The Midway and Hobbton girls basketball teams met up for the second time this season on Wednesday night in a showdown on the hardwood in Newton Grove. After a slow start to the contest, the Lady Raiders continued their winning ways and stretched their win streak to 10 to open the season after overwhelming the Lady Wildcats 46-5.
Midway coach Allen McLamb attributed his team’s slow start to a tough, physical game against Triton the previous night but also credited Hobbton’s early defensive effort.
“Give Hobbton a lot of credit in the first quarter or so. They played hard defense,” commented McLamb. “We helped them out some because we also came out lackadaisical.”
The Lady Wildcats failed to manage a single point in the first quarter. Fortunately for them, though, it wasn’t all bad news as the game was still manageable with the Lady Raiders only scoring nine points.
That lead, though, was extended to 25-0 by the half as Midway found their stride while also pitching another shutout in the second quarter.
“We finally settled down and did what we do. We got on the ball, played defense and ran the floor. We executed like we were supposed to from the second quarter to the end of the game,” McLamb asserted in referencing his team’s improvement in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, the Raiders upped the margin to 44-2 en route to the 46-5 victory. In the final quarter after the mercy rule kicked in, bringing out a non-stop clock, McLamb’s offense transitioned to passing the ball and burning time off the clock.
“We finally realized we are at a basketball game and we have to play basketball and we did. We came out on top, we’re 10-0, we’re happy and have our first conference game Friday night,” McLamb concluded.
For Midway, Alyssa Wrench led the scoring with 12 points while Allison Belfowers had seven and J.J. Sankey added four.
The Lady Raiders will indeed take to the court once again on Friday night as they kick off East Central Conference play, hosting Spring Creek.
For Hobbton, they are also back in action on Friday, continuing non-conference play with a road trip to North Johnston.