Lady Spartans too strong for Wildcats

For Monday night’s early game, the Hobbton girls hosted their Carolina 1A foe Union in the first match-up in back-to-back nights. The Lady Spartans took a commanding 42-24 victory from the hometown Wildcats.

Tijaya Goodman and Cassie Driver squared off for the opening tip for Union and Hobbton, respectively. Union’s Gabriela Subias corralled it and moved up the floor to Zadariyah Faison, who couldn’t make the opening shot through contact. An Evelin Alvarez jumper from the right elbow opened the scoring for the two squads, as the visitors took the 2-0 lead.

Hobbton’s first trip down the court resulted in a travel, giving the Lady Wildcats no shot opportunity on their first possession.

Faison extended Union’s lead with a pair of free throws north of four minutes left in the opening quarter, making it 4-0 for the Lady Spartans.

The two teams traded possessions up and down the court, with unforced errors causing both squads to turn the ball over and come up empty handed on many trips to each basket.

Katie Britt fouled Makayla Hall on a shot attempt with 4:12 left in the first, but before Hall could shoot her foul shots, Union head coach Mark Oates signaled for the game’s first timeout. She would sink one of the two, giving Union the 5-0 lead. It was then Hall who intercepted a Hobbton pass on the Wildcats’ next trip down the court before passing it to Faison who got the breakaway layup for the seven-point advantage.

Faison was fouled hard on another drive, this time by Madison Sinclair, and the ensuing foul shots netted the Spartans one more to make it an 8-0 lead. With 2:34 left in the first, Hobbton received a technical foul. Union’s shooter, Subias, sank both foul shots, once again widening the gap to 11-0 in favor of the Spartans.

Offensive woes continued to strike the Lady Wildcats. While the Union defense wasn’t as tenacious or smothering as had been seen in other contests this season, the Lady Spartans were doing enough to keep Hobbton scoreless. Errant shots, miscommunications, and a defensive presence — regardless of strength — propelled the hosts to continue to struggle with their foes.

It was a Graci Barefoot floater down the right baseline that gave Hobbton the first score with just over a minute to play in the quarter. The opening quarter would end with a 11-2 score in favor of Union.

Both Sampson County squads struggled to open the second quarter, with the first basket — a Britt jumper — coming over four minutes into the quarter for Hobbton’s second basket of the game. Union returned fire immediately, pushing it to a 13-4 lead with under four minutes to play in the half.

Union added three more, courtesy of a layup by Faison and one of two foul shots from the junior point guard on a later possession, making it a 16-4 lead with under 1:30 left in the half.

Miley McLamb fouled Faison hard on another layup attempt with 1:17 remaining in the opening half, which caused Faison to get up slower than usual, but she was able to sink the ensuing foul shots, furthering the Spartan lead once more.

Hepworth connected with Amelia Dial on a drive with less than 30 seconds to play to add more for the hosts, and the score was 19-7 entering halftime.

A Faison to Alvarez pass led to a 3-ball to open the second half, with the scoreboard showing the 22-7 lead the Spartans had built. Barefoot responded with a flat-footed shot from the low block for the Wildcats, bringing their total to nine.

The lead continued to grow for Union via their stout defense and offensive pressure. Miley McLamb finally eclipsed the 10-point threshold for Hobbton, moving the score to 26-11. Faison hit a one-footed jumper at the right elbow to add another pair of points and force a Hobbton timeout with 4:20 left in the third.

A fade-away jumper from Faison as the clock moved under three minutes to play in the third gave Union an even 30 to Hobbton’s 13. Faison drew contact on the play but the call wasn’t made.

With back-and-forth action in the final minutes of the third, the scoreboard showed Union with a dominant 32-15 lead to end the period and move into the final chapter of the night’s contest.

Alvarez opened the fourth the same way she had opened the third, with an early 3-pointer. It continued to be the Alvarez show in the beginning stages of the quarter, as she sniped a Wildcat pass and took it to the other end for a score, now making it a 39-15 lead for the visitors.

Aubree McLamb banked in a triple for Hobbton’s first basket of the final quarter with 4:01 left to play, moving it to a 39-18 score. Barefoot added a midrange two for them nearly two minutes later as the score sat at 40-20 with 2:11 left to play. Katie Britt added two on a put-back layup nearly a minute later and added another pair of points on a breakaway layup with under a minute left, pushing it to a 40-24 score.

Union would take the 42-24 win in the first edition of their meetups this season.