The Midway basketball teams picked back up in Swine Valley 2A/3A Conference play on Friday night, taking on Wallace-Rose Hill on the hardwood. It wasn’t a great night for the varsity teams, as both suffered second-half letdowns that saw the visiting Bulldogs pull away and earn a pair of sweeping wins.
Girls
The game got out to a physical start that saw fouls really mount against Midway. Fortunately for the home team, this didn’t derail their start, and the Lady Raiders led 10-6 at the 2:00 mark. The Lady Bulldogs got stuck in the mud and couldn’t get off of six points as Midway was riding a small rally. By the end of the first quarter, Midway led 13-8.
Tensions were getting high in the second quarter as echoes from frustrated fans rang out across the court, each fanbase hollering in protest for fouls for their team. In the fray, Wallace-Rose Hill hit a 6-0 run to go ahead at 14-13, and with 4:20 on the clock, a timeout brought a pause to the action with the score in favor of the Lady Bulldogs, 16-15. The game continued to be rough, bodies frequently hitting the floor as the teams traded scores. At halftime, WRH led 22-19.
When play resumed, the Lady Bulldogs mounted a 7-0 run to go up by double digits at 29-19, prompting the Lady Raiders to signal for a timeout with 6:19 left in the third. Ella Clark finally got Midway on the board in the second half at the 5:35 mark, but they still had their work cut out for them, trailing 29-21. From there, WRH’s surge continued, reaching 39-21 as the quarter was winding down. At the end of the period, their lead was 40-23.
From there, the Lady Raiders couldn’t do much to rally, and the Lady Bulldogs secured the victory, winning 49-35.
Scorers for Midway were Peyton Herring with 15 points, Kyleigh Stonerock with 11, Clark with six, and Caroline Holland with three.
With the loss, the Lady Raiders are now 3-6 overall and 2-2 in conference play.
Boys
In the final game of the night, the battle of the boys unfolded in a similar manner. The Raiders jumped out to a good-sized lead, nearing double digits, but as the first quarter rolled on, the Bulldogs closed the gap. By the end of the first quarter, Midway held a slim lead, 16-15.
It didn’t take very long for Wallace-Rose Hill to take the lead in the second quarter, but it flip-flopped a few times before the Bulldogs led 36-34 at the intermission.
Following halftime, the game really began to slip away from the Raiders as Wallace-Rose Hill took control. Midway also got into some foul trouble, which hampered their offensive players who were effective early in the game. The Bulldogs opened up a sizable advantage in the second half, seizing control and never looked back. At the final horn, Wallace-Rose Hill took the victory with an 87-72 win.
Colin Woods led the Raiders with 31 points, and Harry Johnson had 16. Wesley Tew and Tanner Williams each had seven points, and Johnny Locklear had five.
With the loss, Midway falls to 5-9 overall and 2-2 in conference play.
Midway faced Clinton last night, which a recap of that game will be in tomorrow’s paper, followed by a trip to Rosewood this evening before closing out the week with a home game against Rosewood on Friday.