Roundup: Lady Scots’ quick start proves to be too much for Marlboro County

LAURINBURG — Whether it was Madysan Hammonds’ four 3s or forcing over a handful of turnovers, the first quarter foreshadowed the kind of afternoon the Scotland women’s basketball team would have against the Marlboro County (SC) Bulldogs.

After holding the Bulldogs to just four points in the opening frame, the Lady Scots continued to pack on the points, once going up by 37 points, on the way to a 56-32 win in the Battle of the Border rivalry game on Saturday.

”They played good,” Scotland head coach Roshien McClain said on his team’s performance. “I just told the girls, ‘If we play like we played last night (against Jack Britt), as far as defensive-wise and offensive-wise, we’ll be great.’ Madysan Hammonds hit the shots tonight. That’s real big for us because Alicia (McClain), Morgan (Thompson) can score in other ways; they can score in other ways on breaks and driving. But when she’s hitting shots, that’s good for us. Defensively, I think we did real good. We got a lot of steals, got out in transition, (and were) able to finish at the basket real good.”

Scotland (5-1) was playing its second game in less than 24 hours; the team was coming off of a 67-62 loss to Jack Britt on Friday night.

”Last night, we were seeing how we could really play against a good team,” Hammonds said. “So we regrouped today, came back strong; we knew what we had to do.”

After both teams dropped in a layup each in the first 1 1/2 minutes, Hammonds knocked down her first 3-pointer from the left corner a minute and 45 seconds into the game. Sixteen seconds later, she swished another from the left wing to increase Scotland’s lead to 8-2.

Hammonds finished the game with 18 points on six-made 3s.

“The first shot, when I shot that one … I already knew it was (going in),” Hammonds said. “So I just said, ‘Give me the ball; it’s going to fly.’ It felt good.”

With the Lady Scots ahead 10-4, Hammonds drilled her third trey, and after an Alicia McClain layup, she made her fourth. Kayla Simmons replicated Hammonds with a 3 on Scotland’s next possession before Thompson made a layup to put the Scotland advantage at 23-4 at the end of the first.

A Madison Dixon 3-ball from the right wing gave Scotland a 31-4 lead with 6:31 left in the second quarter; Dixon’s shot extended a 21-0 run that started in the first quarter. Marlboro (0-4) had three of its six points in the frame come on the following two possessions from Jordyn Zimmerman — a layup and then a free throw; Zimmerman also scored the other three points after Hammonds’ trey with 4:40 left in the half put Scotland up 34-7. The Lady Scots closed the half with the last five points to make it 39-10 at halftime.

Roshien McClain told his team not to take their foot off the pedal in the second half.

“He (Roshien McClain) just told us to keep playing, keep doing what we were doing, keep moving the ball, run the plays right. We’ll be all good,” Hammonds said.

After Ivanna Davis opened the third with a layup for Marlboro, Scotland went on an 11-2 spurt that extended its lead to 51-14 with 3:10 remaining in the period; the last points of the run came on Dixon’s second-made 3-pointer.

It’s the first time Dixon, who had eight points on the day, has made multiple long-range shots in a game.

“It’s always, make yourself a threat; that’s what I tell Madison Dixon,” Roshien McClain said. “She has improved so much on her jump shot. That’s what we needed. We needed another person who can shoot also instead of just a screener or a passer.”

A 3 by TaNiyah Hairston and a layup from Lanika Walters erased a small part of the Marlboro deficit to close the third, but Scotland’s lead still stood strong at 51-19.

Jakiya Brown and Simmons added four combined points at the beginning of the fourth for Scotland; Marlboro scored the following nine points before Nyasia McQueen made a free throw to break the scoring drought. Marlboro’s London Dudley had the game’s final four points on two layups.

In addition to Hammonds’ and Dixon’s 26 total points, Alicia McClain had 10 points, Thompson had eight, and Simmons had five for Scotland.

“Alicia didn’t hit a lot of shots tonight,” Roshien McClain said. “But (she did) other things: (making) shots, blocking shots, assists, rebounds. Morgan took it off today (but did) other things. She played like she’s supposed to play.”

Zimmerman had 11 points, and Dudley and Hairston had 10 each for Marlboro.

Scotland returns to action at home against Lumberton on Monday. It’ll be a rematch from a Dec. 4 contest in Lumberton that the Lady Scots won 48-26.

“I’m just looking forward to another team that’s making us work a little bit,” Roshien McClain said. “The first time, we had to figure things out. I added a couple of new wrinkles, too. They’re probably going to go do something different, which I hope they go, man; it’d be great. But I think we’ll be fine against them on Monday. I’m looking forward to it.”

Scotland loses to Marlboro County in tale of two halves

Although they were down 33-24 at the half, the Scotland men’s basketball team had its fair share of bright moments in the first 16 minutes against the Marlboro County (SC) Bulldogs.

However, throughout the third quarter, the Fighting Scots got in a dire situation when they went down by 20.

While their deficit stayed within that amount, the Scots could never take control and make it a single-digit game again as they fell 64-48 in Saturday’s Battle of the Border Rivalry matchup.

Scotland head coach Michael Malpass compared the loss to the 42-36 one the team endured at Jack Britt Friday night.

“They (the Bulldogs) were better than us tonight,” Malpass said. “It starts with the coaching staff, myself. We just kind of got whipped in every phase. But like last night, we were in a dog fight, and we just didn’t have an identity to close that game. So, we’ve just got to figure some things out.”

Jaiquez Caldwell dropped 25 points for Scotland (3-3); Jonathan Graham had 14; and Dajuan Gibson and Zion Morrison each had four.

“We’ve just got to figure out ways to get tougher, and we’ve got to be balanced,” Malpass said. “I was telling Quez (Caldwell) in the locker room, if one guy has 25 (points), we’re not going to win because that means everybody else is watching. So, we’re going to have to figure out ways, and we’re trying to get them to understand that offenses have to move in space, and when you do that, multiple guys have opportunities. And when you do that, it makes it harder to guard us. We knew coming in, offense would be our biggest struggle, and it is. And so, we’ve just got to figure out things they can do and ways we can get everybody more balanced opportunities.”

Leading Marlboro (4-1) in points was Jaitez Barbour with 23. Ivor Miles had 16, Ralphier Monroe had 11, and Keshawn Leach had eight.

Gibson scored the first four points on layups for the Scots, with a Barbour 3-pointer sandwiched between them for Marlboro. The Bulldogs held a lead of no more than four points until Caldwell made a pair of free throws with 1:31 left in the first quarter to give the Scots a 14-13 advantage into the second.

Graham made a free throw and layup to stretch the Scotland lead to 17-13, but a 10-0 run by the Bulldogs put them in front 23-17 with 4:07 till the break.

Twelve seconds before that, though, a technical foul was assessed on Scotland’s Brady Fowler — one of four between both teams in the second quarter. Barbour landed a tech at the 4:06 mark, and Justin Purvis was tossed after receiving two of them with three minutes to go.

“One of the things I would say about just the makeup of a rival game and both teams is young people are young for a reason, and they’re invested in, sometimes, things that have nothing to do with the outcome,” Malpass said. “And so, yeah, I think those distractions on both sides just keep … the game from being played. And for people that are purists and love the game of basketball, it sucks to see anything take away from the greatest game in the world to me.”

Scotland came to within five points of the lead at 28-24 on a Caldwell runner nearing two minutes left in the second, but the Bulldogs drained five additional points to go up nine at the half.

Another incident in the second quarter was Scotland’s Dylan Lampley suffering a head injury and being helped off the court before returning for a short time.

Once he exited again, he was taken to Scotland Memorial Hospital for further evaluation. He did not return to the game.

“I think it was big,” Malpass said on losing Lampley. “He was really confused. I didn’t realize at first it was that bad, or we wouldn’t have put him back in. Obviously, he’s getting checked out tonight, so I’ll go by and check on him. But, yeah, I think that hurts.”

Marlboro took its lead to 47-27 with 2:19 left in the third quarter before Caldwell helped lessen the damage for Scotland with two 3s in the last 1:17; Barbour also made two free throws in that span for Marlboro, making its lead 49-33.

Morrison and Graham put Scotland down by 12 to start the fourth, but Caldwell was given a tech on the following Marlboro possession, which landed Monroe at the free-throw stripe for two, both of which he knocked down. With 3:01 remaining, the score was 60-41 after Miles made a layup for the Bulldogs, and in the last three minutes, Scotland outscored Marlboro 7-4 but still took the loss.

Scotland hosts Lumberton on Monday.