The Lakewood Lady Leopards varsity basketball team was back in action for the third time this week as they hosted the Rosewood Eagles on Friday. Sloppiness and turnovers would be the Leopards downfall as they lost to the Eagles, 54-35.

Lakewood kept the game close for the first quarter as each team delivered blows in a back-and-forth first half that had the crowd on their feet as Rosewood would knock down a three and just after that, the Leopards would knock down a three as well. At the end of the first quarter, Lakewood had the lead after using a 6-0 run.

The Lady Leopards lost the lead in the second quarter, however, as the Eagles began to knock down jumpers and found aggressiveness on defense that they lacked in the first quarter. At the break, Rosewood had a 28-23 lead.

The second half was brutal for the Lady Leopards, as they turned the ball over multiple times on sloppy and disoriented play. Lakewood had many chances to take control of the game, but most of the time had those chances slip by with high passes or simply by the Eagles stealing the ball with ease. Rosewood went on to win the game by a wide margin, 54-35.

Lakewood head coach Vonnie McNeil was unsure what happened to her girls in the second half.

“I have no clue what happened. We had an awesome first half. We ran our stuff right, and then it was just a downfall. I am not sure what happened — everybody just seemed to lose faith.” McNeil said.

Rosewood head coach Tee Wooten, on the other hand, praised his team for playing together.

“We played together. We are in a situation where we have to win out to win our conference title, and our motto right now is ‘Do Your Job,’” Wooten said, crediting the New England Patriots for the motto.

For Lakewood, Kiarye Bailey led the team with 19 points, Sallena Oates had nine, Tamia Rich had four, Sha’Asia Hamilton had two and Adia Edwards wrapped it up with one. As for Rosewood, Braylee Butts led the team with 32 points, Payton Lane had 11 points, Nekia Williams had six points and Hannah Daniels had four.

The Leopards fall to 3-11 overall and 2-7 in the Carolina 1A with the loss. Rosewood improves to 9-9 overall and 7-2 in conference.

Lakewood will be back in action on Tuesday as they travel to take on Wallace-Rose Hill.

Lakewood’s Tamia Rich skies toward the basket on Friday against Rosewood.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_Tamia-Rich.jpgLakewood’s Tamia Rich skies toward the basket on Friday against Rosewood. Adam Johnson | Sampson Independent

By Adam Johnson

Sports Writer

Reach Daron Barefoot at [email protected].