Triton ended the first half of All American 3-A/4-A Conference play with a varsity basketball sweep at
Harnett County rival Harnett Central on Tuesday night.

Defense powered Triton to a 58-16 rout over Harnett Central in the girls game.

“Just taking care of business,” said Triton girls coach Richard Rozier. “That’s what it’s about. Performing when you’ve got a day off (Harnett County schools had a teacher workday) and you can lay around the house all day and maybe not come focused, especially in a rivalry game.

“It’s dangerous when you come to Central. Ever since I’ve been here, we haven’t necessarily played well here or against them. And tonight, I think we played a complete game on both ends.”

Freshman Nashara Watlington-McNeill had 21 points and sophomore JaNiah Smith had 17 points to lead the Hawks (12-4, 4-3 AAC).

“They play really well off of each other,” Rozier said.

A’Shari Watlington and Unique Cooke had eight points apiece and Abby Hood had four points.

Junior Sondra Berry led the Trojans (0-14, 0-7) with six points. Allison Williams, Nylah Cummings, TaNira Edwards and Leah Greer had two points apiece.

Triton outscored Central 14-4 in the first quarter, 24-6 in the second and 19-4 in the third. With the running clock rule in effect, Central outscored Triton 2-1 in the fourth quarter.

Triton rebounded from a close home loss to Overhills Friday with a 64-30 win over Harnett Central in the boys game.

“I think we defended early and set the tone giving up two and four in the first and second quarters,” said Triton boys coach T.J. Morrison. “That always helps when you’re defending. I think we defended well with Overhills, but the shots didn’t fall. I think the difference tonight was we defended well and the shots fell. So, we set the tone with defense, luckily some shots fell and we’ll have to build and see what we can do Friday.”

Senior Will Heard had 19 points, senior Sabine Wheeler had 12 points and senior Jaleel White had 11 points to pace the Hawks (10-6, 2-5).

“I said before the game to Latrell McDougald, one of our assistants, ‘We need Will to come out and hit his first ones and Sabine to come out and hit a couple,’” Morrison said. “And they both did and (McDougald) was picking with me, saying that he called it. Glad to have it. It helps. It’s a lot more fun when the ball goes in the basket.”

Romello Pegues and Will Watson had five points apiece. Jalen Evans, Ahmad Morris and Nate McKoy had four points each.

Senior Nick Avery led the Trojans (2-13, 1-6) with 10 points.

Amare Boone had seven points. Johnathan Patterson had six points. Jhalil Surles had five points. D.J. Brown had two points.

Triton outscored Central 12-2 in the first quarter, 17-4 in the second, 14-13 in the third and 21-11 in the fourth.

Both schools are at home on Friday to start the second half of conference play. Triton hosts E.E. Smith and Harnett Central faces county rival Western Harnett.