Gators start low, capture nine-point win vs. Midway

Published in Sports on November 23, 2005 2:00 PM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- High School basketball games are not supposed to be this good in November.

The Spring Creek boys looked to be in mid-season form with good shooting and crisp ball-handling in a 78-69 victory over Midway in a well-played non-conference game Tuesday night at the Gators' gymnasium.

In the girls game, the Lady Raiders opened up an early lead and cruised to a 62-31 win over Spring Creek.

The Gators' boys started the game slowly and fell behind early by six points. Halfway through the first quarter, Spring Creek warmed up with some hot shooting from Dalreese Bell. The sharp-shooting left hander fired in three, 3-pointers in the first quarter and opened the second quarter with three more from behind the arch -- forcing the Raiders to make an adjustment.

"Dalreese did a heck of a job. They shut him down some in the second half, but he played well without the ball. We've got some good shooters," Gators coach Sonny Kilpatrick said.

With Bell being guarded closely in the second quarter, the well-balanced Gator team found a way to keep scoring. Daniel Chewning scored eight points in the second quarter and Spring Creek led by one over the bigger Raider team at the half.

The Gators offense was sharp all night long with Spring Creek only committing five turnovers the entire game.

"I've got some experience out there handling the ball. We also have some guys that can drive to the basket," said Kilpatrick.

The Gators started pulling away in the third quarter by unleashing two more offensive weapons as Cliff Wilson and Josh Wright had nine points each and Spring Creek led by eight after three quarters.

Midway made a run in the fourth quarter pulling within two with some outstanding play in the post. The Raiders' James Brody scored four baskets in the paint, forcing Spring Creek to call a timeout with just under three minutes left in the game.

From there, Spring Creek forced three Midway turnovers and pulled down four rebounds in the final minutes of the game and won by nine.

Spring Creek had four players in double figures for the night. Bell led the way with his game-high 25 points. Wright, Wilson and Chewning added 15, 14 and 13 points, respectively for the Gators.

The leading scorer for Midway was James Brody with 19, while Josh Crumpler and Kenneth Carter added 14 points each.

In the girls game, Midway tallied 21 points in the first quarter and led the Lady Gators by 15 at the end of the opening period. The Lady Raiders took advantage of numerous Spring Creek turnovers throughout the first half to build a 23-point lead at intermission.

"Our effort in the first half was what hurt us," remarked Lady Gators head coach Mandy Ramjford. "Defense is going to be our key this year. Without good defense we are not going to win many games."

Spring Creek opened the third quarter using a full-court press and with increased intensity on defense. The Lady Gators rallied in the second half behind the play of Brittani Billups.

"In the second half they only outscored us by nine points, so obviously we played some defense. We are still very young with only three seniors, and we were missing two key players tonight," Ramjford said. "We were down so far in the second half we could not come back."

Bilups was the leading scorer for the Lady Gators with seven field goals and 2-2 from the line for a total of 16 points.

The Spring Creek girls and boys teams will host Hobbton next Tuesday night.

Girls game

Midway 21 15 17 9 -- 62

Spring Creek 6 7 9 9 -- 31

MIDWAY (1-1)

Shakita Sutton 0 0 2-2 2, Jessica Griffin 5 4 0-1 22, Ashley Brewington 1 0 0-0 2, Gabby Spears 7 0 0-0 14, Joanna Tyndall 3 0 0-0 6, Kim Cash 0 1 0-1 3, Laura Cochran 6 0 0-0 12, Jasmine Rich 0 0 1-2 1. TOTALS -- 22 5 3-6 62.

SPRING CREEK (0-2)

Errica Evans 1 0 1-2 3, Janet Potter 0 0 0-2 0, Tomeka Pride 2 0 0-0 4, Margo Sauter 0 0 0-2 0, Vanity Brooks 0 1 0-0 3, Jessica Lewis 1 0 1-2 3, Brittani Bilups 7 0 2-2 16, Tasha Whitfield 0 0 0-2 0, Maura Phipps 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 12 1 4-12 31.

Three-point baskets -- Midway 5 (Griffin 4, Cash); Spring Creek 1 (Brooks). Total fouls -- Midway 10; Spring Creek 14. Turnovers -- Midway 35; Spring Creek 46. Fouled out -- None. Technical fouls -- Midway 2 (Tyndall, Cockran); Spring Creek 1 (Brooks).

Boys game

Midway 16 23 14 16 -- 69

Spring Creek 15 25 17 21 -- 78

MIDWAY (0-2)

Josh Crumpler 7 0 0-2 14, Brye Fairchild 3 1 1-2 10, Rodney Everet 1 0 0-0 2, Alex Beasley 1 0 0-1 2, Stan Bateman 7 0 0-0 14, Kenneth Carter 3 0 0-0 6, Brent Davis 1 0 0-0 2, James Brody 9 0 1-1 19. TOTALS -- 32 1 2-6 69.

SPRING CREEK (2-0)

Cliff Wilson 4 1 3-5 14, Daniel Chewning 6 0 1-2 13, Dalreese Bell 3 6 1-3 25, Josh Wright 6 0 3-5 15, David Harris 1 0 0-0 2, Carsheme Ruffin 2 0 0-0 4, Desmund Raeford 2 0 1-2 5. TOTALS -- 24 7 9-17 78.

Three-point baskets -- Midway 1 (Fairchild); Spring Creek 7 (Bell 6, Wilson). Total fouls -- Midway 15; Spring Creek 9. Turnovers -- Midway 11, Spring Creek 5. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- Midway 1 (Bench); Spring Creek 1 (Raeford)