There was a packed house at Harnett Central on Friday night as the Trojans took a Tri-County Six 3-A Conference varsity basketball sweep over visiting Harnett County rival Triton in front of a raucous crowd.

Meeting for the second time this season, but the for the first time in conference play, Harnett Central’s girls took a 51-25 win over Triton to stay unbeaten in league play.

“One thing that I’ve been stressing to them is intensity and not beginning a game flat,” said Central girls coach Chelsey Cabe. “I think tonight’s the first night that we’ve done that since, I’d say, before Christmas. We’ve been coming out real, real flat. It’s nice to see us to get a jump start. When you jump on teams like that, you take away their momentum, you take away a little bit of their hope and you just frustrate them from the beginning.”

Sophomore Syniah McMiller had a double-double, with 12 points, five rebounds and 11 blocks and senior Fayth Brown had 11 points and five rebounds to lead the Trojans (11-4, 4-0 TCSC).

“Fayth has an unorthodox shot,” Cabe said. “But she can shoot it. I think the biggest thing right now is she has confidence in herself. She has confidence in the fact that when she puts it up, it’s going in. She’s shooting the ball really well right now and I hope that continues.”

Triton girls coach Wendy Simmons cited Triton’s cold shooting (10-for-58 or 17 percent from the field) as the biggest factor for the Hawks.

“We couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” Simmons said. “We actually executed the game plan. We packed it in. That’s what we worked on, on defense yesterday. I thought the game, for the most part, we played really good defense. But they left us open and we just couldn’t hit.”

Brittany Mills had nine points, four assists and three steals. Keanna Womble had six points and five rebounds. Lyanah Molyneaux had six points. Lyndsey Brewer had two points and eight rebounds. Aleecya Williams had two points and three assists. Zykia Matthews had two points. Madeline Langdon had one point and four rebounds.

“Collectively, as a team, I can’t think of one girl that didn’t have a good game tonight,” Cabe said. “I think they all played well, which is so nice to see when everybody can go in and show the skills and talent that they have.”

The Hawks (7-11, 2-2) were led by sophomore Kaila Cooney, with eight points and seven rebounds.

Anastasia McDonald had five points, three assists, four steals and two blocks. Hannah Jackson had four points and nine rebounds. Ashlyn Vincent had four points. Anaya Lockamy had two points and seven rebounds. Zoie Starling had two points.

Though the Hawks’ offensive output improved as the game went on, Harnett Central outscored Triton in all four quarters: 12-2 in the first quarter, 12-5 in the second, 13-7 in the third and 14-11 in the fourth.

Against Western Harnett Tuesday, Simmons sent a message to her starters with a young starting lineup consisting of Cooney, a sophomore, and four freshmen: Vincent, Kimah Warren, Tristan Ennis and Gracie Byrd. She sent that group out on the court late in the fourth quarter and was pleased with the efforts they showed in both games.

“They’re doing what we ask them to do,” Simmons said. “We’ll see what happens on down the road.”

Unlike the girls, Triton and Central’s boys did not meet in the Harnett County Tipoff Tournament earlier in the season, making Friday their first meeting of the season. Triton rallied from a 12-point second half deficit, but Harnett Central edged the Hawks 58-57.

“It feels good,” said Harnett Central senior Kasey Perkins. “We lost to them three times last year. Coming back this year, I knew I wanted to beat them, so it felt good.”

“It was a big win,” added Harnett Central senior Chase Mullins. “We needed it for the conference.”

Central boys coach Will Gage noted that taking close wins like Friday’s game was a reversal of fortune from last season.

“Obviously, I think it’s an understatement to say it was a good atmosphere for high school basketball,” said Central boys coach Will Gage. “We’ve been in so many of these where it comes down to one possession. Last year, it seemed like we were always on the other end of these. I know how it feels both ways. I thought our guys had a lot of composure. When they came back on us, not only to tie, but to go ahead, I think it would have been easy to fold. I thought we battled back time and time again. I’m just very pleased with the way we’re playing.”

Since opening conference play with a win over defending champion Southern Lee, Triton has lost three straight, all one-possession games.

“It’s tough,” said Triton coach T.J. Morrison. “We’ve lost three conference games by a total of seven points. But I’d say tonight the key number is 32. You’ve got to play 32 minutes. You can’t play three or four minutes or a total of 10 minutes of good basketball and expect to win. You’ve got to come close to playing 32 minutes if you can. I’m proud that they didn’t quit. It could have been worse. We were down 12 and had a good little spurt to cut it to one. You’ve got to bring that the whole time. You can’t just turn it on when you’re down 12. You’ve got to try to play that way the whole time.”

Senior Kasey Perkins had 17 points and senior Chase Mullins and junior Trevonne Williams had 10 points apiece to pace the Trojans (8-7, 3-1).

“I got some shots up before the game and I was feeling it,” Kasey Perkins said. “So, I wanted to take over the game and help my team.”

Anthony Tomlinson had nine points. Justin Perkins had seven points. Croix Shipman had five points.

“I think we’ve had a bigger crowd lately and the whole team’s been in it,” Mullins said. “We’ve had Kasey, Tre and Ant all putting in a good amount and that’s giving us the W’s.”

The Hawks (8-10, 1-3) were led by senior Emari White, with 19 points, and junior Travion Sanders, with 14 points, three assists and three steals.

Derreon Burnett had seven points and 12 rebounds. Colby Parker had seven points, five rebounds, three assists and four blocks. Kalil Hodges had seven points, four assists and four steals. Myshon Smith had three points.

“We took some guys out and put some subs in and they kept us kind of even keel,” Morrison said. “Then we put the guys back in and did make a little run. A lot of guys contributed and you need that. You can’t just play five. You’ve got to play eight or nine, maybe 10, to be successful.”

Triton opened the game with a 9-3 run, but Central rallied with a 12-5 run, taking a 15-14 lead at the end of the first quarter when Williams hit from half court at the buzzer.

Holding a 19-18 lead midway through the second quarter, Central went on a 10-4 run to take a 29-22 lead into halftime.

After Burnett scored to open the third quarter, Williams answered with a three and was called for a technical foul afterward, giving him his fourth foul. White made one of the two ensuing free throws to cut the lead back to seven, but Central responded to the tech with an 11-6 run to extend its lead to 12.

But Triton finished the quarter strong with an 11-0 run, with a White three cutting Central’s lead to 43-42 at the end of the third.

The teams exchanged leads six times in the fourth quarter. Late in the fourth, a pair of White free throws gave Triton a 57-56 lead, but a pair of free throws from Kasey Perkins put Central back in front.

Triton missed a shot on the ensuing possession, but got the rebound and took a timeout with 3.8 seconds remaining in the game. But Central’s defense did not allow Triton to get a shot off when play resumed and held on to take the win.

Harnett Central ends the first half of conference play at Union Pines on Tuesday, with sole possession of first place on the line in the girls game, and starts the second half of conference play at home against Lee County on Friday.

“We’re going to have to play under pressure,” Cabe said. “They’re (Union Pines) going to have some fast guards, like we do. They’re going to be a fundamentally strong team. I think that our game and their game is probably a pretty similar matchup as far as what they do. We’re just going to take care of the basketball. Turnovers is going to be the big thing. If we can control the ball, not turn the ball over and get beat in transition, I think we’re going to be alright.”

Triton will take a pair of trips to Sanford next week, traveling to Lee County on Tuesday and Southern Lee on Friday.