Sports

Bunker Hill edges Rebels, West girls lose

MIKE POWELL, LTN Sports Correspondent

Feb. 13, 2002 - VALE — It was Senior Night at West Lincoln, but Bunker Hill prevented the Rebel seniors from going out as winners in their final home appearance.

In the varsity opener, the powerful Bunker Hill girls outscored West Lincoln 27-9 in the first quarter and never looked back en route to an 89-36 win.

The boys game began as a potential blowout, but the Rebels staged a furious rally in the fourth quarter, only to come up two points short in a 69-67 Bunker Hill win.

Eight seniors played their final home game for West Lincoln’s boys, and the Rebels (6-17, 2-11) nearly pulled it out. They fell behind early by 15-4 and 17-6 margins, and were still down by 15, 45-30, late in the third quarter.

However, West Lincoln stepped up its pressure defense in the fourth quarter, forcing a number of Bunker Hill turnovers that were turned into points. Jeremy Detter led the Rebel comeback with seven of his team-high 13 points in the final eight minutes.

West Lincoln finally tied the game at 64-64 on a Daniel Ward free throw with 1:38 remaining. Both teams missed opportunities down the stretch, but Bunker Hill managed to hit four free throws, the last two by Shawn Cruse with 6.6 seconds left, to build a 68-64 advantage.

The Rebels’ last gasp came on a desperation 3-pointer by Justin Pearson with 3.2 seconds left, pulling West Lincoln within one point. West Lincoln then fouled to stop the clock with 1.6 seconds remaining, but could not get the ball in time to get off a shot.

Ward and Lathan Fowler added 10 and 11 points each for the Rebels. Dirriel Kale poured in 25 points for Bunker Hill and almost single-handedly kept the Bears from collapsing down the stretch. Cruse added 19 points and 6-foot-7 Chance Cline chipped in 14.

“We can’t spot a team 15 or 16 points and expect to win,” West Lincoln coach Jason Kingery said. “It is too much to come back. We played very hard again, but we couldn’t make the plays to win the game. That has been the story.”

In the girls game, Aleea McCullough led four starters in double figures with 20 points as Bunker Hill moved within one game of an unbeaten run through the conference regular season.

Kaylon Carpenter, one of four West Lincoln seniors making their final bow at home, led the Rebels in scoring with nine points.

West Lincoln fell to 5-8 in the conference and 8-14 overall. However, the Rebels are still very much in the running for the league’s fourth playoff berth heading into the regular season finale Friday at Shelby.

Girls

Bunker Hill (89)

Herron 3, Brittany Granger 16, Little 4, Payne 6, Aleea McCullough 20, Sigmon 4, Price 2, Alysia Wilson 17, Tammy Lineberger 17.

West Lincoln (36)

  Kaylon Carpenter 9, Kisha Morrison 4, Heather Helms 2, Jackie Derr 1, Stephanie Sain 7, Leatherman 4, Valerie Fite 2 Lily Tallent 5, Jeanetta Lopez 2.

Bunker Hill 27 14 29 19—89

West Lincoln 9 5 12 10—36

Boys

Bunker Hill (69)

Dirriel Kale 25, Stewart 4, James 7, Shawn Cruse 19, Chance Cline 14

West Lincoln (67)

Jeremy Detter 13, Lathan Fowler 11, Franklin 9, Parker 6, Pearson 5, Poole 5, Sutton 8, Daniel Ward 10.

Bunker Hill 17 16 17 19—69

West Lincoln 8 13 21 23—67

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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