FORT MILL – The Rock Hill Bearcats took the first of two meetings against the Nation Ford Falcons to open Region 3-5A play.
Rock Hill boys’ and girls’ basketball teams swept the Falcons a region play began for both teams. The Bearcats’ girls squad won rather handily 59-34, while the boys’ team edged Nation Ford 62-60.
In the girls’ game, Rock Hill (12-5, 1-0) was led by Jada Jones and Unique Burch, both who scored 16 points, as they pulled away with two big quarters. The Bearcats outscored Nation Ford 24-5 in the second quarter and 20-4 in the fourth quarter. With the loss, Nation Ford fell to 9-8 overall and 0-1 in region play.
“We got a lot of opportunities to get transition points,” said Rock Hill head coach Kenny Orr. “We are learning to know when to be more aggressive.”
Rock Hill trailed 14-9 after the first quarter, but hit on nine of 15 shots in the second to take a 33-19 lead at the half. Nation Ford battled back in the third quarter and made a game of it trailing by only nine at 39-30 with the held of a 11-1 run to start the quarter.
Nation Ford’s Kelci Adams led the Falcons and all scorers with 18 points, with 10 of those points coming in the third quarter. However, the fourth quarter saw Rock Hill start things off with a 5-0 run to widen their lead.
In the final quarter, Rock Hill used their quickness and was able to penetrate the lane and get easy looks at the basket as Jones and Burch combined to score 11 of the 20 fourth quarter points for the Bearcats.
Nation Ford head coach Coretta Richmond said it was a hard loss for her team to open the region with.
“It is early,” she said. “We still have a chance. We have to coach them hard. We have to find that missing element. We are going to fix things.”
Rock Hill 62, Nation Ford 60
The Bearcats’ boys’ team (9-5, 1-0) held off a Nation Ford (7-10, 0-1) rally in the fourth quarter as the Falcons twice took the lead in the final period, before falling to Rock Hill.
Rock Hill was led by 23 points from sophomore Shane Blakeney, who hit three 3-pointers in the final quarter to help give the Bearcats the win on the road.
“He has a green light from me,” said Rock Hill head coach Douglas Pearson. “If he sees the first two go in, it is like throwing a rock in the ocean for him.”
The Bearcats were consistent for most of the game scoring 17 points in each of the first three quarters, but struggled some in the fourth as they entered the final period up 51-41. Nation Ford opened the quarter on a 9-0 run before the Bearcats called a time out to regroup.
The Falcons were led by Petey Tuipulotu, who scored 24 points in the loss. Nation Ford and Rock Hill set a frantic pace to open the game, but poor ball handing allowed the Bearcats to start pulling away in the second quarter.
“We had too many turnovers in the first half,” said Nation Ford head coach Jared Adamson. “We need to be tougher. We didn’t handle pressure well.”
Rock Hill took a nine-point lead into the half, but again, Nation Ford kept pace with them in the third quarter before going on a run in the final period.
The Falcons now turn their attention to Clover as they host them in their next region game. They then travel to Northwestern Jan. 22 for their first region road game. Rock Hill host Fort Mill for its second region game.
Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM
