Sports - February 2003

West Middle girls and boys teams win league titles

TERRANCE THOMAS, LTN Staff Writer

February 14, 2003 - VALE — Thursday was a red-letter day for West Lincoln Middle School.

The boys and girls basketball teams both won their conference and county championships.

They did it by beating Lincolnton Middle.

In the girls game, Jessie Watts scored a team-high 16 points and Hannah Miller came up with a big basket late to lift the Lady Chiefs to a 34-28 win.

After a close first quarter, West broke it open in the second period, outscoring the Lady Wildcats 11-4 to make it 20-12 at the half.

In that period, Watts had six points to lead the way. LMS missed all eight free throws it took in the quarter.

But the Lady Wildcats did roar back behind Jessie Cline’s 12 points to make it 31-26.

However, Miller got a rebound and put it back in to make it a seven point difference with just over a minute left.

LMS couldn’t get closer the rest of the way.

For the Lady Chiefs, Miller had nine, while Samantha Redwine added five.  

LMS didn’t play their best.

“I think we played a good game today,” said Ingrid Bonilla, who had two points. “But we didn’t (come) together as a team.”

Brittany Jones scored four points for the Lady Wildcats. Ashley Broadway, Keelie Steward, Shara Quirion, Caitlin Clark and Katie Hendrick all had two points each.

In the boys game, West made its move in the third quarter while being up 15-11.

Jake Watts hit six points in the quarter. That along with solid defense allowed the Chiefs to shoot out to a 31-18 lead.

LMS couldn’t get much closer. The Wildcats were down by 11 with two minutes to play and had the ball, but missed a 3-point shot and then lost the ball on a jump ball call.

The Chiefs took it down and Ben Poole hit a shot to push the lead back to 13.

After that, both coaches started emptying their benches.

It was great day for the Chiefs. Their last conference championship was 1981.

“It feels good to win,” Poole said. “We deserved it. We play as a team.”

“This team is the best team I’ve coached since I’ve been at the middle school,” said West coach John Ravert “Everyone on this team is something special. We’re all friends. Everybody gets along. That’s why we’re champions.”

Taylor Woodie led the way with 11 points. Watts had nine. Payden Houser chipped in with six and Matt Baxter had two.

For Lincolnton, Steve Shank led the way with eight points. C.J. Wilson (5 points), D.J. Denny (4), Demery Brewer (3) Marcus Williams (2), Phil Robinson (2), Jamel Reeves (1) and Breon Jones (1) all contributed to the LMS cause.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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