LAURINBURG — A fast start helped Scotland’s girls basketball team defeat Marlboro County 53-43 on Saturday.
It was the first varsity basketball game played on Scotland’s newly renovated basketball court, which was installed after Hurricane Florence damaged the facility’s hardwood floor in September. Scotland had been playing all of its home games at Sycamore Lane Elementary School prior to Saturday’s rivalry matchup.
Having the opportunity to return to their own court motivated the Lady Scots after they lost at Jack Britt on Friday night.
“It felt good,” said center Asjah Swindell, who led Scotland with 17 points. “Everyone’s here. We’ve got people to play for. We’ve been losing, and we’re back on our home court, so we wanted to win.”
The Lady Scots snapped their six-game losing streak. They also picked up their first win of 2019.
Nautika Moore added 10 points for Scotland. Miste Clark had nine points, and Niaria Leach scored eight points for the Lady Scots.
“It was a great team win,” said Mallarie Snow, Scotland’s head coach. “I’m proud of them. We beat that little curse we had. We hadn’t had a win since December, so I know they’re excited.”
Scotland jumped out to a 20-10 lead at the end of the first quarter with the help of an 8-for-8 clip at the free throw line. The Lady Scots continued to increase their lead by outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 11-4 in the second quarter.
Marlboro attempted to slow Scotland down with a full-court press, but it didn’t help them get much closer to the Lady Scots in the second half. Scotland held a 43-29 lead at the end of the third quarter, and their lead didn’t dip below 10 points for the remainder of the game.
Marlboro’s Kennedy Ashwood made a free throw to make the score 50-40 in favor of the Lady Scots with two minutes left in the game. After Leach made a pair of free throws to stretch Scotland’s lead to 12 points, Marlboro gained just one point from two straight trips to the free throw line.
Moore was then fouled and made one of two free throws with less than a minute left in the game. Ashwood scored the final basket of the contest to make the score 53-43.
“This whole month we’ve been needing a win, and we finally got it,” Swindell said.
Tysonia Lowe scored 19 points for Marlboro.
Scotland will wrap up the regular season with six Sandhills Athletic Conference matchups, including three games at their newly repaired facility. Scotland’s next game is on Thursday at Purnell Swett.
