Lindsey Royal looks for a teammate to pass the ball to after grabbing a rebound.
Daron Barefoot|Sampson Independent
The Midway Raiders girls’ basketball team was back on home court Tuesday night hosting Fairmont in Southeastern Athletic Conference play. The Lady Tornadoes entered the contest atop the standings in league play and were 60-12 victors in the first meeting. Needless to say, the task at hand was a tall one for the Lady Raiders. Indeed, Fairmont blew past Midway, triumphing in victory 57-31.
Fairmont got off to a slow start, and it was Midway that opened up with a 3-0 lead thanks to a Kara Beth Benton 3-pointer. The Lady Tornadoes then hit a 7-0 run, going up 7-3 before Avery Strickland hit another 3-pointer for the Lady Raiders, making it 7-6. After that, the scoring slowed down quite a bit as the score rested at 7-6. From there, the Lady Tornadoes picked up the pace and snagged a 12-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
As the game entered the second quarter, both teams were hit by a brief scoring drought. It didn’t last long, though, as the Lady Tornadoes opened up a big lead. Benton sank another three-ball for the Lady Raiders, but they had fallen behind at 22-9 with 3:40 left in the first half and asked for timeout. Peyton Herring got on the stat sheet with a rebound and a put-back, but Midway continued to fall further behind. By halftime, the Lady Raiders found themselves trailing 29-13.
The third quarter was overwhelmingly controlled by Fairmont. They turned in their best performance of the game in the third quarter and built a lead that nearly reached the mercy-rule threshold. They didn’t quite eclipse that margin, though, and the Lady Tornadoes led 52-18 at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter saw Fairmont’s lead generally hang out around the 30-point mark. Scoring was pretty much nonexistent except for a few from Midway, but even then they didn’t make any significant dents in the deficit. When the final buzzer sounded, the Lady Tornadoes were headed home with the 57-31 victory.
The high scorer for Midway was Benton with 11 points. Lindsey Royal had four points and Strickland had three.
With the loss, Midway is now 7-10 overall and 1-6 in league play. They were scheduled to be back on the court on Friday against West Bladen.