Knights finish home schedule with victory

By By Ryan Satcher/staff writer
February 7, 2004
The West Lauderdale seniors finished their final regular-season home game in style.
The Knights took a 70-54 victory over Newton County and the Lady Knights held off the Lady Cougars for a 68-57 win on Friday night.
The girls jumped out to a big lead in the first half and held off Newton County for the victory to improve to 20-7 for the season and 6-4 in district play.
The boys used a big run to start the third quarter to move to 21-7 and 7-3 in district with the win.
West Lauderdale (boys) 70
Newton County 54
The Knights used a 13-0 run to start the third quarter to take a lead and held off the Cougars for the victory in division play.
The seniors, playing in their final regular season home game, were one of the reasons for the extra energy in the third quarter.
West Lauderdale jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first quarter, as Chris Seaphus scored four points and Rayshun Hopson scored five.
The Knights held the lead throughout the first quarter and a three-pointer by Mark Ford at the buzzer gave West Lauderdale a 23-13 advantage after one quarter.
Newton County was able to pressure the Knights into some turnovers in the second quarter and slowly cut into the lead.
The Cougars cut the lead down to five points with 3:35 left to play in the half on a pair of free throws by James Broach.
Newton County cut the lead down to 34-32 at half-time and went into the break with momentum.
The Knights took back the momentum and the game in the opening minutes of the third quarter, however.
West opened the quarter with a 10-0 run before a Newton County timeout. Ford hit a three-pointer after the Cougars timeout to give the Knights a 47-42 lead.
Newton County was able to respond with a 7-2 run to close out the third quarter and cut the lead to 49-39.
The Knights opened the fourth quarter with a 10-3 run lead by six points by Seaphus and jumped out to a 59-42 lead with 5:26 left to play.
Newton County was able to cut the lead to 12 points but the Knights held on for the 70-54 victory in the final minutes.
Seaphus finished with 20 points to lead the Knights, and Daniel Huggins and Ford finished with 14 points each.
Ricardo Alexander lead Newton County with 20 points in the loss.
West Lauderdale (girls) 68
Newton County 57
The Lady Knights jumped all over the Lady Cougars in the first half and went on to a 68-57 victory in the girls' game on Friday night.
West Lauderdale used pressure in the first quarter to build a big lead and held on for the big win.
The seniors for the Lady Knights stepped up and played well in their final regular season home game.
West jumped out to a 16-6 lead in the first quarter led by strong defense and good shooting.
The Lady Knights held a 20-11 lead after the first quarter and stretched the lead to 35-17 with a 15-6 run to start the second quarter.
West led 38-19 at the break and stretched the lead to 22 points in the third quarter. The Lady Knights led 59-37 at the end of three quarters.
Newton County cut into the lead in the fourth quarter and trailed just 62-48, with 4:09 left to play.
The Lady Knights were able to hold on for the 68-57 win over the Lady Cougars.
Seniors Vankeila Wilson and Cierra Jennings each scored 16 points for West in the big victory. Senior Shannon Lloyd added 13 points.
Esha Wesley scored 19 points for the Lady Cougars and Dominique Mapp scored 18 points in the loss.