Amir Tate beats the defense for two of his game-high 21 points.
Cassie Driver launches a jumper for two points.
Deonte Darden gets two of his 17 points on a jump shot for the foul line area.
Katie Britt drive through traffic for a score.
Richard Simpson drives the baseline for two points on a backhand layup.
The Hobbton Wildcat basketball teams hosted the Jones Senior Trojans Friday night and came away with two wins. The girls won, 48-44, and the boys had a blowout with a 63-31 win. On Thursday, the boys’ JV got a 58-44 win.
The Lady Wildcats came into the game hungry after thirty-three straight losses, getting the 48-44 win. They had an eight point run early on in the game taking an 8-0 lead in the first three-and-a-half minutes. Gracie Barefoot and Katie Britt led the charge with four points each while Izzy Hepworth, Miley McLamb and Amelia Dial chipped in two points each for a 14-6 Wildcat lead after the first quarter. In the second frame, the Wildcats to held on to the momentum outscoring the Lady Trojans 13-10 for a 27-16 half time advantage.
The Wildcats lost some of that momentum opening the third quarter allowing Jones Senior to go on a scoring run closing the Wildcat advantage to three points with 2:38 left in the quarter, which ended with a 37-34 Wildcat lead.
In the fourth quarter, the Trojans kept up the pressure, getting their first lead early on getting a 38-37 advantage. With 4:30 left in the game, Madison Sinclair hit a three pointer to put the Wildcat back on top 40-39. With just under two minutes left, the Wildcats held on to a two point lead at 44-42. Cassie Driver and Britt kept the Wildcats in the lead securing the win with 7.6 seconds left.
Britt led the Wildcat charge with 13 points. Driver had seven points, McLamb had six points, and Hepworth finished with five points including a three pointer.
“We started the season really slow, losing 66-6 at Clinton.” commented Wildcat coach Arianna Corbett. “We put up a really good fight against Midway. We put up an OK fight tonight. We started off strong. Once we saw our opponents, we relaxed a little bit and our opponents came back and played a lot harder than we were. To win, we had to push harder and work harder than we had the entire game with two of my starters fouling out and another player also fouled out.”
The Lady Wildcats are 1-2 on the season.
The Wildcat boys had three players hitting double figures in the game and had little competition opening with a 15-point run before the Trojans got on the scoreboard. They finished the first quarter with a 17-6 lead and never looked back.
The Wildcats outscored the Trojans 10 to 8 in the second frame for 27-14 halftime lead. Deonte Darden got hot in the third quarter hitting three treys for nine of his points. Amir Tate kept hitting layups, getting six points and a foul shot. The Wildcats had a 53-25 lead after three quarters.
In the final frame, Darden picked up another five points and Tate added four more. Scoring slowed down as Wildcat coach Aydan Tart started subbing in the younger players for court time.
Tate finished with 21 points. Darden and freshman Richard Simpson finished with 17 points each.
“We came out with great energy, attitude, and effort,” commented Coach Tart. “That’s all I ask every week — to get better. Each time we step in the gym, energy, attitude, and effort are our three words. When we win those three battles, we win the game. That’s way we’ve been so far. We have a great group of seniors with good leadership and camaraderie on the team.”
The Wildcat boys are 2-1 on the season.
This week, the Wildcats travel to Princeton on Tuesday and East Duplin on Friday.