Triton won a pair of varsity basketball games against Western Harnett at the Bennie Pollock Memorial Harnett County Tipoff Tournament, hosted by Harnett Central, Wednesday, with the girls winning the tournament championship and the boys winning the consolation game.

Triton held off a fourth-quarter rally to take a 48-42 win over Western Harnett in the championship game of the girls tournament, winning the tournament for the first time since 2016.

“It took a lot of leadership,” said Triton girls coach Richard Rozier, who played high school basketball at Western Harnett. “A’Shari (Watlington)’s experience from last year. Abby (Hood)’s three years on varsity. It really paid off down the stretch. It took a lot of needing down the line, but another wire-to-wire win. That’s something you can’t beat.”

Both of Western Harnett’s games in the tournament, the loss Wednesday and an overtime win over Harnett Central Monday, involved a late rally by the Eagles.

“We decided all of a sudden that we wanted to take everything down to the last few seconds,” said Western Harnett girls coach Matthew Smith. “I’m proud of the girls. We started out slow in the first half. I remember Richard playing at Western Harnett and I was a coach at Western Harnett then and all respect to him. He’s doing a really good job and he’s got great guards and bigs. My girls started slow and kind of got out of our scheme on defense. We talked at halftime and I said, ‘Look. We’ve got nothing to lose. Let’s just go as hard as we can go.’ And I really believe with 100 percent of my heart that they went as hard as they could go.”

Sophomore A’Shari Watlington, the tournament MVP, had 18 points to lead the Hawks (2-0).

Rozier said the post play of junior Abby Hood and freshman Unique Cooke, who was not available in the Hawks’ first game Monday, was a major factor in the win. Cooke had nine points, nine rebounds and one block. Hood, an all-tournament selection, had five points, 13 rebounds and five assists.

“Unique was awesome down the stretch,” Rozier said. “That was great. Having her crash the boards and play the way she did down the stretch was amazing. Abby also, as well. They made some really clutch rebounds. Some big rebounds. Western Harnett rebounded the ball well, too. So, down the stretch we really needed that.”

JaNiah Smith had six points and six rebounds. Aubree Bass had four points and four rebounds. Tristan Ennis had two points and six rebounds. Chyna Massey and Virginia Pope had two points apiece.

Senior all-tournament selection Makenyia Mackey and junior Maddie Burns had 12 points apiece to lead the Eagles (1-1).

“(Burns) really is just there all the time,” coach Smith said. “She kind of has a knack for being where the ball is. Kind of like Dennis Rodman, he had a knack for where the ball was. That’s the kind of player she is. To take a year off (because of COVID-19) and to come back and play the way she’s played, I couldn’t ask for any better out of her.”

Shalyna McCants had eight points. Trinity Gaither had seven points. All-tournament selection Sydney Jackson had three points.

“(Mackey and Jackson) are like peanut butter and jelly,” coach Smith said. “One does one thing, the other’s going to do another. Those two really stick out because they know the system I want to do and they can run the system better than I can teach the system.”

Triton had built a 36-23 lead by the end of the third quarter. But Burns scored to open the fourth quarter and start Western on a 14-3 run to cut the lead to just two.

Late in the fourth, after Burns had scored to cut the lead to two again, at 44-42, Hood was purposefully fouled and missed both of the ensuing free throws, but got her own rebound and was fouled again. She took advantage of the second chance by making both of the free throws to push the lead back to four.

After a pair of missed Western free throws, a 1-for-2 trip to the line for Hood pushed the lead to five. And after two more missed Western free throws, Cooke also had a 1-for-2 trip to the line to make it a six-point game with 11 seconds left. The Hawks followed with one more defensive stop to end the game.

After the tournament, Harnett Central senior Shay Ward, Overhills sophomore Eva McRae, Western Harnett junior Sydney Jackson and Triton junior Abby Hood were named all-tournament selections. Triton sophomore A’Shari Watlington was selected as the tournament’s most valuable player.

Triton dominated the second half of the boys game to take a 71-35 win over Western Harnett.

“We started out a little slow,” said Triton boys coach T.J. Morrison. “It was kind of ugly early on. We kind of figured it out and started hitting the post a little bit. We started looking for each other and definitely defended better in the second half. It started out ugly and slow. We’ve got a lot of work to do. I can’t wait for three more good practices before we play again.”

It was the second game in a row Western Harnett played a competitive first half, but struggled in the second half.

“We played two quarters last night and two quarters tonight,” said Western Harnett boys coach Seth Womble. “We’ve got to find the positives, though. We’re a new team. Credit to Harnett Central last night, they played a good game. Credit to Triton, they played a good game. They’re in our conference, so we’ve got to see them again. And hopefully the outcome or the score will be different. I’m proud of my guys for playing two hard quarters. We’ve just got to come together and face pressure a little bit better.”

Junior Will Heard, returning after suffering an injury in the first quarter on Triton’s game Monday, had 14 points to lead the Hawks (1-1).

“Man, he was quiet,” Morrison said. “I looked in the book and saw he had 14 and I didn’t even know he had double figures. We definitely missed him, so we’re glad to have him back for sure.”

Romello Pegues had nine points, three steals and three assists. All-tournament selection Jalen Evans had nine points and three assists. James Shaw had eight points, 11 rebounds and four steals. Hayden Pope, the Hawks’ lone senior, had eight points and six rebounds. Sabine Wheeler had seven points. Nate McKoy had six points and six rebounds. Quashaun Williams had six points. J.J. Cowan had four points and three steals.

Senior all-tournament selection Christian Fielden had 14 points to pace the Eagles (0-2).

Fred Belk had seven points. Carlito Maldonado had five points. Donavan Thomas had three points. Josiah Smith and Jackson Lavengood had two points apiece. Zack Hooper and Ian Bristow had one point apiece.

The game was close in the first half, with Triton holding a 32-25 lead at halftime. But the Hawks outscored the Eagles 21-5 in the third quarter and 18-5 in the fourth.

“One thing we try to have as a goal is to give up less than 10 in a quarter,” Morrison said. “If we can do that, we have a chance to win. I think we gave up five in the third and five in the fourth, so that was big for us.”

Triton is at Smithfield-Selma on Monday and at Midway on Tuesday. Western Harnett travels to Union Pines on Tuesday.