HC girls down South, 45-22

by John Lucas | Dec 7, 2019 | Harnett Central

Syniah McMiller scores as the Central girls improved to 7-0.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Despite a rough night, Harnett Central’s varsity girls basketball team took a 45-22 win on the road at South Johnston to stay unbeaten on the season on Friday.

“Not our best basketball that we’ve played,” said Harnett Central coach Catherine Griffin. “I think you can attribute that to the end of a long game-week. And we just didn’t shoot the ball very well tonight. I think being on the road hurts us a little and because of tired legs we didn’t shoot the ball well. But, I’m still proud of the girls for just fighting through some of that and finding a way to win.”

South Johnston coach Whitney Williams said a lack of shooting was a major factor.

“I think we definitely had a slow start,” Williams said. “Four points in the first quarter and we only shot six times in the third quarter. Definitely just needed to get that shot off more and have our leaders step up more. Getting more shots off is going to be our next goal to reach.”

The visiting Trojans (7-0) were led by a trio of juniors. Syniah McMiller had 17 points, Brittany Mills had 13 points and Lyanah Molyneaux had 10 points.

“People are going to double down on Syniah and put pressure on Brittany,” Griffin said. “Lya does a really good job of stepping up and knocking down shots when she has to. I really think when she started knocking down shots is when we started to get some energy and momentum and pushed it forward a bit toward the end of the first half.”

Shay Raines had two points and Madeline Langdon, JoNese Monroe and Jamia Harrington had one point apiece.

Junior Diamond Judkins, who missed South’s game at Western Harnett on Tuesday because of the flu, had six points to lead the homestanding Trojans (2-3).

“It’s good to have her back,” Williams said. “The biggest thing, her coming in off of the bench and doing what she knows she has to do for the team. It definitely gave us a boost that we needed.”

Kennedy Byrd and Kaylee Creech had four points apiece. Janay McDonald and Jenna Brown had three points apiece. McKinley Sills had two points.

Williams liked the effort she received from senior Paige Toler during the contest.

“Paige, she’s one that may not score,” Williams said. “But she’s going to get a rebound. She’s going to fight to get position. She’s going to fight to get assists, as well. She may not be the leading scorer, but she’s definitely putting in work. Everybody has a job and as long as she knows her job and keeps doing her job, she’ll be good.”

Both sides struggled at the free throw line during the game. Central shot a combined 9-for-20 (45 percent) and South shot a combined 4-for-12 (33.3 percent).

“Atrocious,” Griffin said. “And we worked on free throws yesterday in practice. We’ll get in the gym Monday and work on some free throws and hopefully put them in the basket on Tuesday night.”

Central outscored South 12-4 in the first quarter, 11-4 in the second and 15-5 in the third. South finally found a small surge in the fourth quarter, outscoring Central 9-7, but it was too little, too late.

South Johnston is at home against Western Harnett (1-5) and Harnett Central is at East Wake (3-3) on Tuesday before South and Central meet again at Central on Thursday.