, after a successful three point shot, making it 8-8. They then moved into the lead with a layup, making it a 10-8 game for the visiting Lady Eagles as the waning minutes of the opening period moved on. Two more foul shots later, and they extended their lead to 12-8.

That’s when Janiya Mosley got in on the action and hit a layup of her own, on a rebound from her previous shot. She tussled with the defender, but grabbed possession just outside the key, and banked it home to make it 12-10, still in favor of East Bladen. She added one more just seconds later after going 1-for-2 from the stripe and banking the second shot in, cutting the lead to 12-11.

Evan Gillespie followed suit right before the quarter ended, and knotted the game at 12 points before the first quarterly intermission, but East Bladen took the remaining few seconds to get down the court and grab the 14-12 lead before the buzzer sounded. That was the score going into the second quarter of the opening game for both teams.

Stuart was called for an offensive foul on a drive to the hoop, further deepening Clinton’s foul-fueled woes, and Mosley was called for a travel just past the six minute mark in the second. Unforced errors were affecting both teams early and often, as nearly every possession ended with one.

Jianna Pickett added back-to-back buckets for Clinton shortly after, which then made it an 18-17 game after quick footwork in the paint. A quick three pointer on East Bladen’s next possession, though, widened the gap back to four.

Jayla Pickett was fouled on a shot of her own, and this time sank both of them to make it 23-19 and just over a minute to play in the opening half, but another foul at the other end gave the Eagles another set of free throws, and they sank both, giving them the 25-19 advantage.

East Bladen’s Laila Smith shredded the Horses’ defense in the latter parts of the second quarter, including a layup just before it ended, which gave the Eagles the biggest lead so far, 27-19.

Defensive struggles didn’t get any better for Clinton to open the second half, as Davila got her fourth foul of the game just 10 seconds in. Janiyah Simmons picked up one 30 seconds later, and less than a minute into the second half, the Horses found themselves already in foul trouble. In the meantime, the Eagles had jumped out to a 10 point lead, further worsening things for the home team.

Giana Smith was fouled on a shot attempt with just under 3:30 to play in the third, and again sank 1 of the 2 from the charity stripe, as the score showed 37-22 for East Bladen.

As the teams broke for intermission between the third and fourth, East Bladen had jumped out to a 46-26 lead.

Offensive woes struck the Horses early in the fourth quarter after making their opening basket. Several shot attempts netted them zero goals, but plenty of rebounds. Davila and Jayla Pickett found themselves with free throw attempts, and each made one. This cut the lead back to 48-30 with just over six minutes to go in the contest.

Davila finessed her way through the paint, ducking and dodging defenders with a well-timed Euro step to get to an open basket to help stop the bleed after the Eagles had made another three pointer. The score sat at 51-32 as Clinton signaled for a timeout with 5:38 to go.

Stuart was back in the action on a jumper from off to the side of the high key, but regardless of their efforts on offense, Clinton struggled defensively. The Eagles were scoring off of breakaways from steals, three pointers from their motion offense, and press breaks through the Dark Horses’ full court defense. The score had climbed to 58-34 with just under four minutes to play.

The game went final with a score of 64-38.