WILMINGTON — A 16-0 run by Wilmington proved to be the difference in a 46-24 Hurricane win Thursday over Clinton-Massie.
The triumph at Fred Summers Court in SBAAC American Division play puts WHS at 2-2 overall, 1-1 in the division. The Falcons fall to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in American play.
“This is a big rivalry game,” WHS head coach Zach Williams said. “We were locked in. The girls stepped up tonight.”
On the other side of the gym, Massie head coach Hilma Crawford said his team just didn’t keep pace with the Hurricane.
“We just could not match their intensity,” Crawford said. “You have to bring it every night and tonight Wilmington brought more.”
Early on, though, it was anybody’s game. Massie took the lead (9-8) on Aidan Eades basket in the waning seconds of the opening period.
With under 10 seconds left, instead of letting the clock run out, Wilmington ushered the ball up court quickly and Elle Martin drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Massie, however, regained the lead, 12-11, when Alex Pence hit a three on CM’s first possession of the second period.
The Hurricane righted the ship defensively and methodically pulled away, pushing the lead to 27-12 early in the third.
“We gambled a little bit early, which gave them some shots,” Williams said. “In the second quarter, we didn’t gamble, we were sound and where we needed to be. Our defense led to our offense.”
Maddie Phipps ended the Wilmington run at 6:30 of the third but the Falcons were down 27-14 by that time. Taylor Noszka then matched Martin with a third quarter buzzer beater to make it 34-16. Massie pulled within 14 but WHS closed the game by scoring nine of the final 10 points.
Katie Murphy had 15 points and 10 rebounds for WHS. Ke’Asia Robinson had seven points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Martin scored 12 points.
For Massie, Eades led with nine points. Phipps had seven points. Hannah Bowman grabbed nine rebounds and McKenna Branham came up with four steals.
“There is a lot of basketball left to be played and we will rebound from this loss,” Crawford said.
SUMMARY
Dec 1, 2022
@Fred Summers Court
Wilmington 46, Clinton-Massie 24
W^11^12^12^11^^46
CM^9^3^4^8^^24
(46) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Robinson 3-0-1-7 Tippett 1-0-1-3 C. Diels 0-0-0-0 Martin 4-1-3-12 Murphy 5-1-4-15 Noszka 3-1-0-7 Walker 1-0-0-2 Earley 0-0-0-0 L. Diels 0-0-0-0 Conley 0-0-0-0 Cumberland 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 17-3-9/14-46
(24) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Davis 0-0-1-1 Phipps 2-1-2-7 Bowman 1-0-0-2 Branham 0-0-0-0 Eades 3-0-3-9 Swope 0-0-0-0 Pence 1-1-0-3 Redman 1-0-0-2 Linebaugh 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 8-1-6/17-24
FIELD GOALS: CM (8-40); W (17-42)
3 PT FIELD GOALS: CM (1-14); W (2-9)
FREE THROWS: CM (6-17); W (9-14)
REBOUNDS: CM-38 (Bowman 9, Phipps 5, Pence 4, Eades 4, Davis 3, Branham 2, Redman 2); W-36 (Murphy 10, Noszka 8, Robinson 7, Walker 5, Martin 2)
ASSISTS: CM-3 (Eades 2); W-10 (Robinson 4, Murphy 2)
STEALS: CM-10 (Branham 4, Eades 3); W-13 (Diels 4, Robinson 4, Murphy 3)
BLOCKED SHOTS: CM-3 (Redman 2, Branham 1); W-4 (Robinson, Martin, Murphy, Walker)
TURNOVERS: CM-19; W-13
