Lady Leopards pounce on Lady Raiders

It was a battle of two local girl’s basketball teams Friday night as Midway traveled to Lakewood, seeking revenge for their early-season matchup. It would be the Lady Leopards that emerged victorious, though, remaining undefeated with their 50-20 home win.

Lakewood’s Jahmai Rich won the tipoff over Midway’s McKenna Brooks, giving the Leopards possession first. Areona McKoy fired a three just seconds into the game, but was off the mark. She got redemption as she pickpocketed Kara Beth Benton and took the ball to the other end of the opening score. Midway’s next possession resulted in no points, as did Lakewood’s.

McKoy came up with the assist on the next trip down the floor as she dished it to Rich for a bucket near the block. Rich came up with a block of Brooks, keeping the Lady Raiders scoreless as the clock neared the halfway point in the opening quarter. Rich doubled up in the blocks of Brooks again shortly after.

Both teams were called for lane violations on foul shots by their opponents, but neither side could take advantage of the extra free shot. Rich put on a blocking clinic thus far as she grabbed another block of Katelyn Vann just north of the four minute mark.

McKoy hit Lakewood’s fifth point of the contest at the 4:19 as she made one of her two free throws after being fouled. The Lady Leopards led, 5-0.

Offensive struggles still came about for Midway, and McKoy’s back to back steals — first from Kara Beth Benton then from Ella Clark — didn’t help the case. The Raiders held strong defensively, though, and didn’t give anything up.

Shots by Benton and Vanna still didn’t fall for Midway, and a McKoy block of a Benton shot led to Lakewood’s Alexis Rhodes adding two more to the lead under two minutes, giving the home team the 7-0 advantage over the visiting Raiders.

Leopard Takiyah Carr got a partial block on a shot by Vann keeping them scoreless still. She added another on an Aubrey Williams shot on the Raiders’ next trip down the court, and time expired in the first quarter with the 7-0 Leopard lead intact.

Lakewood started with the ball in the second quarter, but Midway quickly snagged it and Clark took it to the other end for Midway’s first score of the game just seconds into the second period.

Vann added another point on a free throw, cutting the Lakewood lead to 7-3 early in the second. Avery Strickland assisted Benton on a long two to cut the lead even further, now down to 7-5 below six minutes.

Carr grabbed another block on Vann as the Leopards quickly approached double digits in the statistical category.

The Leopards’ lead grew to 10-5 as the half approached the final four minutes and neither team could find their rhythm scoring.

Midway’s Vann added a point and Stonerock added two on a putback layup to make it 10-8 with four minutes to go. Lakewood’s Rhodes returned fire at the other end with a triple, which extended the lead to 13-8 for the Leopards. McKoy added two more of her own shortly after, which made it a 15-8 contest with under three minutes to go in the half. The first double digit lead of the cut came on another Rhodes three, which made it an 18-8 lead before the half.

The Raiders were able to cut things back to 18-9, but McKoy took one from Stonerock as she brought the ball up the court and made it 20-9 right at the one-minute mark in the half. She added another with 34 seconds to play on a foul shot.

The halftime score would be 21-9 as the teams broke for the intermission.

Scoring opened quickly for both teams in the second half, as they each grabbed multiple buckets early to make it a 24-13 advantage for the Leopards. A Benton to Stonerock assist brought it even closer at 24-15 halfway through the quarter.

Another triple from Rhodes gave Lakewood the 29-15 lead later on, and she was there for the assist on another McKoy layup to make it 31-15 as the third period moved toward the latter half.

The defensive pressure was on from the Leopards as multiple steals came their way from McKoy and Rhodes, plus blocks by Carr and Rich, plus constant pressure from Karima Freeman lead the charge for them.

Benton added another point for the Raiders at the 1:48 mark, but McKoy added back to back layups to give the Leopards the 35-16 lead.

It was Rhodes once more on the buzzer beater deep three to give Lakewood the 38-16 lead going into the fourth quarter.

It was also her who opened the fourth quarter with yet another triple, extending the lead once more to 41-16.

A stoppage of action came about under a minute into the final quarter as the scoreboard went black, but officials quickly fixed the issue and play resumed.

Benton added a three of her own with a 6:30 to play, cutting it down to a 41-19 lead for the Leopards. McKoy answered with a layup, pushing it back to 43-19.

Vann added a point on a free throw near the four minute mark, but Rhodes was there once more with another three. The lead grew to 48-20 before McKoy hit a mid-range jumper to make it 50-30 just north of three minutes.

Scoring came to a halt for both sides, with both teams substituting in reserves in the final moments of the game, and the score stayed the same.

Neither team would score in the final three minutes, and Lakewood took the 50-20 win to stay unbeaten.