A needed win by Fort Mill slipped out of their hands as they fell to the Gaffney Indians in Region 3-5A action Friday night.
Both the boys’ and girls’ team lost to Gaffney, as the boys team fell 34-31 in overtime in a defensively minded game. The Fort Mill girls lost 47-23 in their first game back from a lengthy break because of the coronavirus.
Fort Mill’s Jackson Fewster hit a 3-pointer with 41.8 seconds left to tie the game at 31-31 sending it into overtime. In overtime, Gaffney outscored Fort Mill 3-0 to get the win as defense controlled the entire aspect of the game.
“Defensively, we played great,” said Fort Mill head coach Dwayne Hartsoe. “We just couldn’t make shots. Our effort was good.”
The loss drops Fort Mill to 7-7 overall and 3-3 in region play. Gaffney currently leads the region with just one loss, but there is a log jam of teams with three losses and not every region team is on the same number of games because of COVID-19.
The Jackets were led by Kyle Neibch who scored 15 points in the loss. Fort Mill had just four players score in the game.
The game was close for most of the first half as Fort Mill held a slight one-point edge after the opening period. The second quarter was led by the Jackets’ Reed Fanta, who scored five of his seven points in the game as Fort Mill trailed 12-10 at the half.
Neibch started taking the game into his hands in the third quarter as he would score eight of his 15 points in the period. Gaffney played their best basketball of the night in the quarter and took a four-point lead into the fourth quarter. Fort Mill played their best quarter of the game in the fourth outscoring Gaffney 9-5 as Fewster scored all five of his points in the period including the game-tying 3-pointer.
Lady Jackets drop first region game
With the loss to Gaffney, Fort Mill dropped its first region game of the year to even their record to 1-1 in the region and 5-5 overall.
Fort Mill struggled offensively, especially in the second half after staying close with Gaffney in the first half. The Jackets trailed 22-14 at the half, but only hit three second half shots from the field on 14 attempts.
The Jackets’ Nadia Dial led with 13 points, similar to the boys’ game, Fort Mill only had four players score.
The Fort Mill girls squad still has to make up games at Gaffney, as well as the entire Clover two-game series. Up next for both the boys’ and girls’ teams is a two-game series against rivals Nation Ford. Fort Mill host the Falcons at home next Tuesday and then goes to Nation Ford on Friday.
Falcons fall without key player
The Nation Ford girls’ varsity team fell 65-48 to Arborbrook Christian Academy without their leading scorer Payton Brookover, who missed the game with an ankle she injured earlier this week in a region game against Boiling Springs.
Brookover should be back for the series with Fort Mill, according to Falcons’ head coach Coretta Richmond.
Nation Ford was led in the loss to Arborbrook by Harper McKain, who scored 15 points and Georgia Sharpless, who scored 10 points.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
