Lady Scots basketball wins third in a row, boys defeated by Southern Lee

LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots basketball team picked up a 66-41 victory over conference rival Southern Lee on Tuesday night at Scotland High School. Scotland’s third win in a row pushed their season record to 3-1 (2-0 against conference opponents) while the Cavaliers fall to 2-5 (0-2 against SAC teams) with the loss.

The game started slow on both sides, with neither team scoring any points during the first 118 seconds of action. Morgan Thompson made a pair of free throws at the 6:02 mark before Scotland stole the following inbound pass from the Cavaliers and got another free throw point from Lanika Walters. Walters would then get a pair of layups within the next minute as the Scots opened up a 9-0 advantage with 5:10 remaining in the quarter. The Cavaliers never gave up, answering back with a 9-0 run of their own within the next 2:25 of game time to even the score at nine. Scotland eventually escaped the opening frame with a narrow 14-13 lead.

The second quarter didn’t prove to be any easier for the Scots. Southern Lee scored first to take the lead 15-14, though another basket from Thompson made that advantage short lived. Scotland’s biggest lead during the quarter was five (24-19 with two minutes left), an advantage they took into the locker room at 26-21. Despite having the lead at the break, Head Coach Roshien McClain was not at all pleased with how his team played during the first two quarters.

“We didn’t play well in the first half,” McClain said. “It shouldn’t have been that close, there were too many loose balls rolling around with us looking at the ball and not knowing what we have going on when we’ve been over this thousands of times.”

Scotland then came out of halftime as a different team, going on a 9-0 surge over the first two minutes and 25 seconds to extend their lead up to 35-21. The game would never really be competitive again as the Scots were up by 24 after 24 minutes (56-32). Several players for the Scots recorded multiple made field goals in the period including Madison Dixon, Thompson and Alicia McClain.

With the game comfortably in hand, the final frame proved to be more of a formality than anything else. The Scots led by as many as 30 (65-35 with 2:35 left) and coasted through the final eight minutes en route to victory.

The 25 point win is the largest margin of victory for the Scots in their three wins thus far. Their 66 points scored were the second most in any game they’ve played, just behind the 68 they scored against Montgomery Central last week. The second half turnaround was something McClain was relieved to see after going over some things during the break.

“We upped the intensity in the second half,” McClain said. “Thank god for our locker room at halftime.”

The Scots will have until Friday off when they will travel to face Union Pines with tipoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m. McClain knows the Scots have a lot of work to do ahead of the matchup as the Vikings will enter the game at 7-0 (1-0 against conference opponents) and possess a dangerously good scorer in Ashanti Fox (averaging 28 points per game according to MaxPreps).

“This isn’t time to play around, Union Pines has a girl that can beat us by herself if we play around,” McClain said. “We have to get some more out of other people but it has to be done disciplined and with energy and effort.”

Boys routed by Southern Lee

The Scots were beaten by the Cavaliers in a 90-36 final from Scotland High School on Tuesday night. Scotland falls to 1-2 (0-2 in conference games) on the season with the loss while Southern Lee remains undefeated and improves to 9-0 (2-0 against conference opponents) with the victory. Head Coach Michael Malpass gave the Cavaliers some serious praise after the contest while specifically pointing out their head coach, Gaston Collins.

“Southern Lee is really good, they have a great coach, in my opinion the best coach in our conference,” Malpass said. “Coach Collins is great at what he does and his kids execute well.”

Nysheed Williams got the scoring started for the Cavaliers by nailing a three-pointer 25 seconds into the game. Those would be the first of seven straight points for the Cavaliers in the first three minutes of action, a run that was only broken by Jerrison Dixon knocking down a pair of free throws with 4:47 left in the opening frame. Southern Lee then scored 14 points in a row as part of a 23-2 surge that put them ahead 30-4 with 1:19 left in the quarter. Dixon then made a jumper before Dajuan Gibson nailed a three-pointer as he got fouled to narrow the gap down to 20 (30-10) after eight minutes.

Any momentum that 6-0 run might’ve created was gone once the Cavaliers managed to score 28 points in a row over the first 5:50 of the period that made the score 58-10. Gibson would make a pair of layups while getting fouled in the late stages of the quarter, though they still trailed 65-20 at the break. Malpass’ message to his team during the intermission was simple: improve in some area so there’s something to build on, which he didn’t feel like they ever did.

“When the game is virtually over at the half, get better at something so there’s something positive moving forward,” Malpass said. “Defensively we never improved which is an issue of being tough and having heart and guts.”

The second half wasn’t any more fun for Scotland as they trailed 78-28 after three quarters before eventually losing by 54. It was both the most points they’ve allowed in a game this year and the fewest they’ve scored as they never held a lead in the game.

Scotland will have until Friday to regroup when they travel to face Union Pines for their first road game of the season. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.