After suffering its first loss of the season Thursday night in the Winborn Showcase to Charlotte Country Day, Fort Mill girls’ basketball head coach Nathan Wruble was looking for a response Friday afternoon versus a really good Butler Bulldog squad.
The Lady Yellow Jackets didn’t disappoint with a 62-47 win.
It was a helter-skelter beginning for both squads when Charlotte Hassan began to light it up behind the arc for Butler hitting four 3-pointers in the span of four minutes helping the Bulldogs build a 16-6 lead.
Wruble began subbing liberally and the Jackets intensity level increased exponentially. Only four minutes later, Fort Mill turned a double-digit deficit into a five-point lead at halftime 33-28.
The second half began how the first half ended as Fort Mill continued to frustrate Butler leading scorer Brooklyn Saunders. Averaging over 21 points per game coming in, Fort Mill made it a point to take her out of the mix offensively. Saunders was held scoreless in the third stanza after only scoring 8 points in the first half. She would finish the game with only 13 points.
It didn’t help that the other Bulldogs went cold while Fort Mill cleaned up the glass. The Jackets got all the offense they would need in the second half from Jada Chambliss, Clare Moore and Reagan Reyes. They combined to score 26 of Fort Mill’s 29 second half points as Fort Mill pulled away for the victory.
Chambliss finished the game with 17 points, winning the Player of the Game award. Reyes finished with 15 points and Moore finished with 14 points.
With the win, Fort Mill’s record improves to 10-1. They finish their Winborn Classic set Saturday afternoon against Spartanburg.
Fort Mill boys drop second straight
The Fort Mill boys’ basketball team were also looking to bounce back from their opening game loss in the Border Classic over at Independence High School taking on Science Hill High School out of Johnson City, TN Friday.
The Toppers came out firing on all cylinders on both ends of floor building a 16-8 lead after one period of play. Fort Mill continued to get good looks at the basket, but couldn’t get much to go in. Conversely, the Toppers couldn’t miss. Oliver Peterson scored 19 of his game high 23 points in the first half hitting five 3-pointers as Science Hill built a 12-point lead as the teams headed to the halftime locker room.
Fort Mill’s intensity began to pick up holding the high scoring Toppers to only 13 third quarter points.
Unfortunately for the Jackets, their cold shooting continued as they could only cut the Science Hill lead to nine after the third period.
The Yellow Jackets continued to fly around doing everything they could to put points on the board, but it seemed like there was a lid on the hoop as shots from point blank range clanked off the iron.
The Toppers used an opportune defense along with great free throw shooting to finish off Fort Mill 54-42.
With the loss, Fort Mill’s record falls to 6-5. Next game up for the Yellow Jackets will be Wednesday, Dec. 27th at the West Cabarrus Holiday Classic.
