Roundball roundup in Sampson

With the holidays over, basketball in Sampson County has resumed in full force, with Harrells taking their 15th consecutive win and the Lady Leopards running hot with a four-game streak, just a few of the recent hhighlights across the county.

Clinton

Girls

The Lady Horses came back from holiday to take on the East Bladen Lady Eagles on Jan. 3. Clinton in conference play.

The game didn’t pan out the way they wanted. The Lady Horses were dominated by the Lady Eagles as they took the win over Clinton, 59-20.

Their following game came on Jan. 6 where they went on the road to compete against the Fairmont Golden Tornadoes.

This game was much like their previous game. Unable to put anything together, after the first half, the Lady Horses managed only eight points to Fairmont’s 29. They lost their third in a row, losing handily to the Lady Twisters, 61-28, with that they fall to 7-5 and remain winless in conference play at 0-3.

Boys

The boys division at Clinton fared no better after the holidays. On Jan. 3 they faced off against the East Bladen Eagles. They would lose to their conference foe to start the week, 61-38.

Following this, Clinton was looking for a win against their next conference challenge, the Fairmont Golden Tornadoes. Clinton never outscored them in any quarter that game and suffered another loss in the conference, 65-43.

They have dropped three in a row as of this writing and are now 3-9 overall while still looking for their first conference win at 0-3 in the league.

Harrells

Girls

After a crushing loss to Rocky Mount Academy earlier this week, the Lady Crusaders were set to play the Southeastern Christian Warriors on Jan. 6.

Harrells was looking for redemption and dominated. The Lady Warriors didn’t stand a chance, scoring in only two quarters and amassing an anemic six points for the entire game. The Lady Crusaders crushed Southeastern, 40-6.

With the win, Harrells find themselves ahead in their record at 6-5.

After their game against Faith Christian this week, they will take on Fayetteville Academy (0-4) on Jan 12.

Boys

After their victory over Rocky Mount, The Crusaders turned their attention to their next opponent. They faced off with the Southeastern Christian Warriors on Jan. 6.

Harrells led in the first quarter but not by much with Southeastern keeping them well in reach, behind by one 17-16. The next two quarters saw a completely different opponent with the Warriors putting up only nine points to the Crusaders 26. Entering the fourth, the Warriors woke up but it was far too big of a deficit to overcome

The Crusaders to their 15th straight win and remain undefeated 15-0. After their game against Faith Christian on Jan. 10, they will be on the road again to take on Fayetteville Academy (11-6) in their first conference game of the year.

Lakewood

Girls

The Lady Leopards came back to action against two foes they had just played before the break.

First, they took on the South Columbus Stallions on Jan. 3. It was a low scoring affair as both teams fought for every point. The Leopards would come away the winner over the Stallions, winning by seven, Lakewood topped South Columbus 31-24.

Their last game of that week was against the Lejeune Bulldogs on Jan. 6. This one didn’t end as close as their previous, with the Leopards taking it to Lejeune and solidifying their dominance over the Dogs, 47-25.

With this last win, they are on fire posting up four consecutive wins, putting them at 5-6 overall. After their first conference game against Union (6-4), they are set to play against the North Duplin Lady Rebels 7-1 on Friday Jan. 13.

Boys

The boys division didn’t have the same success as their Lady counterparts. They defeated Lejeune and entered the break on a win, unfortunately coming back wouldn’t be what they hoped.

On Jan. 3, the Leopards returned to action against the South Columbus Stallions. The last time these two met, Lakewood fell by three. This wasn’t the case that game, with the Stallions taking down the Leopards, 56-38.

On Jan. 6, Lakewood hoped to repeat success with a victory over the Bulldogs like they had before the break. Lejeune came out looking for a dogfight and the Leopards answered. It was a close game like their last one, but Lakewood was on the losing end this round. The Bulldogs took down the Leopards, 50-46.

After their first conference game against Union (0-11) on Jan. 10, they will be set to take on the North Duplin Rebels (5-5) on Friday Jan. 13.

Midway

Girls

The Lady Raiders came back after the break to take on the Fairmont Golden Tornadoes on Jan. 3.

The game was lopsided in Fairmont’s favor as Midway struggled in their return. The Golden Tornadoes took the game away from the Raiders with the final score, 64-25.

In their next bout on Jan. 6 they faced off against their next opponent, the Red Springs Lady Devils. This game was incredibly close and low scoring. It would come down to the wire in the bout with the Lady Raiders coming away with the win over Red Springs, 31-28.

Entering the new week, the Raiders stand at 7-5 overall and hold fifth place in conference at 1-2.

After their game against St. Paul’s (7-3) on Tuesday Jan. 10, they will face off against Harnett Central Trojans (0-11) on Thursday Jan. 12.

Boys

The Raiders of Midway came back from the break and split the week, defeating Fairmont but fell to Red Springs.

On Tuesday Jan. 3, the Raiders came back from holiday to face off against the Golden Tornadoes of Fairmont. They claimed the victory over Fairmont by 12 to begin the new year, 60-48.

On Friday Jan. 6 they faced off against the Red Springs Red Devils.

It started off rough for the Raiders as they scored 14 points to the Red Devils 34. However, that all changed in the second. The Raiders rallied hard in the third and fourth quarter outscoring Red Springs 37 to 21. Unfortunately, this last minute offensive advance was not enough as they fell short by four, falling to the Red Devils, 55-51.

Entering this week, Midway found themselves at 8-4 overall and are holding fifth place in conference at 1-2.

They face off against the St. Pauls Bulldogs (5-7) on Jan. 10 and the Harnett Central Trojans (2-10) on Jan. 12.