Lyndsey Brewer (33) of Central shoots a 3-pointer.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Harnett Central rebounded from a narrow loss to Overhills on Monday night by routing visiting Triton 64-28 in the girls consolation game of the Harnett County Tipoff Tournament on Tuesday evening.
“I told the girls the one big difference between last night and tonight, well, besides putting the ball in the basket, was playing with confidence,” said Harnett Central coach Chelsey Cabe. “I think that’s the biggest thing. When the ball went up, you could tell they were confident.
“When they sprinted back on defense, they were confident. I told them, ‘90 percent of basketball is from the neck up. It’s in your head. If you think you’re going to make it, if you think you’re going to stop them defensively, if you think you’re going to score, you will.’”
Triton reduced its turnover total from 34 Monday to 14 Tuesday, but could not get shots to fall consistently.
“We did a lot better on turnovers, but we weren’t able to capitalize on when we had the ball,” said Triton coach Wendy Simmons. “We missed a lot of shots and didn’t box out very well rebounding. They killed us on the boards. I think in the first half they got about 20 points getting offensive rebounds and putting it back up. We’ve got to stop that.”
All 10 members of the Trojans’ roster played and contributed in the win.
“I think we had a lot of people come off of the bench and step up tonight,” Cabe said. “I had some small girls playing the three on the backside and I thought they did a great job boxing out to get some rebounds. And then, of course, Brittany (Mills) does a great job controlling and she puts defensive pressure and makes people turn the ball over.”
Sophomore Syniah McMiller was two blocks shy of a triple-double, recording 12 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks for Central. Sophomore Brittany Mills had 11 points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals. Senior Lyndsey Brewer had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Trojans (1-1).
Marcayla Jones had eight points, four rebounds and three blocks. Lyanah Molyneaux had seven points. Fayth Brown had six points. Madeline Langdon had four points and four rebounds. Keanna Womble had two points and four rebounds. Zykia Matthews and Aleecya Williams had two points apiece.
“Before the game, each one of them had to make 50 free throws and 50 layups,” Cabe said. “Twenty-five from the right and 25 from the left. Layups, free throws and defense wins girls high school basketball games. We’ve just got to keep working hard and not get satisfied.”
Sophomore Kaila Cooney had 10 points and four rebounds to lead the Hawks (0-2).
Hannah Jackson had six points and six rebounds. Zoie Starling had five points and four rebounds. Alexis Howard had five points. Tristan Ennis had two points. Anaya Lockamy had three assists.
Harnett Central dominated the contest, outscoring Triton 16-8 in the first quarter, 23-5 in the second and 12-2 in the fourth. Triton and Central scored 13 points apiece in the third quarter.
Simmons was pleased with what she saw from the playing time some of the Hawks’ young bench received in the second half.
“They went out there and played hard the whole time and did what they’re capable of doing,” Simmons said. “I was pleased with what I saw there at the end. We didn’t give up. As many points as we were getting beaten by, at least we didn’t throw in the towel. We kept trying to cut it back a little bit at a time.”
Harnett Central travels to Cleveland on Tuesday and Triton is at home against Middle Creek on Nov. 28.
Triton’s Zoie Starling (4) drops a three at HC.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Harnett Central’s Syniah McMiller (40) blocks a shot.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Triton freshman Tristan Ennis (24) scores her first high school points.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
