
Morgan Thompson (1) goes up for a contested layup during Scotland’s win over Lee County on Tuesday night at Scotland High School.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG — The Lady Scots basketball team bounced back from a loss at the hands of Pinecrest last week with a 44-26 victory over the Lee County Yellow Jackets on Tuesday night at Scotland High School. Scotland improves to 7-4 (3-2 against conference opponents) on the season with the victory while Lee County falls to 6-7 (1-3 in conference games) with their fourth straight loss.
The first quarter could best be described as a stalemate. The first points of the game didn’t come until 2.5 minutes had passed as Morgan Thompson got the Scots on the board with a running layup, though Nevaeh Baldwin responded less than 30 seconds later to even the game at 2. Cherish Smith then got a layup with 4:15 left in the quarter to give the Yellow Jackets the lead momentarily before Alicia McClain tied the game at four not long after. After that, there was no scoring for over three minutes until Madison Dixon made a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Scotland a 7-4 advantage heading into the second period.
Despite having the lead, Head Coach Roshien McClain felt as though his team left a lot on the plate during the early part of the game. He noted that their early game struggles are something that need to get fixed with some tough tests coming up for his team in the near future in the form of Richmond.
“It felt like we were just going through the motions,” McClain said. “One of the biggest things I stress to them is playing hard all the time, which makes things easier for you and your teammates. If we go through the motions on Friday the game could be over in the first quarter.”
Dixon would make two more three-pointers within the first two minutes of the second quarter to extend the Scots’ lead up to nine (13-4) and force Lee County to call a timeout. Thompson would also make two three-pointers of her own within the next three minutes as the Scots would go on a 12-4 run from the timeout until halftime and dominated the second quarter by outscoring the Yellow Jackets 18-4. Scotland was ahead 25-8 at the break.
The third frame saw Scotland get on the board first thanks to a three-pointer from Dere’Yanna Vanderhall after 1:15 had elapsed. After the Scots were comfortably ahead by 21 (31-10), Lee County would go on a 5-0 run in two minutes to narrow the margin to 16 with one minute left in the quarter. Thompson would respond to that surge by herself with five points over the last 15 seconds of the period as Scotland kept control after 24 minutes with a 36-15 lead.
The last eight minutes lacked any notable drama. The Scots were able to keep Lee County at an arms distance throughout as the closest the Yellow Jackets ever came to even was 18. Scotland scored within the quarter’s first 40 seconds that put them up by 23 (38-15), which was their largest advantage of the night.
The Scots will get back at it on Friday night as they will travel to face Richmond with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m. McClain knows that there needs to be a sense of urgency over the next few days so that Scotland enters a hostile environment as the best version of themselves.
“We got two days to watch film and to man up,” McClain said. “We better be ready for a fight and be ready to play.”
Boys basketball earns come from behind win
The Scots picked up a 51-49 victory over the Yellow Jackets on Tuesday night at Scotland High School. Scotland improves to 3-9 (1-4 against conference opponents) on the season with the win while Lee County falls to 6-7 (2-2 against SAC teams) with the loss. The win for the Scots snapped a three-game losing streak while the Yellow Jackets have now dropped five straight games.
Scotland got off to a rough start as Lee County scored nine unanswered points right out of the gate and were up 9-0 within the first two minutes of action. Jerrison Dixon finally got the Scots on the board with a made jumper with 5:50 left in the opening quarter, though Scotland still found themselves trailing by 10 (13-3) with three minutes remaining in the period. They would close out the quarter with seven points in a row thanks to Dixon knocking down a three and Shylan Harrell converting a pair of layups as the Scots trailed 13-10 after eight minutes.
Scotland couldn’t quite carry the momentum over into the start of the second frame as Kam Fox got the scoring started for Lee County right away on a layup, two of five straight points for the Yellow Jackets in two minutes of action. Dajuan Gibson knocked down a pair of three-pointers and had a steal that led to another layup during the quarter but Scotland never got closer to even than four (22-18). Mj Sanders made a free throw at the very end of the half to send the Yellow Jackets into their locker room up 23-18.
Zion Morrison got the first points of the second half for Scotland but the Scots then saw Lee County score seven unanswered to stretch the lead to 10 (30-20) after three minutes of second half action. Dixon would help get the game back under control for the Scots with six points over the last 2.5 minutes as they entered the final frame within five at 36-31.
Sanders knocked down a three-pointer that gave the Yellow Jackets an eight-point lead in the early stages of the fourth. Scotland never gave up, getting to within five (41-36) before going on a huge 10-0 run that flipped the game entirely and put them ahead 46-41 with 1:11 left in regulation. After Lee County cut the deficit down to 46-45, Scotland got an important free throw from Quatavius Everette and basket from Harrell that stretched their lead back up to four (49-45) with 46 seconds remaining. The Scots eventually saw their lead stand at two (51-49) with six seconds left on the clock and one defensive stop needed, which they were able to get to preserve the victory.
In addition to the free throw, Everette was able to come down with two important offensive rebounds off of free throw misses that gave the Scots extra possessions and free throw opportunities. He was glad to help Scotland get back in the win column and feels confident in the direction they can go.
“It feels good, we don’t like to lose,” Everette said. “It was good to get a win, I see us coming together now so moving forward we feel good about where we’re going.”
Dixon paced Scotland scorers with 22 points and also had seven rebounds, two steals and an assist. Gibson added 11 points for the Scots.
The Scots will get back at it on Friday night as they will travel to face Richmond at 7:30 p.m. Head Coach Michael Malpass was happy to get back in the win column and establish some momentum heading into the matchup with the Raiders.
“These guys needed something good to happen to them,” Malpass said. “I feel like they are learning and growing as players and as the collective idea of how to play basketball. The bench tonight was more engaged and there were more high fives even when we were losing.”