Tharptown girls get wins over Eagles, Cougars
BY BART MOSS / FOR THE FCT
The Tharptown Lady Wildcats held off a late rally by the Covenant Christian Eagles to get a season-opening win on the road, 60-53.
It was the first career win for new Tharptown head coach, Tanna Benford.
“It was a relief to get that first game out of the way with a win,” said Benford. “I was proud of the way our girls came out and hustled and got after it. I hope we can get that kind of effort every night.”
Tharptown led 12-6 at the end of the first quarter. Covenant Christian came back to take the lead 26-25 at halftime. Tharptown outscored the Eagles 18-7 in the third quarter to take a 43-30 lead into the final quarter of play.
Shaylee Wieting, who hasn’t play basketball since the seventh grade, used her speed and quickness to generate 19 points and lead the way for Tharptown. She was followed by Adrianna Borden’s dominating presence inside the paint with 14 points.
Brooke Daily and Linda Bahena scored seven points each. Aly Vandiver (6), Catie Dawson (4) and Ameliah Dawson (3) also scored points for Tharptown.
The Tharptown girls next jumped on Waterloo early and didn’t let up, blowing out the Cougars 50-21 for their second win of the season.
Tharptown held Waterloo to just two points in the first quarter and 15 points in the first half. The Wildcats extended their lead to 25-7 by halftime and led 34-15 by the end of the third quarter.
Catie Dawson led the way for Tharptown with ten points. She was followed by Ameliah Dawson with nine points, Borden and Wieting with eight points each, Daily with seven points, Bahena with four points and Annslee Bottoms and Aly Vandiver with two points each.
Thaptown boys
The Covenant Christian Eagle were deadly from the free throw line and made the Tharptown Wildcats pay. The Eagles scored 31 of their 63 points from the free throw stripe, missing only 11, and beating the Wildcats 63-50.
Covenant Christian outscored Tharptown 34-23 in the first half, leaving the Wildcats a significant hole to dig out of.
Cole Daniel led the way for the Wildcats with 14 points. Edward Lopez had eight points, Misael Saldana and Levi McCormack had seven points each, Winston Nolen and Carson Petree had six points each, and Skylar Field finished with two points.
Against Waterloo it was a different story. Levi McCormack hit six three-pointers to lead the Tharptown Wildcats (1-1) past the Waterloo Cougars in a 64-23 blowout win. The Wildcats’ defensive pressure held Waterloo to just six points in the second half of the game en route to the easy win.
The win marked first-year coach Shannon Benford’s first victory for the Wildcats.
Tharptown led 17-4 at the end of the first quarter and 31-17 at halftime. The Wildcats put the game away in the third quarter, outscoring Waterloo 20-3.
McCormack led the way with 26 points, followed by Daniel with 14 points. Misael Saldana added seven points, Edward Lopez had six points, Winston Nolen had five points, Carson Petree finished with three points, and Aaron Creasy and Ruben Alfaro contributed two points each.
B-Varsity Boys: Tharptown 34, Waterloo 31
The Tharptown B-Varisty boys team held off a late Waterloo rally to win their first game 34-31. Colton Simmons led the way for Tharptown with 11 points.
