Lakewood girls edge out Clinton

In a rematch of the championship game in the Chasity Melvin Holiday Tournament, Clinton’s Lady Horses basketball team once again traveled to Lakewood to face the Lady Leopards, looking to dismantle the undefeated home team. Back-and-forth action ensued, with the game coming down to the last seconds, but Lakewood emerged victorious, 47-46, for their second win over their Sampson County rivals this season.

Jayla Pickett won the tip for the Dark Horses, and after a brief struggle for possession, the Leopards took over. Lakewood’s Areona McKoy would come up with a block and get it at the other end for an easy layup for the game’s first points. She would also intercept two separate passes intended for Phoenix Everett, the latter of which resulted in Kiyah Braxton getting a layup of her own.

Lakewood was in full control of the cross-county opponent, and a deep McKoy three gave them the 7-0 lead nearly two minutes into the opening period.

Clinton’s Ciara Stuart was fouled on her way to the hoop but couldn’t connect on either of her free throws. Another trip down the court for her saw her shot blocked by Trinity Bell, but the ball landed out of bounds and Jayla Pickett sank the elbow jumper for Clinton’s first points 2:30 into the game.

A long two from Everett was no good and the Horses’ struggles continued. Stuart came up with a takeaway but lost control of the ball at the other end and she couldn’t make anything of the brief possession. She was no good on two more free throws later on.

For the Leopards, McKoy found her groove early in the game. Seven of the first nine came from the freshman, including the eighth and ninth points which came on a breakaway jumper from the right elbow.

Jahmai Rich sank her first of two free throws near the three minute mark, giving the Leopards the 10-2 advantage over the visiting Horses. McKoy assisted Karima Freeman on a layup to give them the double digit lead at 12-2.

McKoy poked another ball loose, which Freeman recovered and got to Alexis Rhodes near half court. McKoy ended up assisting Rhodes on the layup to give them 16-2 lead with 1:02 to play in the first, but Freeman was shaken up with a head injury on the play and the game was briefly paused while she was helped off the floor.

It took Clinton nearly five minutes to score their second basket, which was an Everett layup with half a minute left in the quarter.

The teams would break with a 16-4 score in favor of Lakewood.

The score would sit at 17-6 just :42 into the second quarter when Lakewood called for a timeout to re-adjust their strategy, but neither team could find their footing offensively coming out of the break.

Ciara Stuart grabbed two more for the Horses near the six-minute mark to cut the lead down to nine at 17-8. They brought things even closer at 17-11 with under five minutes to play in the half, forcing turnovers and empty possessions where they could. Lakewood’s offense relied on McKoy in the latter stages of the half.

She sank one of her two free throws after being fouled on a trip down the lane to spread it out to 18-11, and Clinton couldn’t respond until Evan Gillespie stole a pass moments later, and was assisted by Janiya Mosley on a layup. Stuart also grabbed a Leopard pass and took it to the other end, and in the blink of an eye, the Lady Horses brought it back to just a three point game at 18-15 with 3:48 to go before the halftime intermission.

The half court trap defense was at work for Clinton, pinning the Lakewood ball carrier at every chance — truly pestering the home team, as they couldn’t get an offense set up.

Kiyah Braxton broke the scoring drought for Lakewood with about 2:30 to play on a layup, giving the Leopards the 20-15 lead. Rubi Davila attempted the step back three, but was promptly blocked by McKoy, keeping Lakewood’s lead alive and well.

Davila intercepted a pass from McKoy to Rich, but couldn’t come up with points from the turnover to truly capitalize. Jayla Pickett also had a pair of foul shots but neither could fall. Stuart found the bottom of the net on a drive to make it 20-17 with a minute to play and Davila pickpocketed McKoy north of :30 remaining for the fast break. Stuart was fouled on the shot attempt from the Davila assist, and she made one of her two shots to tighten things up to a two point lead for the Leopards. The teams would break with the 20-18 score.

Lakewood started the second half with a pressuring defense, causing Clinton to be charged with a five second violation on the opening inbound pass. Stuart would get retribution via a steal of her own, which she would take to the other end. She was fouled on her trip to the basket, and she failed to connect on either of the free throws. She would be sent to the line again shortly after, where she would again miss both.

Scoring once again came to a halt for both squads as McKoy air balled a three nearly two minutes into the half and neither team had scored yet. Plenty of chances came their way, but neither side was able to capitalize thus far.

Davila missed on a drive near the 5:30 mark, but Daniya Coxum was there to clean it up for the tie. Everett stole a pass on Lakewood’s next possession, and with five minutes to go in the third, Clinton took the 22-20 lead.

Jayla Pickett came up with a block of A’miyah Smith, but fouled her in the process. Smith made the first of her two shots to cut Clinton’s advantage down to one, and Lakewood retained possession on the rebound. No points would come from it, but Braxton hit a jumper on the Leopards’ next possession to give them the 23-22 lead with 3:40 left to play in the third. Mosley would push the Horses back into the lead just 27 seconds later, at 24-23.

Rich was fouled on a put-back attempt and she sank both of her shots at the charity stripe, which gave Lakewood the lead once more at 25-24.

A hard foul came McKoy’s way on a fast break drive, but she was able to sink both free throws to extend the Leopards to a 27-24 lead with 2:18 to go in the third quarter. She grabbed another pass from Stuart to Davila and added two more, and was en route to another basket from a Freeman steal before being fouled again. She made one of the two from the line, which gave the home team the 30-24 lead late in the quarter.

Clinton found themselves in foul trouble, grabbing their fifth team foul and giving Lakewood two foul shots on each subsequent. Freeman made her two, and Lakewood led 32-24.

Braxton gave Lakewood the 10-point advantage just before the period ended at 34-24, but a late three from Mosley closed things up to 34-27 going into the fourth.

Mosley scored the first bucket of the final period, a floater down the middle to tighten it to a 34-29 lead by Lakewood.

She scored another on a free throw to give Lakewood just the four point advantage, as Clinton’s offense primarily relied on her thus far into the quarter. The Leopards pushed it back out to a six-point lead, but Clinton brought it back to a 36-32 game.

The Horses thought they had a breakaway to close the gap even further, but Everett was called for a charge on her way to the hoop, which fouled her out of the game and gave the ball back to Lakewood.

Stuart hit an uncontested three near 4:30 and Davila followed it up with a fast-break steal and score to put the Horses ahead once more at 37-36 with just over four minutes left in the game. The visitors took the 39-36 lead on a jumper, and Stuart made it an even 40 on a foul shot.

McKoy hit a baseline jumper to cut it to 40-38 with under three minutes to play. The teams traded possessions via forced and unforced errors down the backstretch. Stuart added another point on a foul shot, but McKoy answered with another jumper. Stuart answered immediately with a jumper of her own, and Clinton had the 43-40 advantage with 1:50 remaining. McKoy cut the lead to two on a free throw, as both teams were deep in foul trouble, so every foul forward was a trip to the line.

Jayla Pickett hit a free throw to give the Horses the 45-41 lead with a minute to go. McKoy was fouled at the other end, awarding her three foul shots. She sank all three with 50 seconds to play, making it just a 45-44 game in Clinton’s favor.

Rich tied it up on a foul shot with 34.1 seconds to go and took the one point lead on the next. Clinton’s head coach, Chris Owens, called for the timeout with 30.7 seconds to play in the tightly contested rivalry game.

Freeman poked the ball loose deep in Clinton territory, and a chain of passes got it up the floor to McKoy, who was once again fouled. She made the second of her two shots to give Lakewood the 47-45 lead with a touch over eight seconds to play. With 2.5 to go, though, Rich fouled Mosley on a layup to send her to the line where she could tie things up.

She made the first of two, which only halved the lead and gave Lakewood the 47-46 win.

“I expected them to come back,” said Lakewood head coach Lofton Kerr. “But we didn’t quit … It feels good to get the win — it’s been a while since we beat them twice in a season.”

Clinton moved to 7-4 with the loss and Lakewood remains undefeated at 8-0. The teams will face off once more on Jan. 22, but with plenty of games in between for each squad.