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Scotlands Morgan Thompson (1) dribbles the ball up the court during Thursdays opener against Hoke County at Hoke County High Schools Macdonald Gym in Raeford.
Brandon Hodge | The Laurinburg Exchange](https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/130184755_web1_IMG_7018.jpg)
Scotland’s Morgan Thompson (1) dribbles the ball up the court during Thursday’s opener against Hoke County at Hoke County High School’s Macdonald Gym in Raeford.
Brandon Hodge | The Laurinburg Exchange
RAEFORD — The Scotland women’s basketball team scored its first points against the Hoke County Bucks on Thursday with a layup by Madison Dixon. Then, Madysan Hammonds drilled two free throws, before Nyasia McQueen was fouled while hitting a layup, knocking down the free throw afterward.
Scotland scored another two-point basket, then another one after that. It was a pattern that the Bucks didn’t break often throughout the night as Scotland rolled to a 73-45 win over Hoke County in a rare season/conference opener at Hoke County High School’s Macdonald Gym.
“We did good,” Scotland head coach Roshien McClain said. “I think their (Hoke’s) crowd and their intensity kind of made us play harder. First-game jitters for some of the new ones like Ramsey (Hale) and Jakaya (Brown). A little nervous here and there, but they’ll be fine. Ramsey only had like, one or two practices. She just got cleared on (Nov.) 28th. I like the way Alicia (McClain) and Morgan (Thompson) just kept playing, attacking the basket, dishing it off.”
After the 11-0 start to begin the game by Scotland (1-0, 1-0 Sandhills Athletic Conference), Jada Jones put Hoke (0-3, 0-1 SAC) on the board with a layup. All five of Scotland’s starters had at least a point after Alicia McClain, who ended with 14 points, sank a floater following Jones’ basket before the Bucks’ Karmen Campbell made it 13-3 at the free-throw line.
On the next possession, Dixon and Jones were both given technical fouls after they were involved in what Roshien McClain described as a ‘scuff.’
“I just told (the team), ‘Calm down, let’s do what we do,’” he said. “If they want to play physically, go about it. The five team fouls work in our favor all the time. We love going to the free-throw line.”
It wasn’t a coincidence Scotland had got to the line 44 times, making 23. With the new rule implemented this year that teams are in the bonus after five fouls in a quarter, rather than seven in a half, and the game becoming chippy, Roshien McClain changed his team’s scoring strategy.
“When the game is chippy at the beginning, it’s going to get called tighter,” he said. “So that’s why it’s, get to the line. They’re going to foul you. We want the fouls; just get to the line, knock down free throws. With the five team fouls, it plays in our favor because we have people that allow us to attack the rim and get fouled.”
After Scotland ended the first quarter ahead 20-7, Hoke used a 3-pointer from the left wing by Lailah Crowder to score the first points of the second. After a layup by McQueen made Scotland’s advantage 22-10, Thompson was fouled and made her first free throw of the night after missing her first four attempts.
“Morgan struggled in the first (quarter) with the free throws, but then she kind of got (into) a rhythm,” Roshien McClain said.
Thompson finished with a game-high 22 points. She said she overcame the early blunders by telling herself two words.
“Keep shooting,” she said.
Following a runner from Whitney Thompson to help make Hoke’s deficit 23-12, another layup by McQueen, who had 13 points, kickstarted a 15-0 surge by Scotland that included six made free throws, two of which came after Jones’ second tech ended her night. Scotland was outscored 6-5 the rest of the first half but was still ahead 43-18 at halftime.
Getting out to a commanding lead was a goal for the team, according to Morgan Thompson.
“Get an early start, go ahead, and get the game out of the way,” she said.
Seven third-quarter points from Morgan Thompson helped Scotland move up 59-32. The Lady Scots had a 13-3 run to begin the fourth before Whitney Thompson made a layup and two free throws to stop the bleeding for Hoke; Whitney Thompson hit a runner for the last two points of the contest.
Whitney Thompson led the Bucks with 17 points, and Crowder had nine.
While the Lady Scots started their 2023-24 campaign with a notable victory, there were still some problems on defense that Roshien McClain will address with his team.
“We have moments where we turn it up, and then moments where we just, okay, we’re up, we’re good, comfortable,” he said. “It was a little physical, didn’t want nobody to get hurt. We were cramping up a little bit. But that’s just for not playing. That’s all. That’s for not playing. Just taking time, working on things in practice.”
What Roshien McClain felt his team was at their best with was their ball movement.
“I liked the way we ran the floor at times; I liked our passing,” he said. “Jakaya had a nice pass; Ramsey had a nice pass. Our passing was good.”
Scotland plays Douglas Byrd in Fayetteville on Friday.
Scotland men’s basketball falls short against Hoke County
For most of the night on Thursday, the Scotland men’s basketball team was stuck in a double-digit hole against the Hoke County Bucks. But in the final two minutes, Scotland came within two possessions of potentially taking the lead. The rally fell flat, though, with several misses at the rim and the free-throw line as Scotland lost its first opener since 2019 by a final of 59-52 in Raeford.
“It’s just hard when you know you’re not prepared,” Scotland head coach Michael Malpass said. “You hadn’t had a lot of time, and you’re kind of throwing things, throwing spaghetti noodles at the wall, hoping they stick. I was proud of the guys’ fight. I felt like we missed lots of front-end finishes; the game could have went our way. Missed (12) free throws … we counted at least seven point-blank where we just need to stop, compose ourselves, put the ball on the square, and make the layup.”
With eight of Scotland’s 11 players — Dajuan Gibson, Jaiquez Caldwell, Ji’San McPhatter, Shylan Harrell, Quatavius Everette, Dakota Quick-Smith, Zion Morrison, and Jonathan Graham — being doubled up with football during preseason practices, that also didn’t make it easy to pull out a win against a tough Bucks team.
“The football guys, they’re just not in basketball shape yet. We had to give them a break for Thanksgiving because they had to have that time. And so, we’ve only had them two days, and we’ve got to play fast because we don’t have the practice days to get them in shape. But right now, we’re still trying to figure out what is going to be the best way forward to utilize our guys to the best of their ability.”
Scotland (0-1, 0-1 Sandhills Athletic Conference) trailed by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter, but with 2:12 to go, a layup by Everette cut Hoke County’s lead to 56-43. Hoke (2-1, 1-0 SAC) turned the ball over or missed a shot on the ensuing three possessions, which led to layups by Gibson, Dylan Lampley, and Caldwell, who finished his layup with a 3-point play after being fouled, to put the score at 56-50 with 37.6 to go.
Jamari Harvey pushed Hoke’s lead back to seven, going 1-for-2 on a trip at the line before Caldwell answered with another make at the rim to make it 57-52 with just over 20 seconds left. Harvey was fouled again, only making one of his two tries from the key again, before Scotland missed a pair of 3s and fouled Harvey once more to end the game.
“I thought the latter part of the game when we had (Gibson) rove, we made a great run at them,” Malpass said. “And I mean, really had a chance to get it to one possession, whereas last year came down here and fell apart when things didn’t go right. And I thought our kids did play hard and for the most part, kept their composure. But when you come close, no matter whether you’ve had two practices or 30, and it comes down to some simple moments, we still could have won with all that going against us.”
Scotland held a 6-3 lead early, thanks to four points from Lampley and two by Caldwell. However, Hoke stormed back with a 10-3 spurt to end the first quarter ahead 13-9, with six points coming from guard Tyler Hines.
After the Bucks opened the second with the first four points, a putback by Graham, a free throw from Gibson, and a layup by Caldwell brought the Scots back to within three at 17-14. Hoke scored the following eight points before a Gibson layup and a left-corner trey by Brady Fowler made Scotland’s deficit six at 25-19. A free throw from Jaylen Sturdivant and two more by Salah Sutton helped Hoke take a 27-19 halftime lead.
“In the first half, we did too much east-to-west dribbling, but when we just went north and south, we got by pretty much at will,” Malpass said. “I mean, (Caldwell) got by his guy, Dylan got by; I felt like we could go by their guys, and then once you go by, you’ve got gaps in space to create advantages. I don’t think people are going to be able to guard us if we spread it correctly. We were trying to be in a motion, four out, a slot; basically, we were slotting it and cornering it, and with Dylan at the five, we were trying to let him come up, do go slips and real screens to just try to create some chaos, and I think he, in practice, has done that well.
“But if you watched us tonight, our wings were just standing. They weren’t going to rub anybody. And until you get movement and spacing, nothing you do on offense is going to work. So, for us, it’s like, you can’t really start teaching screening until you get the spacing and the rubbing and the movement because offense is based on those things. And so, I think once we get those things, we’re going to be really hard to guard getting to the rim … then we’ll get some of those kickouts.”
Five of the first seven points in the third were from Scotland, putting them down only 29-24. From there, however, a 13-2 run came about by Hoke, which included three shots made from beyond the arc. Despite struggling to slow down Hoke following the surge, Lampley helped offensively, scoring five of Scotland’s last seven points in the third to take a 50-33 deficit into the fourth.
Scotland started the closing period with six of the opening seven points, but Hoke answered back with five straight before Gibon’s layup plus a foul shot kickstarted the 11-0 sprint by Scotland to tighten the score.
Caldwell had 18 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals for the Scots; Lampley had 14 points, six rebounds, four assists, and two steals; Tashad Russell had six points, five rebounds, five assists, and two steals; Gibson had five points, five rebounds, and three steals; and Graham had six rebounds.
For the Bucks, Sturdivant had 18 points; Sutton had 16; and Brandon Graham and Hines had six each.
Scotland went just 1 of 13 from 3-point range on the night, with the only make coming from Fowler.
Malpass said the shooting will improve once his team’s chemistry grows.
“Guys like Brady Fowler can really shoot it, but he’s going to require us running sets for him, which we don’t have enough in right now,” Malpass said. “So, people say, why didn’t you get him (the ball more)? Because they (Fowler’s teammates) don’t understand him yet. And we tried to do some things, and they didn’t get it. So, it’s like, why frustrate them and create turnovers coaching when you can just space it and pray for the best? But I think we’ll be able to get those shots as those guards understand the spacing, and they move, and those things happen.”
Brandon Hodge is the sports editor for The Laurinburg Exchange. He can be reached at 910-506-3171 or by email at bhodge@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BrandonHSports.