WILMINGTON — In a battle of Clinton County rivals, host Wilmington defeated Clinton-Massie in girls’ action, 67-38, at Fred Summers Court Monday night.

The victory improves the Hurricane to 9-7 overall and 3-4 in the SBAAC American Division. The Lady Falcons fall to 4-11 on the season, 0-6 in conference play.

The Lady ‘Cane got contributions from 10 different players in the scoring column, including four players reaching double figures.

Freshman Miya Nance paced the Lady Cane attack with 15 points and sophomore Brynn Conley followed with 11. Junior Elle Martin and senior Taija Walker scored 10 points each.

For the Lady Falcons, Hannah Bowman had 14, followed by Alex Pence with eight points.

It was a close margin of 10 points at halftime, 32-22, with the Lady ‘Cane holding the lead. Wilmington outscored Clinton-Massie 11-6 in the third period to increase the advantage to 43-28.

The Hurricane had a 24-point effort in the final period to seal the team’s fourth win in its last five games.

“I’m really proud of the way these young girls have been playing the past few games,” said WHS head coach Zach Williams. “Right now, they are all playing together and despite being ‘young’ as a squad they are coming along and their ability to bounce back from some losses is great.”

On the opposite side, Lady Falcons’ head coach Hilma Crawford pointed to one key statistic telling the difference, field goal shooting.

“You can’t win many games shooting just 23 percent, while Wilmington was much better at 47 percent,” he said.

Wilmington was deadly from long-distance, knocking down eight three-pointers on the night, including three each from Nance and Addison Martin and one each from Kierra Cole and Elle Martin.

Crawford was frustrated his squad did not seize an opportunity to cut the deficit in the third quarter.

“We had our chances … cut it to eight early in the third and we did not take advantage when it was there,” Crawford said. “Then you look up a few minutes later and the margin is up to 16. We had some good looks but the shots didn’t fall. And we missed a ton of shots in the paint. We have to complete those.”

For the Lady Falcons, they will play a busy stretch, six games over the next 17 days.

“We have a chance to get back at Western Brown at our place on Thursday, so we need to bounce back quickly,” said Crawford.

Wilmington’s next opponent also will be Western Brown, on the road next Monday night.

Williams sees a big difference in his team, since the opening stretch of the season.

“After a really rocky start in our first three games, these girls are playing with much needed confidence and hoping it continues,” Williams said.

SUMMARY

Jan 22, 2024

@Fred Summers Court

Wilmington 67, Clinton-Massie 38

CM^7^15^6^10^^38

W^17^15^11^24^^67

(38) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp). Myers. 1-0-5-7, Pence 1-0-6-8, Long 0-0-1-1, Bowman 5-3-1-14, Davis 3-0-0-6, Redmen 1-0-0-2. TOTALS 11-3-13-38.

(67) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Brown 0-0-1-1, Nance 6-3-0-15, A. Martin 3-3-0-9, Hudson 1-0-0-2, Conley 5-0-1-11, Cole 2-1-0-5, E. Martin 2-1-5-10, Bayless 1-0-0-2, Walker 5-0-0-10. TOTALS 26-8-7-67.