Cougars spoil Lady Leopards’ senior night

With stands full of basketball fans and parents of winter athletes, Lakewood’s Lady Leopards looked to grab another coveted conference win against Neuse Charter to solidify themselves in second place in the Carolina 1A. It was all Cougars from the opening, though, as the visitors stole the night in a lopsided 58-41 win.

Alexis Rhodes took the opener for the Leopards, setting up a slow offense that ended with an empty possession. Karima Freeman took a hard fall on the returning Neuse Charter possession — one that gave the Cougars the quick 2-0 lead. A corner three on their next possession and a breakaway layup gave the visitors the early 7-0 lead under two minutes into the game.

Early possessions for the hosting Lady Leopards weren’t going the home team’s way, with errant shots and turnovers abound. A 3-2 zone from the Cougars faced them, with a half-court press in the backcourt, too, and the combination led to the red-hot Leopards failing to grab a single point over four minutes through the opening period — a sight not seen often this season.

Meanwhile, Neuse Charter continued to pour on the points, pushing the lead out to 14-0 against the second-best team in the conference. Head coach Lofton Kerr signaled for the game’s first timeout with 2:54 left in the first with the score showing a 16-0 lead for the Cougars.

Rhodes swished a long two from the right side just inside the arc to finally get Lakewood on the board coming out of the timeout, making it a 16-2 game. While everything was falling for the Cougars, the Leopards couldn’t buy a basket. Areona McKoy got her first score of the night on a breakaway after she stole a Neuse Charter pass.

A half-court shot from the Cougars almost found its mark to end the first quarter, but after bouncing off the back of the rim, the score remained at 18-4 to head into the second.

Tight defense struck both teams to start the second, with each of the squads aiming for their own goals: Lakewood to try and erase the deficit and Neuse Charter to stop that from happening. While Lakewood has a well-rounded squad, Neuse Charter has just the same with their skilled ball handlers and shot-blocking post players with rebound skills to match. Like Rocky and Apollo Creed, the slugfest was on for the two mighty teams trading blow for blow.

Neuse Charter continued to have the upper hand, sinking two free throws for the first points of the second quarter to make it a 20-4 advantage. If the Lady Leopards were going to complete the comeback, they were going to need to do it quickly. Jahmai Rich did her part to kickstart this, sinking a free throw in the process.

A three from the Cougars gave them the 20-point advantage, making it 25-5 with under four minutes left in the half. McKoy hit a pair of free throws to keep the deficit the same after the visiting lead had grown by a pair of points as well.

The guests took a 30-11 lead into the halftime break.

After the teams traded baskets to make it a 33-13 game, McKoy added another layup to cut the Cougar lead to 18 before Neuse Charter responded to make it a 20-point lead once more.

Much of the same issues that plagued the Lady Leopards in the first half flowed over into the second, with empty possessions by way of errant shots and miscellaneous turnovers.

Lakewood continued to struggle to slow down the Cougars as the scoring continued for the visitors. The scoreboard showed a 41-18 lead with a minute to go in the third.

McKoy led the charge trying to make the comeback for her and her teammates late into the third, helping to cut the lead to 41-25 with under 30 seconds to go.

A Rhodes triple was off the mark to finish the third quarter, as the Cougars held onto a 43-25 lead. If Lakewood was going to make a comeback, they would have just eight more minutes to do so.

The gap continued to widen for the Cougars early in the fourth as they pushed it to a 47-25 score shortly after the final period began. With just over five minutes to play, they received a technical foul. A’miyah Smith made one of the two foul shots to cut the lead to 21.

The lead was cut even further, down to 17, with 4:21 remaining, but a Cougar foul shot extended it by one. Lakewood continued to have struggles shooting the ball, even with wide-open looks.

Things continued to move in the Cougars’ favor as they completely blew up Lakewood’s senior night. With 2:32 left to play, they had the commanding 52-33 lead.

A deep three from Takiyah Carr got her into the box score off an assist from Trinity Bell to make it a 56-36 score with just over a minute to go.

A buzzer-beater three from Rich ended the game with a final score of 58-41 in favor of Neuse Charter.

The Lakewood girls moved to 15-3 overall on the season and 6-3 in the conference with the loss.

“We’ve just got to play harder and do something different,” head coach Lofton Kerr said after the game. “We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight. I thought that was the key. I know they were going to box (Areona) McKoy, maybe even double her, so our shooters have to be ready. And tonight we didn’t do it.”

Kerr said he anticipates seeing the Cougars — whom the Leopards split the season series 1-1 with — in the conference tournament next week.