Lady Bulldogs outlasts the Lady Rebels to win in a heated rivalry battle

PROSPERITY, S.C. — The Lady Bulldogs picked up their first win of the season and it came over a county rival. Newberry(1-3) defeated Mid-Carolina(2-5) by the score of 54-47 on Friday, Dec. 12th to win part one of the basketball rivalry series.

These two county rivals got together for the the first time in a packed gymnasium on the campus of Mid-Carolina High School. The ‘Friday Night Lights’ basketball edition provided an intense battle

The first quarter was tight back-and-forth battle, like much of the game, between the two squads. Newberry led 16-14 at the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Rebels started off the second quarter very hot on the offensive end and went on a 8-5 run to reclaim the lead 22-21 before Newberry called a timeout. The Lady Bulldogs would respond and the two teams would be tied at 25-25. Senior guard Daizee Williams knocked down a three-pointer to give Newberry the lead in the closing seconds.

The Bulldogs would go into halftime with a 28-25 lead. Mid-Carolina wasn’t fazed by the late momentum shift and took control of the game in the third quarter. Senior guard Brea Boyd would pick things up where she left off in the first quarter. She had 10 first quarter points and scored six points in the third quarter to lead the 13-2 Rebels’ run.

Things got a little heated between her and Williams after a hard foul late in the third quarter, but the two sides would calm down and carry that fight on the court over to the fourth. Mid-Carolina would take a 38-32 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Rebels seem like they were going to run away with the game in the fourth quarter after holding Newberry to just six total points in the third quarter, but this is a rivalry game so neither side was going to back down.

Both sides went into a scoring drought to start the final period that lasted nearly three minutes. Freshman guard Shelton would lift the drought for the Lady Bulldogs. The freshman knocked down big shot after big shot. She scored 11 points in the first half, went scoreless in the third quarter and picked things right back up in the fourth quarter with nine points.

Their full court pressure help them fight to get back into the game. Junior guard Tamaria Wadsworth got a steal and turned that into a fast break lay-up. Williams would do the same thing to cut the deficit down to 42-39. Shelton would continue her hot shooting and knock down another big shot. Newberry went on a 12-5 run to give to reclaim the lead late in the final quarter, 44-43.

Boyd would knock down a huge shot to put an end to the Lady Bulldogs run. She would finish the game with a game-high of 24 points. Katie Gallman would also get into the action and hit a jump shot late, but that wasn’t enough. Junior forward Cheyanne Anderson would get a huge lay-up in the paint while absorbing the contact to get the foul. She would knock down the free-throw to cut the lead down, 47-46.

Newberry would close the game out on a 8-0 run to secure the win. Their offensive rebounding late would be the deciding factor. The Bulldogs dominated the offensive boards to keep getting second chance shots. Despite the loss, Gallman and Boyd had huge games. Gallman finished the game with 15 points.

“First thing, they turned up the pressure. They went full court man and got out of the zone which sped us up a lot and got us out of our game. We made a lot of mental mistakes against but the biggest key tonight was their offensive rebounding,” said Rebels’ head coach Gary Wilbanks. “We gave up too many second chance points. We would have great defensive possessions, but you got to finish that defensive possession with a rebound and they got a bunch of offensive rebounds. That was the biggest difference!”

Shelton got her first taste of this rivalry matchup and she delivered with 20 points. Anderson flirted with a double-double as she had nine points and nine rebounds. Williams and Wadsworth finished the game with seven points each.

Mid-Carolina will be off for a few days before returning to the court to face Ninety Six at home on Tuesday, Dec. 16th. Newberry will be back in action on Monday, Dec. 15th to face Clinton at home.