Morgan Thompson (1) dribbles the ball on the way to the basket during Scotland’s win over Jack Britt on Wednesday night at Scotland High School. Thompson had 15 points.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Dajuan Gibson (4) attempts a free throw during the second half of the Scots’ loss to the Buccaneers. Gibson led the team in scoring with 22 points.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Dere’Yanna Vanderhall (4) plays defense against the Buccaneers during the first half.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Marquis McNeill (3) looks to move the ball on offense while being defended by Ryan Lord (11).
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Madison Dixon (23) attempts a free throw during the first half.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots basketball team defeated the visiting Jack Britt Buccaneers by a score of 52-45 on Wednesday night at Scotland High School. Scotland’s second win in three days improved their season record to 11-6 while Jack Britt falls to 6-13 with the loss.
The first quarter started off as a slugfest with neither team scoring any points until 1:41 of game time had passed with the Buccaneers getting three points off of a made free throw and rebounding a missed free throw, though an Alicia McClain three-pointer immediately tied the game 3-3. The Scots then went scoreless for several minutes as Jack Britt built up a five-point lead until Dere’Yanna Vanderhall knocked down a three-pointer with 2:16 left in the opening frame. McClain would also bank in a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded, though Scotland still trailed 13-11 after eight minutes.
Scotland would finally pull even within a minute to start the second quarter on a free throw each from Madison Dixon and McClain, though they quickly fell behind again on a 5-0 run by Jack Britt which involved a basket from Alexia White and a three-pointer from Aaliyah Mcrae. Morgan Thompson then began to take over for the Scots, scoring their next six points and setting up an easy layup for Kayla Simmons to put them up 21-18 with 1:25 left until halftime. Scotland couldn’t hold the lead going into the break as the Buccaneers scored four unanswered points to be up 22-21 after two quarters.
Scotland’s problems continued into the third quarter as Jack Britt scored the first seven points of the period within 1:37 to force Scotland into a timeout. The Scots did respond with an 8-0 run on a basket from Simmons, a three-pointer from McClain and a successful and-one conversion from Thompson to even the game at 29 with just under five minutes (4:56) remaining in the quarter. Jack Britt was unbothered by the Scots’ surge, immediately responding with five unanswered points of their own and outscoring Scotland 13-3 the rest of the period to be up 42-32 after 24 minutes.
Head Coach Roshien McClain was not happy with the sluggish play through the first three quarters of action. That is something he knows has to get corrected as the Scots dive back into conference play for their last three regular season contests.
“We were just going through the motions and not understanding details,” McClain said. “We got to maintain and do what’s right the whole time.”
The Scots scored the final quarter’s first four points on a layup from Simmons and a basket from Thompson to cut the margin down to six (42-36) with 6:50 left in regulation. Scotland trailed 45-36 with 6:32 left on the clock before the game completely changed. The Scots didn’t allow the Buccaneers to get a single point the rest of the game, scoring 16 unanswered to turn what once appeared to be a likely loss into an improbable victory. Thompson, Simmons and McClain were behind every Scotland point in that stretch in some capacity.
McClain was glad to see his message during the third quarter slump pay off in the fourth. His message at the time? Find another gear and get some stops.
“You got to dig deep, ain’t nothing else I can tell you right now,” McClain said. “If you dig deep and play defense you’ll win this game and that’s what we did. 20-3 in the fourth quarter was the difference in the game, if you score 20 points a quarter playing defense nobody’s beating you scoring 80.”
Scotland’s three leading scorers on Wednesday night were McClain, Simmons and Thompson. The trio had 17, 16 and 15 points respectively.
The Scots will remain at home when they return to conference play on Friday night with a matchup against Pinecrest. Tipoff from Scotland High School is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The Patriots defeated Scotland 48-45 on their home floor nearly a month ago on Jan. 9. The Scots will enter Friday night’s rematch healthier than they were then as Simmons did not play while Dixon was playing through an ankle injury. Still, the fact that Scotland lost to the Patriots once already has McClain on high alert entering the matchup.
“Gotta be ready, gotta be focused,” McClain said. “They are very capable of beating us again, it’ll be a different mindset Friday because it’s a conference opponent and they’ve beaten us.”
Boys drop second straight
The Scots were defeated by the Buccaneers in a 48-41 final from Scotland High School on Wednesday night. Scotland falls to 4-14 on the season with the loss while Jack Britt improves to 7-13 with their second win in their last three games.
Jack Britt dominated the early part of the first quarter with the game’s first four points and seven of the first eight. Dajuan Gibson then knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the span of five seconds to tie the game at 7 with 3:29 left in the opening frame. Scotland would end the first eight minutes up 9-8.
The Scots continued rolling to start the second quarter, scoring six unanswered in two minutes to extend the lead up to seven (15-8). Scotland led by as many as nine (19-10 and 21-12) and kept the Buccaneers at an arm’s distance throughout, with Gibson knocking down a three-pointer before halftime to keep their lead at eight (24-16) after two quarters.
The Scots continued to control the game until the end of the third. They were up 33-23 with 2:08 left in the quarter until Jack Britt scored eight unanswered points over the next two minutes. Scotland led 35-31 after 24 minutes.
The final frame is where the problems really started for Scotland as the Buccaneers would outscore them 17-6. Despite losing some momentum near the end of the third, the Scots still held the lead until 2:40 was left on the clock, when Ryan Lord knocked down three free throws. Christopher Taylor also knocked down some free throws down the stretch to help Jack Britt escape with the victory.
Gibson led the Scots in scoring with 22 points. No other Scot scored more than six.
The Scots will remain at home when they return to conference play on Friday night with a matchup against Pinecrest. The Patriots defeated Scotland 59-36 on their home floor nearly a month ago on Jan. 9. Tipoff from Scotland High School is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.