BLADENBORO – Seniors Kasee Singletary and Lexie Corrothers combined for 22 points and made key plays in the fourth quarter as West Bladen withstood a furious Fairmont rally and pulled out a 42-38 victory in their Three Rivers Conference opener.
Symiah McNeil and Vera McNeil threw in 2 baskets each as Fairmont sliced a 35-22 Lady Knight lead to 35-33 with 3:09 left to play. Singletary sank 2 free throws then tossed an in-bounds pass to freshman Rylee Chadwick who dropped in a lay-up for a 39-33 lead at the 2:35 mark.
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Photos by Kenneth Armstrong
Georgianna Waters bombed in a 3-pointer to pull Fairmont to within 40-38 with 1:31 on the clock. Senior Mikayla Meadows blocked a Lady Tornado shot in the final minute, and Corrothers knocked down 2 free throws to seal the verdict with 27 seconds left.
“We made some mistakes when we had the big lead and got careless with our ball-handling,” said Lady Knight Coach Brian McCleney. “We made some clutch free throws, and Lexie and Mikayla had some big-time rebounds.”
Singletary and Corrothers led the Lady Knights with 11 points each. Sophomore teammate Haley George finished with 9 points.
Corrothers, Singletary and Seniah Johnson dropped in first quarter baskets to keep West Bladen even 6-6 at the quarter break. Singletary buried a 3-point shot, another basket and 2 free throws, and George canned 4 free throws in the second quarter as the Lady Knights built a 21-15 halftime lead.
Kaitlyn Hunt’s lay-up pulled Fairmont to within 24-22 in the third quarter, but George banked in a 10-foot runner and tacked on a free throw. Singletary pitched ahead to Chadwick for a transition lay-up. George cashed in 2 more foul shots, and Corrothers added a transition lay-up and a follow shot to boost the lead to 35-22.
“It was a tough game,” noted McCleney. “That’s not the same Fairmont team that scored only 5 points against Lumberton. Hopefully we can work and get better for conference play.”
Waters topped the Fairmont scoring with 10 points, and Santana Anderson added 7 points.
The Lady Knights improve to 2-1 overall and will host Union on Wednesday night.
Fairmont 6 9 7 16 – 38
West Bladen 6 15 14 7 – 42
FAIRMONT (38) – Paris Bethea 4, Symiah McNeil 4, Georgianna Waters 10, Amyrikal Vaught 3, Niyasia Shephard 4, Vera McNeil 4, Santana Anderson 7, Dejah Monroe, Kaitlyn Hunt 2, Jakirra White.
WEST BLADEN (42) – Lainey Autry, Haley George 9, Ocean Woody, Kasee Singletary 11, Lexie Corrothers 11, Seniah Johnson 4, Rylee Chadwick 4, Mikayla Meadows 3, Hannah Pait.
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