Clear Creek returned to the basketball court to take on the Lumpkin County Indians.
The CCMS Lady Cats were at home last Monday, and the seventh graders came away with a 39-20 victory while the eighth grade lost, 41-27.
The Bobcats hit the road, and the Indians built a formidable lead in the seventh-grade game and held on to win, 59-53. The older Indians held off the Cats as well for a 44-40 victory.
Lady Cats
The seventh-grade Cats earned a 17-12 lead at the half, and their full-court pressure stifled the Indians over the third and fourth quarters.
Coach Les McDaniel noted their defensive tactics frustrated Lumpkin, and the Cats forced multiple turnovers, as well as three five-second calls and one 10-second violation.
“We began pressuring the inbound pass, trying to keep the ball out of their best players’ hands,” he said. “Offensively, we had a very balanced attack with several players in the scoring column.”
Lady Cat Rosie Everett was 4/6 from the free-throw line and led the way with eight points. Lola Howard had five, Halle West, Kristena Bailey, Braley Stewart and Ally Phillips all scored four, Makenna Taylor added three, Brenlee Daniel, Kensey Pritchett and Josie Bradburn all finished with two and Mary Grace Jones had one.
In the eighth-grade game, the Lady Indians had one of their best post players back in the lineup after missing some games, and she made the difference, according to McDaniel.
CCMS kept it close early and only trailed 15-13 at the half.
“We had a tough time getting shots off in the paint against her, and our perimeter shots were not falling,” McDaniel said. “However, we had several turnovers early in the third period that allowed them to go on a run. From there, their size just wore us down and the lead expanded.”
Scoring points for the Cats were Kenley Thompson (seven), Morgan Palmeiri (six), Sarah Dale and Taylor (five) and Jaylee McDaniel and Ally Phillips (two).
The win improved the seventh-grade Cats’ record to 9-2 and the eighth grade is 4-7.
Bobcats
The seventh-grade Bobcats had their offense rolling in the opening quarter and jumped to a 19-14 lead. However, CCMS only managed six more points ahead of the half and fell behind, 30-25.
LCMS pushed its lead to 46-36 with seven minutes to play. While Bobcat Silas West made a pair of threes in the fourth and Noah Rice added another, their comeback bid fell short.
Rice led CCMS with 14 points, and Andrew Chastain added 13. Slade Smith scored eight, both A.J. Callihan and West finished with seven as Tony Olea and Cash Rogers each tallied two.
Douglas Callihan and Preston McVey scored 13 and 11 points, respectively, for Clear Creek in the eighth-grade game, but CCMS struggled to find much more offense elsewhere.
Clear Creek still managed to lead 15-11 after a quarter and 22-19 at halftime. The Indians began to chip away at the Cats’ lead in the second half and pulled ahead 33-31 entering the fourth.
Lumpkin survived the fourth quarter to come away with a four-point victory.
Peyton Chancey scored seven for Clear Creek, and Mason West, Jase McCollum and Chastain all added three points.
The losses dropped the seventh-grade Bobcats’ record to 5-6 and the eighth grade is 5-9.