The Clinton Lady Horses were back on their home court Friday night, taking on the always tough Panthers of East Duplin. The last time the girls were home, they stole victory in the fourth period.

They weren’t successful this time, going down 55-36.

“I’m proud of the way we played tonight even though we lost,” said head coach Chris Owens. “We’ve got to work on making those easy layups, but other than that, it’s back to the drawing board as we try to get better and better.”

The first quarter was fairly quiet with neither team playing particularly well. After eight minutes, the Horses managed to hold a slight one points lead. They went for seven as the panthers went for six bringing an end to the first period.

In the second period, East Duplin was a completely different team on both ends of the floor, giving Clinton plenty of problems. Surging on offense the Panthers tripled their first quarter production going for 19. The defense was just as impressive, holding the Horses to just four points. With the first half finished the home team went into the break trailing by 14. The score was 25-11.

After three periods, Clinton found themselves still down big. The biggest positive was slowing down East Duplin a little. Holding them to just nine points, it didn’t help much as the offense was still struggling. Having another single digit period, with six points, they trailed headed into the fourth 34-17.

The fourth quarter was filled with lots of scoring by both teams. Both teams had their most productive periods of the night on offense. The Panthers topped their second quarter performance going for 21. Meanwhile, Clinton dropped more in the fourth than they had all night amassing 19 points.

Unfortunately it was it enough to steal the win. The Lady Horses ended up losing it by 19.

Ashlyn Williams tore it up again for the Dark Horses, racking up 26. Isa Banks was her help, she finished with five.

With this loss they drop to 5-12 overall and 1-5 in the conference. They’ll play a make-up game on Monday when they travel to take on Spring Creek.

Ashlyn Williams going up for a tough layup in the middle of traffic during their loss Friday to East Duplin. She ended with 26 points.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_CVED2.jpgAshlyn Williams going up for a tough layup in the middle of traffic during their loss Friday to East Duplin. She ended with 26 points.

Jaida Faison tries to blow past her defender in their conference match against the Panthers.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_CVED3.jpgJaida Faison tries to blow past her defender in their conference match against the Panthers.

By Michael Hardison

Sports Editor

Reach Michael Hardison at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @SampsonInd.