Lady Leopards get season sweep of Lady ‘Cats

In the first game of Friday night’s action, the Hobbton girls played host to the Lakewood Lady Leopards, hoping to cool off the red-hot cross-county rivals. It was for naught, though, as Lakewood took the 66-21 win in dominating fashion.

Hobbton’s Izzy Hepworth took the opening tipoff, but Alexis Rhodes was there for a block on an early layup attempt. Kiyah Braxton had a pair of free throws at the other end after being fouled, but couldn’t connect to open up scoring for the teams.

Areona McKoy quickly made her presence known on the return trip, getting a block on Cassie Driver that Aubree McLamb couldn’t corral back in bounds. Jahmai Rich would make the game’s first points, but Aubree McLamb immediately answered and knotted the game at two apiece north of six minutes. McKoy found herself with a rare airball to take the lead once more, and a travel from Lakewood gave possession back to the hosts.

With the score sitting at 3-2 in favor of Lakewood, McKoy still couldn’t find her rhythm and remained scoreless. A pass from Hepworth to Graci Barefoot gave Hobbton the lead for the first time on the night, but Lakewood responded swiftly and took the lead back at 5-4.

The lead continued to grow in Lakewood’s favor, moving to 9-4 with 2:59 to play in the opening period. A Madison Sinclair drive and subsequent layup for Hobbton made the deficit more manageable at 9-6. A pair of McKoy free throws moved it back to a five-point lead at 11-6. A Rhodes jumper progressed it to 13-6 before McKoy added another pair via free throws.

Hepworth connected with Barefoot once again on an inbound pass, giving the Lady Wildcats another pair of points near the one-minute mark, slimming Lakewood’s lead to 15-8. A turnaround jumper for Katie Britt missed the mark, and McKoy took it to the other end for the fast-break basket.

The scoreboard would show a 20-8 Lakewood lead at the first intermission.

McKoy opened the second quarter with another fast break basket, further widening things out for the visitors.

Just two minutes into the second quarter, Lakewood had climbed out to a 27-8 lead, going on a 7-0 run to start the second period, keeping their rivals scoreless. McKoy added to this on a steal on an inbound pass, which she quickly converted into a layup.

Miley McLamb got into the box score when she buried a triple to score Hobbton’s first points of the quarter, making a 29-11 ball game. Barefoot followed it up with a deep two of her own.

With just over two minutes to play in the half, Lakewood held the 37-13 advantage, as the Leopards were in complete control of both ends of the floor. At this point, they had slowed down the transition offense, relaxed a bit defensively, and moved to a more established motion offense, full of passes that chewed up clock going into halftime.

For Hobbton, the Wildcats looked to get scoring opportunities anywhere they could. While their opponents took their foot off the pedal defensively, the hosts continued to struggle to maintain possession of the ball and make worthwhile attempts. Sinclair added a point on a free throw south of a minute left in the half, but Lakewood was there once more to counter the shot at the other end. Trinity Bell fed Takiyah Carr for a three near the baseline just before the half ended, making it a 42-14 lead for Lakewood.

Aubree McLamb started the scoring in the second half with a pair of free throws for the Wildcats just moments into the third quarter. A 3-ball from the right side from Rhodes helped quiet the already-hushed hometown crowd as the score moved to 47-16 in favor of the Lady Leopards.

A free throw from the charity stripe by McKoy gave Lakewood the 34-point advantage at 50-16 as the clock ticked below four minutes in the third quarter, and the Leopards were on cruise control towards the season sweep of their Carolina 1A foes.

Barefoot buried a deep two down the left side with 2:30 to play in the third to move it to a 52-18 score before McKoy retaliated with a turnaround jumper of her own.

The score showed a 55-18 Lakewood lead going into the fourth.

McKoy assisted Rhodes on a quick three to open things in the fourth and came up with another quick steal and score to make it 60-18 just 30 seconds into the final period. She added another layup when she corralled a misfired pass from the Wildcats and took it for the fast break.

Barefoot added a point from the charity stripe, and Aubree McLamb added a layup, which moved the score to 66-21 in the fourth, but it was too little too late and the running clock had been turned on for a majority of the period.

Aubree McLamb found herself with a steal in the final moments, which she took for a fast break, but Trinity Bell tracked her down for a block to keep the final score at 66-21.

With the win, Lakewood moved to 15-2 overall and -2 in the conference, second to only North Duplin, who has served the Lady Leopards their only losses thus far. They hose Neuse Charter tonight before traveling to Rosewood Thursday night to close out their regular season.

Hobbton now sits at 1-13 overall and 0-7 in the conference. The Lady Wildcats will travel to Union tonight after hosting the Spartans last night, and they will be at North Duplin Thursday to close out their regular season.