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LHS boys fall in OT; girls hold on to win TERRANCE THOMAS, LTN Staff Writer Dec. 24, 2001 - Ask Michael Jordan what’s the secret of winning basketball games. He’ll say, “Better eat these Wheaties.” After watching the Lincolnton-Newton-Conover girls and basketball games, he’ll probably say, “Better make those free throws.” Both games came down to who could hit from the charity stripe. The Wolves failed to do well in their 73-71 overtime loss. The Lincolnton girls did in their 47-43 victory It was the Midwest 2A Conference opener for Lincolnton. The boys game was simply a thriller. But it came down to free throws. Lincolnton hit only three of their final 11 free throws and none of their last four after having a two-point lead in overtime. “We had every opportunity to win,” said Lincolnton coach Bob Cowie. “We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. We made poor decisions. We didn’t hit our foul shots. Hopefully we’ll learn from this. The effort we game was great. Eric and Darren (Wilson) had great individual games.” It became of matchup of the Devils 6-foot-7 forward-center Julius Powell against Lincolnton’s Wilson boys. Powell poured in 33 points, along with a couple of 3-pointers. The Wilsons finished with a combined 50 points. Newton-Conover opened with a 19-9 lead but Lincolnton rallied back to tie to it at the end of the first. Both teams were blazing hot. The Wolves led 42-40 at halftime. Both teams combined for eight 3-pointers in the first half. The Wolves still ha the lead at the end of the third by two points. It stayed close to the end of regulation. With the score tied at 64 with less than five seconds left, Eric Wilson drove inside and then dished the ball to Jeremy Degree for the layup. Lincolnton looked to have it won. That left two seconds left. On inbound pass, the Devils passed the ball to a wide open Lance Bass who laid the ball up and in just before the buzzer went off. We’re going into overtime! Lincolnton had a two-point lead with 1:22 left but missed its last four free throws. Meanwhile, Powell was fouled twice and hit all four of his foul shots. His last one gave the Devils a two-point lead with six seconds left. The Wolves came down passed it once or twice but time ran out before they could get a shot off. Eric Wilson finished with a 28 points (20 at halftime). Darren Wilson had 22. Both players hit three 3-pointers. Jeremy Degree had nine while William Lineberger (6), Herman Lopez (5) and Ryan Ussary (1) rounded out the Wolves’ scoring. The Wolves will compete in the First Charter Holiday Tournament Thursday through Saturday. LHS girls 47-43 Lincolnton center Lauren Bartholomew said the Lady Wolves takes plenty of free throws in practice. Practice makes perfect. She made all 10 of her free throws including eight in the second half to lead her team to a close win. The Wolves blew out to a 19-5 lead courtesy of 12-1 run where they didn’t allow a Newton basket for six minutes. But the Lady Devils roared back with a 13-5 third quarter to make it a game down the stretch. Newton came back behind the leadership of center Kristen Ivey who scored 16 of her 18 points in the second and third quarters. Newton tied the game at 38 with less than three minutes to play. But the Lady Wolves hung tough. They clamped down inside and took Ivey out of the game. Lincolnton didn’t get another basket from that point on. But the Lady Wolves did it one point at a time. They hit nine of their last 12 free throws to go up by four. Meanwhile, Newton couldn’t do anything in the final minute. “We won,” said Bartholomew “It wasn’t pretty but it’s a win. We played hard. (Ivey) was beating us up on the boards. We had to box her out.” Bartholomew had 14, Andrea Stroup chipped in with 13. She hit seven free throws in the fourth quarter to help nail down the win. “It’s a good start to the conference for,” Stroup said. “We came in overconfident. We still got to work hard. We need to execute our offense better and calm down. Our defense was good. We’re improving. We had to scramble at the end.” Shantae Shank scored 10 while Keisha Duncan (5 points), Lindsey Sain (2) and Andrea Smith (1) contributed. In the junior varsity girls game, Newton won 38-28. Danielle Sadler poured in 10, Ashley Tipton had nine, Lauren Sain pitched in with five and Elizabeth Stepp and Summer Harrison each scored a basket.
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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