Syniah McMiller scores for the Harnett Central girls.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
After suffering its first loss of the season at East Wake on Monday, Harnett Central’s varsity girls basketball team rebounded with a 58-35 win over visiting South Johnston on Thursday.
“They just played good tonight,” said Harnett Central coach Catherine Griffin. “They don’t like losing, just like I don’t like losing. We lost Monday night to East Wake and they responded really well to that the last two days of practice and wanted to come out tonight and win. They came out tonight and just wanted to prove that they could win again. They wanted to shoot better and it worked everywhere but at the free throw line (Central was a combined 7-of-24, or 29.2 percent, at the line).”
South Johnston coach Whitney Williams said her team has to figure out how to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together.
“Rough start,” Williams said. “Again, we have to figure out how to put it all together. We seem to have it bits and pieces here and there. We show it here and there. But we’ve got to put it all together.”
Junior Syniah McMiller had 18 points, junior Lyanah Molyneaux had 17 points and junior Brittany Mills had 14 points to lead the homestanding Trojans (8-1).
Jamia Harrington had four points. Angel McNeill had three points. Shay Raines had two points.
The visiting Trojans (3-4) were led by junior Janay McDonald, with eight points, and senior Kaylee Creech, with seven points.
Williams was pleased with the play off of the bench of junior Madison Cole. She finished with six points.
“For somebody who didn’t play last year, she took the season off, I think she came in and definitely did her job,” Williams said. “She was aggressive. She could finish. And I think she stepped up tonight for us.”
Nikki Lee had five points. Diamond Judkins had four points. Jenna Brown had three points. Kennedy Byrd had two points.
Free throws have been plaguing South on the season, but South had its best night at the line of the season on Thursday, going a combined 12-for-14, led by a perfect 4-for-4 from Creech and 3-for-4 (75 percent) shooting from Lee.
“It’s called ‘Running for the 19 free throws we missed on Tuesday (a 53-14 win over visiting Western Harnett),’” Williams quipped. “Free throws have been our focus, since we’ve struggled a bit this year. But I think running for them helped.”
Central dominated the first half, outscoring South 19-5 in the first quarter and 12-5 in the second.
South had a much stronger performance in the third quarter, outscoring Central 18-16. Central outscored South 11-7 in the fourth.
Harnett Central is at home against Fuquay-Varina (2-6) on Friday.
“It’s always a good game when we play against Fuquay,” Griffin said. “It’s a game that they’re looking forward to and our last game before break. So, hopefully we’ll come out tomorrow and play well again and get another win.”
South Johnston travels to North Johnston (4-1) next Friday (Dec. 20). South fell 39-24 at home against North on Nov. 22.
Lyanah Molyneaux hits for host Harnett Central.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Madison Cole shoots for visiting South Johnston.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Jamia Harrington scores for Harnett Central, which improved to 8-1.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Nikki Lee gets a basket for the South Johnston girls.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Kennedy Byrd gets a basket for South Johnston.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
