BRANSON, Mo. -- Lake Hamilton's senior high girls' basketball team opened the Battle at the Border tournament on Thursday in Branson, Mo., with a 65-54 win over the host team.
Branson (1-1) led, 14-10, after the opening quarter, but the Lady Wolves (1-3) took control of the game in the middle quarters to earn their first win of the season. Lake Hamilton led, 27-22, by halftime and took a 42-31 lead into the final quarter when both teams scored 23 points.
"Our girls played fantastic team defense, worked well moving and sharing the ball, and played with a ton of heart and effort tonight," said Lake Hamilton head girls' basketball coach Blake Condley.
The host Lady Pirates features 6-2 junior guard Priscilla Williams, who is ranked by ESPN as the No. 16 player in the nation for the class of 2020 and No. 2 at her position. Williams averaged 31.7 points and 12.6 rebounds per game in her sophomore season.
"Morgan Fincham did a fantastic job guarding and frustrating the leading scorer for Branson," Condley said.
Sophomore Aspen Thornton led the Lady Wolves with 22 points. Seniors Jenny Peake and Nya Moody scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, while sophomore Tia Mullenix added 11.
Lake Hamilton met Bishop DuBourg on Friday (1-2), from St. Louis, on Friday before closing the tournament today against Bolivar for the Lady Liberators' first game of the season.
* BENTON -- Lake Hamilton's junior high girls earned a 47-20 road victory on Thursday at Benton.
The junior Lady Wolves took a 13-5 lead after the first quarter behind 10 points from Hayleigh Wyrick. She scored all 16 of her 20 points in the first half with six more in the second quarter to give Lake Hamilton a 26-14 lead at halftime.
Ginny Higginbotham picked up the scoring in the second half with eight in the third quarter. She finished the game with 16 points, including four 3-pointers.
Lake Hamilton took a 38-16 lead into the fourth quarter. The hosts were held to four points in the final six minutes.
Wyrick finished with seven rebounds, five blocks and four steals. Higginbotham had six rebounds and four assists. Audri Winfrey added seven points and four rebounds.
Boys
BRANSON, Mo. -- Lake Hamilton's senior high boys opened the weekend's Battle at the Border tournament with a one-point loss to the host Pirates.
The Wolves (2-1) dropped the opener, 58-57, to the Pirates (1-1). They met Bishop DuBourg (1-1) on Friday with a game today against Boliver (1-0) to close the tournament.
* BENTON -- The Lake Hamilton junior Wolves traveled to Benton on Thursday and won, 40-29.
"A big second quarter and a strong defensive second half gave the Wolves the edge tonight," said Lake Hamilton junior high coach Bobby Tedder. "The balanced attack offensively was key, too."
Chase Jessup led the team with 11 points and Cade Robinson scored eight. Zac Pennington and Gavin Robbins each added seven points.
Sports on 12/01/2018