It was another rivalry showdown Friday night at Midway High School when the Lady Raiders and the Lady Leopards squared off on the hardwood. With the Midway gym packed from end to end on both sides, the rivalry feel was certainly in the air. In the end, after both teams got off to a sloppy start, the Lady Raiders went on to coast to victory, 52-27.
The first quarter was a painfully low-scoring affair as the teams struggled to generate shots. In fact, the foul count was higher than the scoring total throughout the first quarter. Midway got on the board first by way of a Makenzi Hudson free throw to make it 1-0, then a Rylie Williams 3-ball made it 4-0. Lakewood answered with a three-pointer of their own when Jordynn Bailey let one fly. From there, the scoring slowed and Midway went on to lead by the 7-5 score.
Not much changed in the second quarter. The teams continued to pile on fouls rather than points as the game continued its sloppy nature. The Lady Raiders, though, did earn some separation behind a nice scoring spurt by Sydney Williams and Kris McKoy as the Lady Raiders claimed a 20-9 lead at halftime.
Out of the break, Midway immediately connected on a three-point strike by Allison Belflowers. That play was followed by back-to-back buckets by McKoy and then another three by Belflowers as Midway struck with 10-unanswered in the first two minutes of the third quarter. The Lady Raiders continued to turn up the heat and forced a Lakewood timeout with 5:41 on the clock and the lead sweltered to 32-11.
Another stat that didn’t change was the foul count situation. With just over three minutes gone, the Lady Raiders has already earned five to their total while Lakewood had claimed three.
That didn’t slow down Midway though, who had increased their lead to 35-11 on a McKoy and-1 with 4:36 still on the clock. The game continued to be scrappy throughout the remainder of the third quartered but the rapid score halted as the score settled on 35-15 for several minutes. By the end of the quarter, the Lady Raiders lead was at 38-20 with both teams nearly matching all of their first half performances.
For Lakewood, Gwendlyn King proved to be a force as she single-handedly kept the Lady Leopards in contention. Still, her efforts weren’t enough as Midway maintained their 20-point edge.
At the end of the game, the Lady Raiders early third quarter punch proved to be enough as they coasted home to the 52-27 victory.
McKoy led Midway with 14 points. She was followed by Belflowers who had nine and Hudson and Sydney Williams each had eight. Rylie Williams had seven, Ashante Warren had four, and Caitlyn Holland rounded out the scoring for Midway with two.
For Lakewood, they were led by King’s game-high 16 points.
With the win, the Lady Raiders wrap up action for 2019 with a 7-1 overall record. They return to the court on after the new year on Jan. 3 with a home game gainst Wallace-Rose Hill.
With the loss, Lakewood falls to 1-6 overall. They will return to action on Friday against North Duplin.
