Local

Lincolnton boys, girls fall in conference semis

TERRANCE THOMAS, LTN Staff Writer

Feb. 22, 2002 - HICKORY— Lincolnton  danced with the Red Devils all night long but just couldn’t stick the pitchfork in deep enough.

Newton-Conover rallied from nine points down in the fourth quarter to beat the Wolves in overtime, 69-64.

The loss ended the Wolves’ bid at winning the Midwest 2A Conference tournament and ended the Wolves’ season.

The Wolves had problems getting points early in the first quarter got hot to lead 15-11 at the end of the first quarter and 26-23 at the half.

Newton took over the lead briefly in he third quarter 33-32 but Eric Wilson nailed a 3-pointer to ignite a 10-3 Lincolnton run.

The Wolves pushed the lead to 51-42 midway in the fourth quarter.

But Newton stormed back with an 11-0 run that was sparked by center Julius Powell who grabbed a missed shot and slammed it through the basket.

In overtime, Newton made its baskets and free throws. Mark Stiver hit 5-of-6 foul shots to put the Wolves away.

Darren Wilson led the Wolves with 17, Eric Wilson added 15 while Brian Finger had 10.

Powell had a game-high 24 points for the Red Devils.

Bandys 69, Lincolnton 59

HICKORY — Andrea Stroup’s 21 points wasn’t enough for Lincolnton Thursday night as Bandys jumped out to an 18-6 lead and held on to beat the Lady Wolves, 69-59, in the semi-finals of the Midwest 2A Conference Tournament at Catawba Valley Community College.

Despite the early deficit, the Lady Wolves chipped away at the lead and made a game of it late.

Thanks to a tremendous second-half effort from Lauren Bartholomew, who scored all 14 of her points in the second half, Lincolnton roared back to get within three points, 56-53, with 2:30 left to play.

The Lady Wolves couldn’t get closer while Bandys Jessica Hudson canned 8-of-9 free throws at the end to seal for the Lady Trojans.

Bandys finished with five players in double figures including 15 from Lindsey Pope and 14 from its dominating center Ashley Chisholm.

A slow start hurt the Lady Wolves.

“When you live and die by the zone, you can’t get down by 20,” said Lincolnton coach Sheila Barker. “They hurt us big  time with their free throws. We’ll have to forget this game and move onto the next.”

The next game for Lincolnton is big. The Lady Wolves will host the first round of the state tournament Monday night. Right now with conference tournaments it’s hard to tell who they will play.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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